Wining My Way Through the Okanagan

Occasionally I will plan a day of wineries where I end up having far too much time between my appointments or I chose to visit only one winery and end up exploring the area and finding one that I want to go to if I have time. I'm slowly learning how much time I really need between visits, but in the beginning it was a pretty common problem! The two wineries I'll be sharing today are two that I had extra time to visit on two separate occasions. I really wanted to share them with you because they're a bit smaller so may not necessarily be on your list of places to visit, though they really should be!  Winery #1: Volcanic Hills Volcanic Hills is located in the Westside Wine Trail, right off the main road! It's in the same vicinity as Mt Boucherie, so when I had a ton of extra time between Mt Boucherie and Quails Gate, I decided to pop in! I have been to Volcanic Hills before so I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. Both my father and sister are members of their Wine Club,

This was not only my first visit to La Frenz Winery, but my first visit to the Naramata Bench! And let me tell you, it will not be my last. The Naramata Bench is basically this heavenly place of winery after winery after winery and I have a feeling I could easily become trapped there. There are a ton of wineries here that are on my list to visit and I am very excited to do so! I have two very special guests with me this time around; the parents of my very best friend, Linda and Tim!  Winery: La Frenz Winery La Frenz is the first winery I've visited on the Naramata Bench and let me tell you, it was a great beginning! It's got an ideal location where you can see the lake, Linda and Tim even pointed out that we could see their house in Summerland from where we were seated! I was really excited to come here because when I told some of my co-workers where I would be visiting, they told me it was one of their favourites, and I can see why! The staff were so kind, the view was beautif

 After so many new wineries I thought it would be a nice day to revisit some of my favourite wineries! I stayed in West Kelowna and visited two wineries I've been to before, both of which I enjoyed but didn't really blow me away the last time. I always love to give second chances so that's what today was all about! And without further ado I give you, the wine! Winery #1: Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery Mt. Boucherie has been growing grapes since 1968 and they served their wine out of a fairly small tasting room, but it wasn't until last year that they opened the doors to their brand new, upscale winery and restaurant and let me tell you, it's absolutely gorgeous. The view during the wine tastings alone is incredible, but I've also heard that their restaurant, The Modest Butcher, is phenomenal and very well priced. I went to this winery last year and while I enjoyed it, I wasn't totally blown away. What they do that's interesting is they present you with a li

 Welcome back to Part 2 of our adventures through the Similkameen Valley! When we last left off, Chris and I had just finished visiting Orofino Vineyards. We were debating whether or not we wanted to grab lunch first, or see if we could squeeze into the next winery earlier than our reservation time. Eventually, the winery won out!  Winery #3: Robin Ridge Full confession, I had a major fail with Robin Ridge in that I forgot to take any pictures. I do however have a picture of the wine I purchased so I will add that in here! Robin Ridge is a family-owned winery that has been fully organic since 2018. The owners purchased the property back in 1997 and started growing grapes right away! Robin Ridge has a wide variety of wines they produce, from Rose to Pinot Noir to their signature wine, Gamay. Now onto the wine! 1. 2019 Flicker Rose This was a very nice, off-dry and fruity Rose made from Merlot! It was a really nice pale orange colour and had delicious flavours. It's a very summery wi

 Hello, all you fine folk! I've got a 2 parter coming up for you because what started as a simple, 2 winery visit ended up turning into a 4 winery plus an incredible lunch extravaganza so rather than bombard you with everything at once, I figured I'd split it up nicely for you! That being said, I still have a lot to say about them so these will be some slightly longer posts.  This will give the wineries the attention they deserve because let me tell you, I was pleasantly surprised by all of the different places I visited! We both were! Oh, that's right, we have a special guest for the next two blog entries! Chris came for a visit and it was actually his idea in the first place to go to the Valley! Without further ado...the wineries! Winery #1: Hugging Tree Winery This was the first winery that was not on the original itinerary! It came recommended to us by our friend, another Chris! (It's very confusing, I know). Friend Chris actually owns a winery in Calgary called Cit

 For my first revisit winery, I chose Sperling Vineyards! I had gotten to experience this winery last year when I did an East Kelowna Winery Tour with my sister. I think wine tours are great, however, I never find you get a very personalized experience when it's you and a bunch of strangers trying wine together. After having now two experiences with one on one tastings, I'm not sure I'd ever do a wine tour again! Now without further ado, the wine! Winery #2: Sperling Vineyards As I said, this is a repeat winery and I am SO glad I chose to come back here! Sperling is a family winery and has been growing grapes since 1925 and has been certified organic since 2017! They have a large variety of wines that they produce, from sparkling to Foch to Late Harvest wines. They offer 5 different tastings, which is actually pretty cool, but I ended up have sort of a mix between the Premium and the Naturiste. The following wines were what I tasted: 1. 2019 Speriz Pet Nat This was my first

The moment you've all been waiting for, we've made it to the official beginning of my winery adventures! I wasn't sure if I wanted to dedicate one blog post to each winery or one blog post to each day of wineries so we're going to give it a try doing one winery per post! This may not always be the case but honestly if the wineries continue to impress like both did today, you're going to get a lot of blog posts from me in the next coming months! If you think one way would be better than the other, drop a comment and let me know your thoughts! WE BEGIN! Winery #1: Tantalus Vineyards First time winery for me! Grapes have been growing in the Tantalus vineyards since 1927, when it was known as Pioneer Vineyards. Today, it is one of the oldest continuously producing vineyards in British Columbia. Tantalus came highly recommended to me by some coworkers as well as friends, so I thought it would be a great way to start out my great winery adventure! There were two options f