Still much to blog, and we're only at breakfast on our second day in the Okanagan. The mall (yes, the mall -
let's go to the mall, everybody!) opens in an hour and a half, so we've got a bit of time to get more photos up. And heck, isn't it better to read about our latest jaunt west in nice, digestible bits? (And as it turns out, I'm adding the photos to this on Thursday morning in Vancouver)
Part of the point of this expedition to Kelowna was to visit some wineries, and we managed to get to three on the east side of Okanagan Lake yesterday. It was a pleasant afternoon for a drive, though we might have liked it a bit sunnier. Ah well.
Up first:
Cedar Creek. We'd had their wines before in restaurants, and thought they were nice. That's faint praise, I know, and to be honest, I don't know that we had ever had their better wines, truly. Still, the name is an appealing one, and we wanted to visit it, so at about 2:30 we pulled up to the winery shop on its hillside perch.
Once inside, Conrad, Roy, and I opted to pay to taste the higher end wines. The result? A few purchases. The 2005 Platinum Reserve Pinot Noir, the 2005 Estate Select Chardonnay, and the 2005 Estate Select Syrah. Roy found them a bit dry, so he opted out of the pricier tastings and went for the more basic ones before settling on a bottle of a Dry Riesling to purchase. We also bought an inexpensive red blend in case we wanted something to sip back at the hotel after dinner (we didn't, though). A successful first stop.
Since it was nearby, we thought we'd pop in at
St Hubertus next. We really didn't know their wines well, but heck, why not? One of the co-owners (as it turned out) greeted us in the driveway - he was on duty at meeting visitors and opening the shop for them. A November Monday is not a busy time for visitors at Okanagan wineries, though it is a busy time for the winery workers otherwise. We were delighted to get to come in and see the rebuilt facility - the fires of a few years ago hit some of these wineries hard, and we could see the skeletons of trees up above.
As for the wines, well, we didn't enjoy them as much as we did the ones at Cedar Creek, to be honest. They seemed lighter, thinner, less complex. Still, Roy again liked the Dry Riesling enough to buy it, and I bought one as well. Conrad and I also purchased a Pinot Meunier in part because it's unusual to find such a wine.
We didn't think we would go to any other wineries for the rest of the afternoon, but on the way back into the city we caught sight of the
Summerhill pyramid and detoured slightly to drop in there.
The winery has a terrific view of the lake, and a restaurant taking advantage of that. I think Roy and even Conrad were already a bit tired of tasting, and I have to concede that neither the Pinot Noir Conrad tasted nor the Merlot Roy appealed to any of us. Conrad's Pinot was funky, and not in the desirable way. Roy's Merlot tasted cooked - like it had been kept warm too long. I liked the Cipes Pinot Noir Brut (a rose sparkling wine) enough to buy it, decided against the Ehrenfelser (too cloying), and bought a bottle of the 2005 Enchanted Vines Solus Foch. Interesting smokiness to the wine, so I thought it would be fun to crack open one night down the road.
And with that, it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready for dinner. I don't think we'll get to any wineries today, but with the haul from yesterday afternoon plus a few bottles from the winery we dined at last night, we're nicely set for at least a few days here!
My Thai chicken tacos were not anything close to dinner the night before, but the chicken and slaw were both tasty and light.
In any case, both Mum and Roy quite liked it.
we took the back road through Silver Creek. The late afternoon sun lent the valley a warm glow, and if we weren't trying to get to Gort's Gouda in Salmon Arm before it closed for the day, we might have dawdled on the way home.
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