BC Wineries

We’re heading to the Okanagan Valley for a few days in July… any thoughts on the ‘must visit’ wineries? I read that you can stay overnight at Burrowing Owl. If anyone has been, I would love to hear some suggestions.
Thanks!

HI Carol,

If we were visiting the Okanagan Valley we would visit the Osoyoos Larose at JVT Osoyoos Larose, 38691 Hwy, 97 North ,P.O Box 1650, Oliver, British Columbia, V0H 1T0, Canada, Telephone: 250-498-4981. Their “Grand Vin” and “Petale d”Osoyoos" wines are very good. I would hazard to say that they make one of the finest “Bordeaux Blends” in BC! Another great winery would be “Church And State”. They make an excellent “meritage” as well (their Quintasential) and have the best tasting room I have been to in a long time!

Hope this helps.

Carl

We’re heading to BC June 24 as well and we are spending 6 days in Kelowna…we plan to visit all sorts of wineries but I would love to hear if anyone has any ‘must see’s’ as well.

Thank you, Carl

I confess that I left before reading your tips, so I missed both of these. We did, however, have a great time! We ended up hiring Okanagan Wine Tours to take us around. Patti and her staff were great. We went to over a dozen wineries over 2 days and didn’t have to worry about drinking and driving. Burrowing Owl, Hester Creek, Mission Hill were all great to see and taste. We brought home quite a few souvenirs! One newer winery was Painted Rock. They are getting a lot of good press and the wine was great. But someone reminded me the BC stands for ‘Bring Cash’, so we didn’t get any bargains!

Carol Ann

I lived in Kelowna for a couple of years a couple of years ago and was very involved in the wine scene. Here are some of my top picks for each region. I’ll probably miss a few.

Kelowna:
Tantalus(riesling)
CedarCreek(Syrah and other big reds)
Quails’ Gate(Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Old Vines Foch)
Mission Hill(Anything from there Reserve, S.L.C., Legacy and of course Oculus wines)

Naramata/Penticton Area:
Dirty Laundry(whites)
Nichol(Syrah)
Hillside(Gew and Mosaic)
Elephant Island(amazing fruit wines)
Popular Grove(big reds)
La Frenz(Merlot)
Township 7(Chardonnay, Syrah)
Noble Ridge(Meritage,Chardonnay)
Stag’s Hollow(Sauvignon Blanc)
Painted Rock(I’ve just heard the buzz about them)
See Ya Later Ranch(Ping, Sparkling)

Oliver/Osoyoos:
Hester Creek(Cab Franc, Merlot)
Road 13(big reds)
La Stella/Le Viex Pin(Merlot)
Nk’Mip(Chardonnay)
Osoyoos Larose(Le Grand Vin)
Burrowing Owl(all pretty decent with a beautiful winery)

Again, probably missed some worth noting. I’m heading back there in a week so I’m sure I’ll discover some new gems.

Cheers!

I am heading to the Burrowing Owl in a few days, the owner went to high school three blocks from where I currently reside. Will report back on wineries of interest.

Loved Burrowing Owl! We had lunch there on our trip – already 2 years ago… Wow. We have to get back that way. Have fun!

an amazing trip to Kelowna and then down south to the real & rustic wine regions by Oliver and Osoyoos

note: some of the wineries with the best restaurants attached with the best views had mediocre wines
note: tons of pino noir & gamay, almost no Zins
note: the wineries will ship mixed cases to Ontario
note: Kelowna is a nice city, Oliver & Osoyoos are small with many transient hippie workers, much more scenic to stay amongst the wineries !!
note: almost everything sells out each year so often you are tasting very young reds (i.e. the most current ones from 2011)
and it is hard to tell what they will mature into let alone wait 3-5 years !

Kelowna: just a bit north (15 mins) of the airport towards Vernon is the Grey Monk and then towards the wine regions to the south is Quails gate

Grey Monk: great for lunch, amazing view of lake, mountain & sky, great lunch salads and OK wine (try a flight at lunch time)

Quail’s Gate: this is the one in many, many photos, better wine, amazing upscale restaurant (reservations!) great view of lake

Summerhill: sparkling & desert wines, kind of touristy, very pricey, nice views, restaurant looked good

driving down South to Oliver & Osoyoos (approx 2 hours, amazing curvy roads through beautiful mountains, do not do at night)

Burrowing Owl: stayed 4 nights, amazing view !!!!!!!! amazing rooms & restaurant huge pool, no kids, free breakfast which was awesome !!
wines in tasting room were just OK, in restaurant try the “library” flights of red from 2000/2001 amazing :o)
(wireless not so good with ipads)
it is not cheap to stay here, cheaper in the Fall harvest, yet well worth the $$, it is soooooo quiet at night !!

Also stayed at Watermark: pool slide with tons of kids, but full kitchen, shared an apartment style room with
best gelato on the planet next door

Nk’Mip Winery: only aboriginal winery, wines were good, nice tasting area and just OK view (OK for Oakanagan = amazing for GTA)
stand out: chardonnay with butterscotch and vanilla notes

Hester Creek: great Tuscan restaurant, Terrafina, (pizza only so so but all else is awesome)
great patio and inside looks amazing
stand out: award wining 2008 Reserve Merlot (2nd bottle tasted better then the first, lol)

StoneBoat: mediocre tasting area, no view, no restaurant, wines were good, have won some awards, esp. for their South African grapes

• Desert Hill ** curb appeal & views & parking: ugg
  wines: AMAZING !!
  the owner, Randy, runs the tastings, awards everywhere, i don’t really like Chards, but when he poured me his unoaked
  I was smitten !! everything was an A or A+, when I tasted the port I was in tears!

Tinhorn Creek: Amazing views up on the mountain, restaurant looked good, wines were just OK, worth the drive for the view

…back up towards Kelowna is a very scenic area by Naramata the Bench winery area is very beautiful:

Red Rooster: great tasting area and wine displays, the wines were very good, outside we had lunch with a great view and arabic BBQ
a real highlight, highly recommended