Kelowna Wine Country
Now that Fall temps and the PNW rain are back, I’m really missing summer! I don’t know about you guys, but it went by entirely too fast for us. Fortunately we were able to squeeze in a quick anniversary trip up to Kelowna BC for wine tasting last month, which just happens to be one of our favorite ways to enjoy summer.
Because we’re still building our new home, we haven’t had much time for travel. This was my hubby and I’s first trip away together this year and completely worth the 4.5 hour drive up. We saw beautiful scenery along the way!
Kelowna is a city in the Okanagan Valley, about 4 hours slightly NE from Vancouver. It sits right on shores of Oakanagan Lake which runs over 80 miles long. The city is young and lively with music, amazing eats and a variety of events happening throughout the summer. It is also the home to over 30 wineries, which was the reason for our visit.
My hubby scheduled a wine tour with Uncorked Okanagan on our first day Kelowna. I didn’t realize he had also organized a surprise helicopter ride through Alpine Helicopters to tour the vineyards from the sky. I’ve never been crazy about heights, so I was beyond nervous to take off, but once we were finally in the sky, the scenery was incredible!
We kicked off our wine tour from there, with a visit to Mission Hills. We visited their cellars,
And got to try Ice Wine, which is a unique dessert wine made from grapes that are frozen to exactly -8 degrees while on the vine.
The grounds and architecture at Mission Hill were absolutely beautiful and the wine, memorable.
We then enjoyed a private lunch at a Golf Course and continued on our wine tour with our super fun guide Ken. The entire tour lasted almost 9 hours and included 5 additional wineries for private tastings, and a drop off at home. We figure we tried close to 40 wines by the time we had finished our tour.
A few more highlights included visiting Quail’s Gate where they served us Chenin Blanc white wine, which they renamed the Obama wine, since this is what he drank during his visit there.
Of course we left with a bottle of the Obama wine.
Hatch was entertaining and whimsical.
And Little Straw turned out to be our favorite stop of the day.
We tried 7 tastings and left with too many bottles, including their bubbles which I can never pass up.
The atmosphere was so lovely!
Oak + Cru was our favorite brunch and dinner spot in Kelowna. We enjoyed Caesars which were much welcomed after tasting so many sweet wines throughout the day.
The energy and atmosphere of Kelowna is so wonderful! We can’t wait to go back! If you’re ever planning a trip up, it’s totally worth experiencing a wine tour and visiting Oak + Cru and Raudz for dinner!
We have yet to open the bottles that we took home from our trip. Can’t wait to open one on a Fall evening at home.
Anniversary blooms.
Happy Friday! I’m brainstorming some fun concepts and recipes for the new season, so I’ll have those here soon.
Wishing you all a fab weekend!
This post titled Kelowna Wine Country was seen first on Posh Little Designs. All Rights Reserved 2016.
Thanks for the lovely journey with beautiful pictures of your anniversary week-end. The Cabernet Sauvignon you sent me home with was delicious and I’m usually not a fan of Cabernet.s The helicopter must of been top of the list for highlights. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the Cab Sauv. It was some of my favorites out of all we tasted and yes, the helicopter ride is definitely at the top of the list. Thanks for commenting ? we need to go up there some time soon!