Daddy-A's Excellent Okanagan Adventure

[Fengyi]

Thanks for posting the lovely pictures - my husband and I went on our honeymoon to the Okanagan last year and they bring back lots of good memories.

We decided to 'take it easy' and only booked two wine-tasting appointments each day so didn't make it to all those you visited, but we found such a warm welcome and atmosphere at the ones we did visit!

With regard to the last day, was the Cedar Creek restaurant not open? We had quite a nice lunch there with an interesting accompanying flight of their wines.

But, I must admit that Burrowing Owl's restaurant was by far the best (we went there twice), particularly in terms of service. Our starters took quite a while to come out, and so we got two profuse apologies and offers of free wine (from the 'library' wines) and free desserts. Of course, being quite English, my husband thought that they had all run completely mad....I just said 'that's called nice service -we don't have that in England

[Daddy-A]

We decided to 'take it easy' and only booked two wine-tasting appointments each day    so didn't make it to all those you visited, but we found such a warm welcome and atmosphere at the ones we did visit!

We tried to do something similar ... if you notice we really only went a little crazy at the beginning of the trip. Most times it was 2 wineries a day. I find that even if you're spitting tasting a lot of wine can be fatiguing, and wines start to taste the same.

With regard to the last day, was the Cedar Creek restaurant not open? We had quite a nice lunch there with an interesting accompanying flight of their wines.

That was the strange thing. Even though it was just after Labour Day, all the winery restaurants seemed to cut back their hours. So no, the restaurant at Cedar Creek wasn't open. In fairness, there was a wedding on the estate that day, so it may have been booked.

Did you get a chance to try the Cedar Creek "M"? It's their Madera (sp?) style wine. One of my favorite discoveries this trip.

But, I must admit that Burrowing Owl's restaurant was by far the best (we went there twice), particularly in terms of service. Our starters took quite a while to come out, and so we got two profuse apologies and offers of free wine (from the 'library' wines) and free desserts. Of course, being quite English, my husband thought that they had all run completely mad....I just said 'that's called nice service -we don't have that in England 

I agree 100% ... the service was fantastic. Very friendly and knowledgeable, without being snooty. I have never had a sommelier suggest a wine I'd like better than what I'd ordered, and allow me to taste both before I decided! I'm not saying that never happens, just that it's never happened to me.

A.

[Daddy-A]

Day 7

The last day of our wine & food excursion. The biggest challenge of the day was figuring out the best way to pack all the wine we purchased. Thank goodness for the Subaru Legacy! If Subaru were smart, they'd work out a sponsorship deal with Wine BC or the Naramata Bench:

Subaru, roomy enough for you, your spouse, and enough wine to help things get cozy

Winery Visits

*Mission Hill (Excellent WEB SITE)

Our hope was to visit both Mission Hill and Cedar Creek before we left for Vancouver. That proved to be a bit ambitious considering how tired we both felt. Wine tasting is tough work!

Thanks to Ingo at Mission Hill for such a nice welcome!

The winery recently underwent an extensive architectural transformation. The project, which started 6 years ago, was designed by Seattle architect Tom Kundig . Thses are the entry gates which feature a massive keystone carved from a single 5 tonne block of Indian limestone.

The bell tower, the Loggia on the left and Chagall Room on the right. During the summer months, tours start from inside the Chagall Room ... when it's rainy and miserable they start from the Wine Shop .

12 storeys tall, The Bell Tower houses 4 custom cast bells, each named for a member of the von Mandl family which owns the winery.

This bell was destined for the bell tower until they discovered it had been cast incorrectly. Fortunately, there were four others that were fine which now reside in the tower. The company that cast the bells (Paccard Bell Foundry - Annecy, France) is also responsible for making the copies of the Liberty Bell that reside in every state capitol.

The new amphitheatre which hosts everything from music concerts to live theatre. In the background is The Terrace, one of the finest restaurants in the Okanagan. You will also notice it's outside, and subject to the elements which, saddly, forced The Terrace to close the day we visited.

The cask cellars … very “Les Miserables”

We tried to avoid the touristy things on this trip, but we made an exception for the tour at Mission Hill. We weren’t disappointed. Our “wine educator” (tour guide) was extremely knowledgeable not only on the winery, but on the wines made at Mission Hill and the wine making process as well.

At the end of the basic tour (we would have taken the deluxe S.L.C. tour but time wouldn’t allow) there is also a brief wine tasting. If you do take the tour, be sure to return to the wine room and taste some of their other offerings (which are much better than what we had on the tour.)

Our wine tasting done, it was time to drive home:

The foggy Coquihala highway … which may be the fastest way up to the Okanagan, but it’s a pretty dull drive (by BC standards anyway). Our last meal stop for this trip was at the Home Restaurant in Merrit. This restaurant is so well thought of that even our own Mr. Maw has his ringing endorsement printed on the menu!

“J”’s Club Sandwich. Notice the salad … I wish I had.

The Home Bacon/Mushroom Burger. Nice burger with a toasted bun … nut nowhere near as good as the burger I enjoyed at the beginning of the trip in Naramata. The real kick in the teeth were the fries. I can honestly say these were the WORST FRIES EVER. Tasteless, lukewarm and dry. I suffered through half of them … I was hungry.

I happily put my camera away after this. Some guys in Harley-Davidson hats were looking at me funny while I took those pictures.

So that’s our wine excursion to the Okanagan. I am grateful to everyone who helped us out with information, directions and accommodations. There are also some excellent threads in the Vancouver/Western Canada forum with other excellent suggestions. PM me if you need help finding them.

One last picture:

The sum total of our wine purchases … 56 bottles. The next day I went to IKEA to buy more shelves for our wine rack! Those baskets to the right? That was the harvest from our garden while we were gone. Tomato sauce anyone??

A.

[M.X.Hassett]

Wow, great pics and writing thanks for the "porn"

What a freak who would NOT let you photo his breakfest I would consider it a compliment.

Edit: In the last photo I was curious what the bottles on your sideboard in the backround are.

Edited September 22, 2005 by M.X.Hassett (log)

[Daddy-A]

Edit: In the last photo I was curious what the bottles on your sideboard in the backround are.

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They are a selection of ice wines, fruit wines, late harvest rieslings, and a special dessert type wine that is a Gewurtz that has a pepper in it. That one is called "The Flame" and is really spicey ... quite good with cheese.

I'll post the entire list of what we bought if asked. I would have done so already, but it just seemed kinda showy.

A.

[M.X.Hassett]

Well I guess I will ask what wine did you buy?

[Fengyi]

We decided to 'take it easy' and only booked two wine-tasting appointments each day    so didn't make it to all those you visited, but we found such a warm welcome and atmosphere at the ones we did visit!

We tried to do something similar ... if you notice we really only went a little crazy at the beginning of the trip. Most times it was 2 wineries a day. I find that even if you're spitting tasting a lot of wine can be fatiguing, and wines start to taste the same.

Yes, I can see that - we went to Alsace this summer and I found it terribly exhuasting just doing two. Each winery showed about 16-20 different wines for each tasting and my palate just started to collaspe under the assault!

It was a terrible shame in some circumstances....I recall being at Zind-Humbrecht coming to the end of the tasting and just wanting to weep with palate fatigue after 15+ of their very rich wines!! I knew the wines were very good, but I was soooooooo tired

Did you get a chance to try the Cedar Creek "M"?  It's their Madera (sp?) style wine.  One of my favorite discoveries this trip.

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No - we didn't see that!! What a pity as I love Madeira and that oxidized tanginess!

I loved your pictures of Mission Hill. It's very stunning, isn't it? We have a couple of bottles of the Oculus sitting in the cellar waiting.......

And may I add my request, please, for a list of what you bought? I love vicarious wine-buying!

[newbie]

Thanks for the very enjoyable blog. I have been thinking about me and my husband doing a winery tour of the Okanagan, in particular the Naramata Bench area, and the details of your travels has just re-inforced that for me.

Living up here in northern BC, we don't have access to a Wine VQA store and therefore our choice of wines are very limited to those offered by the BC liquor Corp. I don't know how many times I've searched out a wine which I've read/heard about and lo and behold can't find it. Once in a while though, I will find a bottle of something out of the ordinary at the local cold beer and wine stores but have to pay the exorbitant prices that they charge.

I know that down there in the "Lower Mainland" you have a ton of great VQA wine stores with a fantastic selection, but were there any wines that you were able to buy on your travels that you would consider a "lucky find"?

[Daddy-A]

I will post my list of purchases this evening. I'm in the process of re-organizing the "wine room" downstairs (i.e. assembling the IKEA wine shelves) so I'll have the list already put together.

Living up here in northern BC, we don't have access to a Wine VQA store and therefore our choice of wines are very limited to those offered by the BC liquor Corp.

Hav you tried ordering on-line? I'm ordering some Burrowing Owl this week, and speaking to a lot of the smaller wineries, a large percentage of their sales are on-line. When I post the list of the wines we bought I'll include links ... but you can Google too

were there any wines that you were able to buy on your travels that you would consider a "lucky find"?

A couple ... and they were more "fun" than serious wines. The two from Silver Sage - The Flame which was the Gewurtz with the hot pepper in it, and Sage Grand Reserve which is also a gewurtz, this time fermented with sage. The Cassis form Elephant Island is also really good.

My favourite has to be the Burrowing Owl '03 Chard. I didn't purchase this on the trip, but already have a couple bottles in the cellar from a friend's recommendation. I did however get to taste it on the trip. SO GOOD! So much so I'm buying some of the '04 which just became available.

A.

[Daddy-A]

And may I add my request, please, for a list of what you bought?   I love vicarious wine-buying!

Ask and ye shall receive (complete with winery links):

La Frenz Winery

*Chardonnay '04

* Montage '03

Red Rooster Winery

* Marechal Foch '04

* Cabernet "Frank" '04

Elephant Island Winery

* Cassis '04

* Crab Apple Wine '04

* Apple Wine '04

Kettle Valley Winery

* King Merlot '02

Hillside Estate Winery

*Gammay Blush '04

Blasted Church Winery

* Sauvignon Blanc '04

* Merlot-Cabernet '03

Stag's Hollow Winery

* Simply Noir '03

* Renaissance Merlot '03

Silver Sage Winery

* The Sage (Gewurtz w/ Sage) '03

* The Passions (Pinot Noir) '03

* The Flame (Gewurtz w/ Chile) '03

* Dessert Wine (Merlot/Raspberry) '02

Hester Creek Estate Winery

* Ice Wine (Pinot Blanc) '99

* Late Harvest Trebbiano '01

* Pinot Gris '04

Tinhorn Creek Winery

* Oldfield's Collection Merlot '01

Cedar Creek Winery

* Platinum Resrve Meritage '02

* Platinum Reserve Chradonnay '03

* "M" Madeira

Mission Hill Winery

* S.L.C. Sauvignon Blanc - Semillon '03

* Estate Bottled Chardonnay '02

* S.L.C. Syrah '02

* Oculus '97

A.

[M.X.Hassett]

Thanks, I may have to plan a trip up there.

[Fengyi]

Thank you for posting your list!! It sounds delightful!

Here's wishing you many hours of pleasurable drinking!

[Mission Hill S.L.C. Sauvignon Blanc - Semillon (if my memory serves me right..) was the wine that Ingo made my husband and I indentify by blind-tasting when we visited. It was really lovely]