I have photographic evidence to prove that I have been wine tasting before. Andy also did a blog on it which can be found here. I can’t really remember any of it.
We arrived in Kelowna from Harrison Hot Springs and had a wine tasting tour booked starting at 1pm. Our tour guide, Dagmar, was waiting for us at our RV park, so after a quick check-in, we were in the back of the mini bus and off. Dagmar had another 2 couples to collect en-route, who turned out to be Sharon and Michelle (not a lesbian couple as we first thought) and Haydn and Laura.
Dagmar was brilliant as a tour guide. She was retired and both her and her husband work for a wine touring company. She asked us the right questions that got all 6 of us chatting to each other about where we were from and why we were here.
There were 3 wineries planned. The first one was called Mission Hill and was easily the biggest and most impressive. There was a very organised, hour long tour that Dagmar had booked us onto. Now, I could bore you all by telling you that white wine should be served between 10 and 15 degrees and that red wine should be served between 13 and 18 degrees. I could also bang on about how the thicker the grape means the darker the red wine. Or, I could send you all to sleep by letting you know that the older vines yield less grapes, but the are much more flavoursome. But you’ll be glad to know I won’t ramble on about any of that.
After a short video about how the winery started and grew, we were shown around the place to see the vineyards.
Cazzie loving the scenery
After a quick visit to the cellar to see 1000’s of American and French Oak barrels, we were off to the wine tasting session where we were taught how to taste wine. It’s all about rinsing the pallet, swilling the wine in your glass and slurping the wine in your mouth to get all the flavours. It was a lot of fun – even though we didn’t get that much wine!
The wine was ready and waiting for us, complete with a very unused spitting bucket!
This was a really lovely place to visit, but it all felt a bit impersonal as there were 22 people in our group. Nevertheless, we were so impressed with the wines we tasted, we bought a couple of bottles. I did have a Pinot Noir in my hand, but Dagmar said I should wait and buy a bottle from the next place – and who was I to argue?
The next port of call was Quails’ Gate. This was a much smaller winery, where the tasting took part in a corner of the wine shop. As there was only our group taking the tasting we got a much better, personal service. This is where we learnt that the best wines come from older vines matured in brand new oak barrels. Another fact was that you should ALWAYS decant red wine no matter how cheap. The only red wine that doesn’t need decanting is Pinot Noir.
We were given the chance to have a wander around the place, so after buying the Pinot Noir here (Dagmar was right, it was the best Pinot Noir I have tasted) we took a step outside for a few photos.
Final port of call was an organic winery called Kalala. It was a 10 min drive away and we were all now a few glasses to the good, so the journey was a lot of fun. We arrived at Kalala just in time to see some harvesting taking place.
We were allowed to try these grapes out and they were so juicy and tasty.
We tried another 8 wines here, including an ice wine which is a very sweet dessert wine made from grapes that are picked and crushed when the temperature hits –8 degrees.
Overall, it was a top day. The 6 of us decided to meet up after dinner for some beers at the local dive called Blue Gator. It’s not often I walk into a bar and everyone else is more drunk than I am, but this was the case here. Everyone was smashed and dancing to the amateur blues night that takes place every Sunday. Cazzie and I couldn’t take our eyes off most of the people here as they bounced their way from the bar to the dance floor and back again. It was a brilliant laugh! We did our best to play catchup, but there wasn't enough time before closing.
Kelowna is a brilliant place with red hot summers and cold winters meaning you can spend half your year sunbathing and the other half skiing. There is a buzzing nightlife too with a pretty good casino thrown in. Perfect. The views across the 135kms long Okanagan Lake aren’t bad either!
If you are ever in the region, this place is a must.
All the pictures can be found here.
Stuoobs
xxx
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