Okanagan Wine Trip '07 - Day 2

Day 2 started off with me driving straight down from Kelowna to Osoyoos - about a 90min jaunt. It's pretty amazing how much the climate changes going just this short distance - you pretty much enter a desert. It even looks like the people that built the buildings in Osoyoos thought they were in New Mexico - loads of that 'Santa Fe' sort of architecture.

My day started out at Nk'Mip Cellars. An impressive complex, which includes the winery, a golf course, a resort, and condos.

Wine-wise, I enjoyed both their meritage and Pinot Noirs. The icewine was a bit too cloying for my tastes, as are pretty much all icewines - all sugar and little acid to cleanse the palate.

One amusing point to note - being so close to the border (and also being Memorial Day weekend in the US), this tasting room must have had the highest percentage of American tourists I've ever encountered. Let's just say it was pretty easy to differentiate them from the Canadians.

I hopped back in my car and headed back up to the Oliver area. The next stop on my list was Golden Mile Cellars - a perennial favorite of mine. I tasted a number of their wines. None of the whites they offered jumped out at me this year, but I enjoyed the Road 13 red blend as a fairly straightforward bordeaux-style blend (with a bit of syrah sneaked in there). I also stocked up on the 05 vintage of their Black Arts Pinot Noir. It wasnt open for tasting, but this is a wine I'll buy on spec, after my outstanding experience with the 04 vintage.

Next stop - Desert Hills Estate Winery. This is a small winery on the Black Sage Bench. Last year their estate Syrah blew me away, but alas they are sold out and haven't released the new vintage yet. I tried a couple of their other wines, and quite enjoyed their 'Mirage' - their trade name for their bodeaux blend.

From there, it was off to Burrowing Owl winery. I deemed to give them another shot after my horrendous experience there last summer. The place has been totally redone - the tasting room is in a brand new building (part of their new small resort, which I fully intend to stay in for a couple of nights one of these years) - the original building is now devoted to their restaurant.

I ran through the majority of their wines - I found the whites to be quite pedestrian, while the Pinot Noir was quite enjoyable and fairly approachable (but would age well for a couple of years still), and the '04 Meritage lived up to the reputation of that wine - a great bottle for $45.

I stopped for lunch at the Sonora Room restaurant at Burrowing Owl. Easily one of the most picturesque viewpoints in the Okanagan. I was seated on the patio, high above the vineyards, which rolled down the hill to the edge of the lake. It was an outstanding view. Unfortuntely in my rush to get out of the hotel, I forgot to bring my camera. Lunch consisted of pieces of sauteed free range chicken breast with a wild mushroom ragout, served over a roasted garlic an asiago polenta cake, with grilled asparagus. Dessert was an interesting take on a white chocolate tiramisu.

From there, it was about a 45 minute drive back north to the Naramata Bench. My first stop here was at La Frenz, another of my favorite wineries. Unfortunately, I came out a bit too early this year, and many of the wines (specifically the reds) haven't been released yet. I consoled myself with a couple of bottles of Riesling, and was on my way.

I wound my way up the road to Therapy Vineyards. As a whole, I wasn't really blown away by the wines here. The 'Super Ego' showed some promise, so I purchased a bottle.

One last stop for the day at Lake Breeze. I again ran through the list of wines available for tasting, and found them all to be pretty pedestrian - nothing really jumped out at me here.

Then it was back to the hotel to relax for a bit before heading out for dinner. I went for a walk around the shoreline, trying to decide where to go for dinner, and came across DJ's in the Grand Okanagan hotel. DJ's is a 'Mexican Fusion' restaurant - this aint Taco Bell, folks. Nice atmposphere instide - the music seemed to alternate between Santana and Shakira. I started out with a chicken quesadilla with cilantro pesto and homemade salsa fresca - really flavorful. My main course was a Baked steak burrito - a massive tortilla stuffed with large chunks of grilled steak, refried beans, cheese, and salsa, dressed with a bit of sour cream, and served with refried beans and rice. An outstanding meal, considering the fairly reasonable pricing. After a hard day of wine tasting, I chose to wash all this down with a couple of cervezas.

That was about it for day 2. Sunday will be the finish of the wine tastings, and then the journey back to Calgary on Monday.

Okanagan Wine Trip '07 - Day 1

Day 1 - May 25th

Well, here we go again for my annual jaunt through the Okanagan wine country. Having done this twice before, I have a better feel for where to go, where not to go, and how to pace my trip.

Armed with my trusty laptop, this time around I can blog as I go and give you daily updates - just like a real journalist would!

I left Calgary just after 10AM.. After a quick stop in Golden for some lunch, I made it into the Okanagan around 4:00PM local time.. Since it was early enough and it was on the way, I figured I'd stop in at Arrowleaf cellars - a great way to start my trip, being that they're one of my favorite wineries here..

I tasted about 5 of the usual suspects:

White Feather - their house white blend - a nice quaffable white - not a lot of depth here, but great for patio season.

Red Feather - my favorite wine here - their Rose blend - after some sweet-talking, I managed to get my hands on a half a case of the as yet unreleased 2006 vintage (already a silver medal winner) - primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay this year. Looking forward to the hot weather to drink some of this!

Chardonnay - a decent Okanagan chard - very little oak, unlike so many of the bottles coming out of California

Solstice - their red blend, primarily Merlot and Zweigelt.. I wasn't blown away, but I'm usually not by their reds. They just seem better at the whites and rose.

Vidal (I cant remember the name - its new for them) - it's an off-dry white - the grapes are picked at the same time as the one they use for their late-harvest vidal, so you can guess that the sugar content is pretty high to start with. I assumed that they fermented it for a bit longer to get the excess sugar out - this seemed to be confirmed by the relatively high 13.6% alcohol content..

All in all, I walked out of Arrowleaf with a case of wine for myself and some friends..

After Arrowleaf, I headed straight into downtown Kelowna to check into the Royal Anne Hotel - I like this hotel - reasonably priced, and just a block from the waterfront. And - it's a nice 5 block walk away from...

Bouchons Bistro. Ahhhh...

Once again, my love affair with this restaurant has been rekindled for another year. I walked in a little before 7, and as always, the owner / Maitre'd was out front to greet me - showed me to a table on the patio. Over the next 90 minutes, I was back in culinary heaven.. I started out with French onion soup simmered with Chablis, paired up with a glass of Alstian Geuwurtztraminer. Following that was a duo of duck leg confit, with some mushrooms sauteed with pork belly, some seasonable vegetables, and of course the obligatory pommes frites (this is a brasserie style restaurant after all).. I paired that up with a glass of Quail's Gate Reserve Pinot Noir, which worked nicely. I followed up the main course with a chilled lavendar souflee with passionfruit puree, paired up with a glass of their house sauternes. Add on an espresso, and I was 'fini'.

I followed up that fabulous meal with a trip to the casino.. I think I will now write a book of my experiences, titled "How to lose at blackjack like a professional".. Up until tonight, I didn't think it would be possible to lose so much money while holding 19 or 20 in your hand. Fortunately, the other gents at the table were having similar luck.

So, now its time to retire for the evening, and prepare for Day 2. Saturday is my day to conquer the southern Okanagan, and hopefully squeeze in a couple more good meals to boot.

Cheers!