Well, I'm back.

In case you didn't actually realize that I was gone, allow me to explain. Thursday - Saturday of last week were spent on a trip through the Okanagan valley. A WINE TRIP. We stayed with Angela's grandparents in Summerland, but most of our time was spent visiting just a fraction of the may various wineries in the region.

We started off with a trip to Summerland Sweets: which makes, among other items, delicious fruit-based syrups which go great on pancakes, ice cream, etc. Coincidentally, they have just started their own fruit winery: Sleeping Giant Vineyards. From them I got many sweet treats and two bottles of a delicious Strawberry-Rhubarb wine. I've had strawberry wine before, and though it sounds like a good idea it generally comes out ridiculously sweet. Sleeping Giant's Strawberry-Rhubarb was balanced out by the tart rhubarb. Very good.

Because we couldn't avoid the novelty factor, our next stop was just down the road. It turns out Summerland once hosted a Chinese laundry which was actually a front for a brothel ("Ancient Chinese secret, huh?"). So the vineyard which is now located there is called (wait for it) Dirty Laundry. Ba-doom-boom, ching. They had an excellent not-too-sweet rosé which was sold to me in a white paper bag with a clothespin. As we enjoyed their vine-covered patio, an old steam engine tour-train passed by downhill. Nice.

We moved on to Naramata (across the lake), so we could stop in at Elephant Island Orchard, another fruit winery. The property was beautiful and we sat on the patio while we tried a bit of every one of their wines that was available. Excuse the cliché, but they've taken fruit wine to the next level. My purchase there was a dark, peppery blackcurrant wine, which I feel will go great with a steak and some roasted pepper at some time in the future.

We stopped briefly to have lunch in "downtown" Naramata. We also walked along a bit of the trail that used to be the Kettle Valley railroad. And I got that song stuck in my head, which no doubt annoyed Angela because I whistled it endlessly as I drove.

I learned from a Naramata pamphlet that Stone Hill Wines had a distillery on site, so I had to visit. They didn't have any spirits on sale, but used wine-based brandy to fortify their line of ports. The ports were amazing, and included a Gewürtztraminer white port that was delicious. We took some home with us and entered a contest to win a case. Then we decided to call it quits for the day before we spent any more money.

On Saturday, we ventured down to the Oliver-Osoyoos area. We visited Inniskillin, which was somewhat less impressive than I'd hoped. In any case, the whole trip was really just an excuse to see the main attraction: Burrowing Owl Vineyards.

The property alone was worth the trip: Gorgeous rolling hills of grape vines and other beautiful scenery. The place was packed: more packed that any other winery we'd visited. We went on a tour of their winemaking facilities. Tasting cost $2 per person, but unlike some other wineries I shall not name, BOV donates the money to the Burrowing Owl Recovery Society. The wines were amazing. They dismissively noted that their Merlot was only a few weeks old, and was still immature. Nevertheless, it was smoother yet bolder than any red I've had recently, and had an amazing armoa of chestnut wood.

It was an expensive trip, both in terms of gas and wine. But it was SO very fulfilling. We visited only a fraction of the wineries in the area, a surprising number of which were fruit wineries. I could easily make the trip again. I recommend it to anyone who loves wine and is willing to endure a long-ish drive to enjoy great wines and breathtaking scenery.

Cheers!

UPDATE: There are now some pictures.