Saw lots of cyclists as soon as we crossed over. Beautiful places to ride--very hilly and so scenic. I am amazed at the beauty here. All of the brochures I saw before arriving had great vistas, and they were not just strategic photoshopped pictures! It is real and the beauty is everywhere, and the bikers take advantage of it so we're seeing lots of Canadian ass as we drive along!
I was also surprised to see "Hitchhiking Permitted" signs! Even before we crossed over and especially once we were in. There seem to be multitudes of hippie cross-country backpackers. Most of them look like really interesting folk...but we're not taking any chances.
And the winemakers. Well they seem to have cornered the market on whites in this region. I am so used to Walla Walla and not being able to taste whites. We have already tasted at six wineries: Burrowing Owl Estate Winery, Desert Hills, Cassini, Road 13, Inskillin Okanagan Vineyards, and Hester Creek Estate Vineyard.
Burrowing Owl had the whole estate thing going on--set right in their vineyards with a very contemporary tasting room and adjacent restaurant and inn. It was kind of a tourist trap--one of the first big wineries as you come into the country. The wines were pricey--mostly $30-$35 a bottle. They did have a really good merlot though, but we didn't buy anything. Here's me at Burrowing Owl...
Desert Hills looked promising from the moment we pulled up. There was a VW parked in the lot--a Vanagan, though! It was an estate in that it appeared the winemaker/proprietor had his gigantic house right next to the tasting room and the kids were running between the tasting room and house. Once in there we began chatting up some other tasters who were from Calgary. I think the tasting lady was getting a little frazzled because none of us were listening to her as she poured the wines, we were too busy planning our next stop as these Calgarians had some great suggestions. They also mentioned they would be headed to the Seattle area in June, so we gave them some great recommendations of Walla Walla vintners who have tasting rooms in Woodinville. Though I never got their names, I did get a good map with lots of places circled. We did buy a Gamay wine there, because it tasted yummy and we had never heard of the Gamay grape. As we were leaving, we saw our new Canadian friends leaving...in the Volkswagen! GREAT minds think alike! : )
Next was Cassini. They had the most boring labels ever, but the wine was fantastic! The tasting gal was so nice! We bought a bottle of great wine from there--a gift for someone special--if we can manage to save it!!
Next was Road 13 because our Canadian friends said they made sparkling. They were off the path a little and had a great medieval looking castle tasting room with a great big wooden door and fancy hardware. The wines were "okay" and they were all out of anything sparkling. We paid the tasting fee--only one so far--and left without a purchase, but not before we said hello to their two mini daschunds and taking lots of pictures.
Next was Inniskillin Okanagan Vineyards, another recommendation from our new friends because they had ICE WINE. Apparently there is a huge Ice Wine Festival here--amen to cold growing season here so they can do this festival almost every year with new crop!! They had FOUR ice wines to try and we dove right in! There was a Vidal, two reislings (one single vineyard) and a TEMPRANILLO--a red ice wine. I was surely in heaven. The vidal was super tasty. The first reisling tasted a lot like Tertulia Cellars ice wine and the TEMPARNILLO was...simply fan-fucking-tastic! I would have bought a bottle, if it did not cost one hundred canadobucks! But the gal gave us a big huge pour, and we were supposed to pay a $3 fee for tasting the icewines. However, we bought 2 bottles of ice wine and I think that exempted us from the fee. But $3 for almost a half glass of $100 wine, which by the way was only 375mL, was a hell of a deal.
Behold the red ice wine...
I am enjoying every last drop!
We then hit up Hester Creek Estates. We had looked at this one online because they also have an inn. A very expensive inn. And Mike stopped tasting after the second wine because he said they tasted like ass. I have to agree. Kind of a crummy winery to finish the day, but we headed to Penticton to find a place to stay since we didn't have reservations.
We ended up at the Slumber Lodge right across from the south shore of the Okanagan Lake. Pretty cheap and has wifi. We changed and headed out to find dinner on foot, thinking a little leg stretch would be nice after all that wine. However, we made the mistake of not taking a map or having a plan really. Lets just say we walked and walked and walked, and I have a mini blister on the bottom of my foot to prove it. We ended up at Sage and Vines Bistro. After waiting 15 minutes just to order drinks ($5/pint micros ouch!) and then another 10 before someone came to get our dinner order, when the place was damn near empty, we decided the beer was enough. The waiter felt bad, rightfully, and gave us the beers on the house. We quietly slipped out and ran across the street and ordered a pizza to go. Since we had 20 minutes to wait--starving after the 5 mile trek and still no dinner--Mike headed back to the hotel to get the car and I went to the liquor store for beer. Lamest beer selection ever! Not that I would buy it, but Corona was $15/six pack! PBR was $12 for 6-12 oz beers! Nutzo!!! I settled on an 8 pack--8??--of Wildcat "Strong" Beer. LOL
We got back to the hotel, chowed down on pizza that reminded us of Mad Mushroom from IU. Mike cracked a few Wildcats, then we headed to the casino across the street. Found a slot machine with a VW on it, so in went 10 canadobucks. We won a dollar and then proceeded to lose it all in a few other slots within about 20 minutes. Gambling just ain't that fun!
Back to the Slumber Lodge and it was apparent our neighbors had no intention of slumbering. LOUD and ROUDY. We called the front desk and it took about another hour for them to shut the hell up. Hey! I'm old and need my sleep! : )
All in all we are having the most fantastic time!!! More pictures on the flickr! Off to Kelowna and then the teepee!
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