Okanagan Wine Tour Guide -- Part One

Thursday: Wine touring time! We begin with a complete breakfast at Perkins: eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, and Boston cream pancakes, of course.

And, onto the wineries...


CedarCreek Estate Winery


First winery of the tour! And it set the bar high. We were given a private tour of the facilities. A beautiful winery with beautiful wines.

Wine Notes
2008 Syrah -- juicy, fruity red
2010 Ehrenfelser -- tropical, banana, pineapple


The Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan farm was just down the street, so we stopped in to check out the goats and their goat-wares.


Which included goat's milk gelato! MmmmmmMMMMmmm.


St. Hubertus Estate Winery
This wasn't on our list, but we passed it on the road back from CedarCreek. And I forgot to take any photos! So please enjoy these pictures of one of the awesome goat farm dogs, and baby CedarCreek grapes on the vine.


Our tasting guy Dan, whose name tag was on upside down, was very friendly and informative, and suggested some other local wineries for us to check out.

Wine Notes
2010 Frizzante Rosé -- spicy strawberry, cranberry and cream; frizzante refers to the fact that it is semi-sparkling, with tiny tiny tiny almost imperceptible bubbles


Summerhill Pyramid Winery


We went on a group tour of the winery, and learned about the making of traditional French sparkling wine.


Pyramid wine cellar: product of a hippie proprietor, or truly mystical sacred shape? I urge you to suspend judgement until you have been inside the pyramid yourself.

Wine Notes
2008 Baco Noir -- pastrami sandwich, aged beef
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We stayed with Jesse's friend Ryan who made us a most awesome meat fondue with a plethora of seasoned meats. I ate a lot of meat. MEAT.


Here we see Ryan demonstrating the ability of his special wine glass to hold the entire contents of a bottle of wine.


I was introduced to my favourite cat of the Okanagan: Bandit.


I was also introduced to my new favourite rum! From the Clément website: "Clément Rhum XO is a rare blend of aged rums including the highly regarded vintages of 1976, 1970 and 1952, which have been recognized to be the finest ever in Martinique."


Then we built a fire. And Jesse almost went up in flames.


Ryan reenacts the above photo for us.


Here is the point of the fire. Roasting marshmallows!



The night ended with a blurry appearance of Smokey, house kitty number two.
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So, uhhh... I'm going on vacation AGAIN. Updates to continue on Sunday when I get back :)