Okananga Wineries

 

Stuart, getting a direct 'fix' at the Summerhill Winery.

The Okanangan Valley climate is perfect for grapes, apples, peaches and cherries. Apparently, other produce has been grown here over the past 100 years, too, but grapes seem to bring in tourist dollars. We first visit Summerhill Winery, where we have read that they are famous for their ice wines and have won awards for other wines. We step up to the bar, after a busload of pushy, loud tourists get back on their bus and things have calmed down. We try 6 wines, including an ice wine last. Sweet. Pricey: $80/bottle. Tall, skinny bottle. Yikes! The other wines are good, but we learn that we can only take one bottle back to the States, and we opt to move on. The wines are housed in a pyramid, the wine-maker takes advantage of the good energy from the pyramid shape!

 
The fields were pretty, and the vines look very different from the vines in our part of the country (Yadkin Valley grapes). The winery is marketing itself nicely, the landscaping is well done and the building is welcoming. The front door is wood (in this part of the world, what else would it be?!?), and looks like something from an old European Castle. The sky is nice today, the clouds are fluffy.


The Summerhill Winery has a reputation for a good lunch, and the patio restaurant is certianly pretty, but it's a little early, so we decide to go to another winery for lunch, and more wine tasting.

The next winery we went to, for lunch and tasting, was not serving lunch (done for the season). We need food before we drink more, and move on to Mission Hill Estates, who's chef has been lauded by the best food magazines in the world. Of course, we get lost, even with the GPS with us, but eventually see it high on the hill top. Boy it is pretty! Looks like an Italian village, church steeple at the top of the hill, with the houses spilling down the hill below it. CLOSED! for the season! What luck. Disappointed, but knowing there are many more good places to eat and good wine to sample, we move on. The next winery on our list is Quail's Gate, and it's just down the road.

We're on the west side of the Okanangan Lake now, in what not too long ago was farm country. There are still some 'summer cottages' on the lake shore, but they and the farms that once surrounded them are being squeezed out by the Big Houses and condo developments. Even the campgrounds are being lost to developers. You can't blame the property owners for selling, I'm sure they're getting Big Bucks.

Quail's Gate is as pretty as the other wineries we've seen, and sits right on the lake. We're shown to a table on the patio, and the view is straight from a movie set! 

We placed our order, along with the suggested wine, and were not disappointed. I ordered something very unpredictable: a charcuterie plate. Heart attack on white china! I've been thinking about all those beautiful pates since we were at Granville Island, and this plate had olives and lettuce, too. How could I resist?!? The bread was good, and the butter was the kind I never buy (too pricey). Stuart had a very good duck and pasta dish, and the suggested wines with both our plates were, indeed, perfect. We felt like important people, with such a magnificent lunch location and good food and wine.

On the road, we headed further south, along the 69 mile glacial Okanangon Lake to Penticton. It's a beach town, between Okanangan Lake and Skaha Lake. The road curves around the mountains, giving us fabulous views of the orchards and vineyards every mile. It's off-season for the lake front town of 36,000 people, and our luck is with us for a hotel room: we find a suite, with tiny kitchen, on the lakefront, for $69. Perfect! We check in, and take a walk to the vibrant, funky little downtown to stretch our legs, before heading back to the hotel for a drink and dinner at home. The views of the mountains, looking up the lake, are as good as it gets.