Penticton on the Victoria Day long weekend

Because the 24th of May is Victoria Day, we had a nice long weekend! Time for another road trip.

We got invited to go to the Okanagan together with some friends. It is a region located in British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. The region is known for its dry, sunny climate, arid landscapes and lake shore communities. The economy is retirement and commercial-recreation based, with outdoor activities such as boating and water sports, snow skiing and hiking. Agriculture has been focused primarily on fruit orchards, with a recent shift in focus to vineyards and wine.

“Wine Tasting” that was everything we needed to know to get ourselves out there! It still took us 1,5 year to visit that region. It’s not too far away (only 380 km) and it’s a very nice drive. You go through Manning Park (and yes we saw a bear!, lots of deer, coyotes, ground squirrels and various colorful birds).

The weather was gorgeous and therefore ideal for a wine tasting tour. I was driving and Kris and Dulce were tasting. No worries, even though I was driving, I did get to taste what I wanted!

On Sunday we first went to Okanagan Falls to visit The Blasted Church Vineyard. Really nice location, amazing view!

View from the Blasted Church Winery

After buying the first bottles of wine we visited See Ya Later Ranch (one of my personal favorites)!

View from the See Ya Later Ranch.

See Ya Later Ranch wine bottle.

First of all, they were extremely dog friendly, which probably has something to do with the fact that I really liked them, but they also had an amazing ice wine. Definitely one of the better ice wines I’ve ever tried (and trust me, I’ve tried quite a lot).
Besides that I also really liked their vineyard and their branding!

Grizzly after he broke loose from the pole he was tied to (obviously having fun with the winery’s dog).

After buying more bottles of wine we headed to the Naramata Bench. Twenty two wineries are located on this prime agricultural land. Some are situated on the picturesque rolling hillsides while others are perched at the edge of cliffs close to Okanagan Lake. A remarkable setting.

The first winery we visited on the Naramata Bench was Laughing Stock Vineyards. More bottles of wine were purchased:).

Next stop: Popular Grove. Gorgeous winery, amazing view! Besides wine they also sold cheese. Unfortunately the cheese I wanted was sold out, but Dulcie tried some and she loved it!

Popular Grove Winery

Our next stop was Hillside Estate Winery. This time I got to try some wine, because we were going for lunch after at the Hillside Estate Bistro. The food was fantastic! (just to give you an idea of what they were serving: Kris enjoyed the Rare Seared Albacore Tuna Melt and I had the pleasure of trying the Natural Pature’s Chèvre and Tomato Tart.

The unique thing about Hillside Estate is the impressive tower. It kind of dominates the view as you drive north along Naramata Road. The massive structure houses cellars dug deep into the side of the hill with 6.7 metre high walls of solid river rock.

Hillside Estate tower

Last but definitely not least: Elephant Island Winery. My second favorite! You can actually taste the wines outside on their patio with a remarkable view over Okanagan Lake. Of all the wineries we’ve visited, those people seemed the most laid back. They have some very unique fruity wines. We were able to try about 5 different wines. 3 of them really appealed to us: 2 dessert wines: The Cassis and the Framboise (you could taste the Framboise for a small donation, it was to die for!) the other one was the Black Current wine. All three of them were berry flavored.
Ooh and just a little hint, if you ever go there and buy wine, make sure to ask for some food recipes. They have some really nice ones based on some of their wines.

Since most of the wineries close around 5 we decided to head back to the hotel and wait for Ben to return from his soccer tournament.

A picture from our new wine collection:

On Monday we walked around town and gave Grizzly the opportunity to play in the water of Okanagan Lake.

We had a wonderful stay and met some really nice people! Thanks Dulce and Ben!!!

Later this week you can probably expect some pictures of last weekend (when we went to Vancouver Island).

Hope everyone’s having a good time!