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.