Okanagan

July 9, 2008

Tavis, Jesse and I got on the road early to head to Kelowna for two straight days of wine tasting and then on to Vancouver to my Great Aunt's 90th birthday party!

Before we got into Kelowna we decided to stop at Grey Monk. The tasting bar was supper busy so we decided on a drink on the patio. The view was so nice we decided to stay for supper.

Jesse and Taivs find the next car they are going to buy!

View from the patio!

Drinking a flight of wine, three two oz glasses. A great way to try different wines!

Then we headed down to Kelowna to check into the condo. We bought some wine from local wineries and enjoyed them on the patio with cheese and olives!

July 10, 2008

Our fourth wedding anniversary! We all went on a guided wine tour of local wineries. There were only the three of us on the tour, so we got to go wherever we wanted! Our guide Amy was great!


Our first stop was Dirty Laundry. It started as a Chinese Laundry and then expanded to a gambling den and a brothel on the second floor, hence the name! Some of the wine names are Hush, Thread Bare, Woo Woo, and Madame's. This was a great stop!






Our second stop was See Ya Latter Ranch. The original owner was a dog lover, so the bottle has a dog on it with wings and a halo as a tribute to man's best friend. Two wines are called Jimmy my pal and Ping after his favorite dogs. The property even has a dog cemetery. My favorite wine was the Pinot Three, it's Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir skins are taken off so the wine stays white.




The next stop was Burrowing Owl for lunch. We had a great meal and bought some wine. As we were leaving a wind storm blew through. The gusts were 110kms/hr and knocked power out throughout the area. As we were driving out we came across a huge tree that had blown over and was blocking the road.

Wind storm

Poor tree

Next stop was Silver Sage Winery. This winery infuses their wines with things like sage, fruit and chili peppers. The chili pepper wine is called Flame and it is the hottest thing I have ever tried. Tavis was brave enough to buy it, we stuck to peach and sage.

Our guide taught us that pests will attack roses first so they plant roses at the end of each row so they can tell what pests they are dealing with before they damage the vines.

New vines are planted in milk cartons

Our next stop was Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery, then across the street to Hester Creek

So much wine, so little time!

After day 1, Jesse and I 17 bottles, Tavis 17 bottles

We were going to go out for supper but stayed in instead. We were so tired! We needed to get some sleep so we can do it all again the next day!