Wineries

If you ever get to visit British Columbia, Canada - one of the places you have to tour is the Okanagan Valley -  an extension of the California Desert - the tip just curving up over the border into Canada by 100 miles or so.  

Vineyards in the Okanagan

On many drives home from San Francisco, the route I would take would be the I-5 up through the western states -  exiting at Weed, CA....carrying on up Hwy 97 through Oregon and Washington State and up into B.C.  

I have often described The Valley to my American friends like this:  "Picture the Napa Valley with Lake Tahoe in it."  

View from Grey Monk Estate Winery Restaurant - the vines haven't yet sprouted, behind by 6 wks due to a cooler than usual spring

The scenery is picturesque with the beautiful mountains on either side of the valley,  the narrow lake down the middle and grape vines and orchards growing on the sloping hillsides.  

This is the view from my school bus every day when I went to highschool

The south Okanangan, where I grew up, is more arid - semi-desert and has the 100 plus F temperatures in the summer..... tumbleweeds, sagebrush, cacti and your usual Rattlesnakes and scorpions.

 Great wine country!

The north Okanagan is a little greener, but still - great wine country - once again! (can I stress that enough?)

There are over 111 wineries in British Columbia - most of them award-winning VQA (Vintner's Quality Alliance).   One of my favorite things to do in the summer and fall is to take tours through wine country, visiting several along the way. 

You can actually arrange winery tours by bus, train or float plane.  Most of the time we just draw straws for a "designated driver" and go by car.

Grey Monk Estate Winery entrance - mom and dad going in

This time, we gathered with family at the Grey Monk Estate Winery north of Kelowna for Mother's day brunch.  I had only been there once before - back in the 1980s, and it has expanded considerably - now with a restaurant overlooking the Okanagan Lake.

View up the Valley from the Restaurant deck

After dinner, we did some wine-tasting and then carried on to Predator Ridge Golf Course, which I will review later.