Wining My Way Through the Okanagan

Welcome back! I'm trying to get better at posting these a bit more frequently, but since I'm the queen of procrastination I can't make any promises. Today we head back up to Lake Country and visit two of my all-time favourite wineries, that just happen to be located across the street from each other! These were some of the first wineries I ever visited in Kelowna and I always enjoy going back. Winery #1: Intrigue Winery If you ever want good wine for an affordable price, Intrigue is the place for you! These wines are of incredible quality and won't break the bank. Intrigue has only been around since 2008 but they've certainly been making waves. The winery is owned and operated by two different families who came together because of a shared love of wine. The tasting was awesome, I got to try a lot of wines I hadn't gotten to before, even some wines reserved for their wine club members! 1. 2019 Chardonnay This Chardonnay is aged 30% in new oak and 70% in stainless

Welcome back all! In today's post, we return with some very special guests and visit some brand new wineries for me! On this winery day I was joined by Carlie, Sarah, and Ava! We had a day full of new wineries and the most incredible food truck I've ever been to. It was a scorcher of a day and a bit smoky, but we made the most of it! Without further ado, the wineries! Winery #1: Spearhead Winery Spearhead is a cute winery located in East Kelowna and specialize in Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Riesling! They have a very nice patio where the tastings are done, it overlooks East Kelowna and all the tables have very cute red umbrellas set up. Unfortunately we arrived on one of the more smokier days so the view wasn't quite as good, but I still appreciated it! You're also surrounded by their vineyards, which I always enjoy when tasting wine.  1. 2020 Pinot Gris This first wine was, as the youths call it, a "patio pounder." It's a really easy to drink Pinot Gris w

Welcome back all! Today I'll only be featuring one winery because it was such a cool experience and I don't want to take away from it by having to condense some stuff. Let's get to it! The Winery: Covert Farms Family Estate Look, I'll admit that when I found this place I didn't think it would actually be a farm, but I was quickly proven wrong! Covert Farms is a 4th generation organic farm and winery and has been around since 1959. When it comes to wine, they take more of a minimal-intervention approach in an attempt to make their vines more resilient and less susceptible to climate change. Because I didn't really know anything about Covert before I got there, I wanted to do a tasting that would allow me to really get a sense of their wines and who they are, so I opted to do the Private Epicurean Grand Reserve Tasting! Try saying that 5 times fast...The tasting involved 7 wines from their profile paired with locally sourced cheeses and cured meats, and even fresh

Welcome back! I hate to say it, but we are past the Extravaganzas! For now...in the meantime, I welcome you back for another edition of Walk-In Wineries! I visited both of these wineries a while back, but I needed to get through both of my extravaganzas before I could focus on these ones. This time around I visit a new winery that quickly became a favourite, and an old winery that remains a favourite! No special guests today, just me and my notebook.  Winery #1: Ancient Hill First up is the new winery that quickly became a new favourite of mine. This winery is located right behind the Kelowna airport and has been around since the early 1990s. The first vineyards were planted in 2005 and the first vintage was released in 2009. For being such a young winery, they certainly know what they do well. Ancient Hill grows only 6 different grape varietals and I was lucky enough to get to try all 6 of them! 1. 2018 Pinot Gris This Pinot Gris was nice and light, very crisp and refreshing. It has a

Is it tacky to make multiple posts back to back and call them all extravaganzas? Maybe! But I'll do it anyway because I'm a huge fan of the extravaganza! When we last left off, I had finally finished up the birthday celebrations! The following celebration that hit and involved visiting wineries was Canada Day! Joining me today were special guest stars Tim, Linda, Rachel, and (on his very first wine tasting) Matt! We stuck around in Summerland and Naramata and visited two new wineries, as well as a revisit to the Legend Distillery! As I've mentioned in previous posts, since I've covered Legend Distillery I won't be talking about it here and will instead be focusing on the new wineries visited: 8th Generation and Elephant Island Orchard. Winery #1: 8th Generation As you can probably infer from the name, 8th Generation got it's name from the fact that the owners come from a long line of winemakers and grape growers, dating all the way back to 1783! Their goal is to

Welcome one and all to the final part of my Birthday Extravaganza!! It's been a long journey, but an exciting one, and I assure you that we're going out with a bang! I want to thank all of you and all of my family for putting up with me during birthday season, I do like to go all out so I appreciate everyone going all out with me! We arrived down in Oliver last time and for these final two wineries we will be staying down there! We've got some big hitters for the finale: Hester Creek and Checkmate. This was my first time at both of these wineries and when I tell you I was blown away by both of them, I'm not exaggerating at all.  Winery #1: Hester Creek Hester Creek is tucked away in Oliver and has a very Tuscan vibe to it. The original winery was made in the early 80s, but became Hester Creek when it was sold about a decade later and was named for the creek that borders the southern part of the land. The winery went through one other transfer of ownership in 2004 when i