Victoria
Okanagan
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Fri Apr 10

After landing at the Kelowna airport we rented a car. It was 20 degrees and sunny in Kelowna, so we were sweating by the time we reached our car, but we’d cooled off by the time we drove to our AirBnB in West Kelowna.

We were scheduled for dinner just minutes down the road at Quail’s Gate, but after the previous nights’ onslaught we couldn’t handle another big dinner. We cancelled that reservation and, in a fit of misguided nostalgia, opted to pick up donairs instead. Then back to the AirBnB to watch the new season of Temptation Island. Trash for the body, trash for the mind.

On the plus side, it felt REAL good to sleep in a king bed again.

Sat Apr 11

So good, in fact, that we slept right in. I got up, made myself coffee, and sat on the deck with it, looking out at the lake.

We still got our meal in at Quail’s Gate, though: we booked in for brunch, and drove the ~20 seconds down the road to the winery. Their restaurant is meant to be very good, and the brunch (with a jazz duo!) didn’t disappoint. We had:

• appetizers
  • salad
  • whipped nduja sausage, honey & mint gastrique, grilled sourdough
    • 2016 reserve Chardonnay for Lindsay
• mains
  • Dan: cassoulet w/ unearthed farm beans, lamb merguez sausage, duck leg confit, pork belly, poached egg
    • 2023 Stewart family reserve Pinot Noir
  • Lindsay: liège waffles & duck leg confit w/ poached egg, duck & foie gras gravy, crispy duck skin
    • 2023 Estate Pinot Noir

We did a quick tasting afterward, which wasn’t great — the kid who did our tasting was on his second day, bless him, and didn’t know any of the tasting notes. Plus, it was way too busy in there — we felt like we were inconveniencing them by buying two expensive bottles of wine. Anyway.

We drove across the lake to Kelowna, where we tried to go to Cedar Creek, but they weren’t doing regular tastings, just some kind of rosé launch party, so we changed plans. For some reason I forgot Martin’s Lane was right next door, but no matter: we drove to Tantalus instead, and it was excellent. It was busy, but they got us a table, and we dove in. The tasting room manager Alexa looked after us (which meant she got occasionally called away to tend to some bachelorette party departing at the same time, or by a cute dog named Tobias), but we tasted through their lineup and loved just about everything, including the view.

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We left with a plan to order a case, and maybe join the wine club if we didn’t find anything down the valley that convinced them otherwise.

[Narrator: “They did not find anything down the valley that convinced them otherwise.”]

It was getting late in the day now, so we drove back across to West Kelowna and got ourselves ready for dinner, again near the AirBnB. I’d never been to Mission Hill, but I’d had their wine. While they had only a limited menu for their indoor restaurant at this time of year, we still got to take in the grandeur of the place. It really is quite a spectacular spot.

While we table had none of that view, our meal was nonetheless very delicious:

• bread
• ravioli doppi: roasted squash, mortadella, walnut
  • 2022 Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon (terrace exclusive)
• braised beef shoulder stuffed with mushroom, w/ estate honey glazed beets, pommes duchesse
  • 2022 terroir collection Meritage
• apricot kernel flan w/ oat crumble, dark cherry compote
  • 2014 terroir collection “Silver Ranch” Riesling icewine

Our server Mackenzie’s’s family was also from the east coast, and she visited PEI each summer, so we bonded over that a bit.

We got home just in time to beat a heavy rainstorm. Considering we’d already been in BC for a week in early April, and this was the first rain we’d seen, we felt pretty lucky.

Sun Apr 12

We woke up to find the rain had mostly stopped, which bode well for our drive. We showered, packed up, departed, and headed south. First stop: coffee and maple-glazed bannock at Kekuli. After that we had a lovely drive along the lake to Penticton.

We weren’t sure where to eat lunch. The two spots Lindsay narrowed it down to while I drove were a Turkish placed called Elma on the lakefront, and Kin & Folk on main street. We opted for the former. We had Cilbir and Sucuklu Yumurta and a cocktail (sans alc for me) which was okay, but not great, and certainly not a lot of food. So we went on our way, and did something slightly nuts: we drove downtown and ate a second half-lunch at Kin & Folk. Okay, maybe 3/4 of a lunch:

• Mr.Chan’s Family Fried Rice w/ egg, “perfectly seasoned ham”, secret family sauce, bok choy, marinated shiitake mushrooms, braised daikon, fried tofu
• Korean Fried Bao Buns w/ chicken, baek-kimchi, kewpie mayo, crispy things, cilantro
• Roasted Sesame Salad w/ water chestnuts, pickled carrot & daikon, cherry tomatoes, beets, crispy noodles, cashew, ricotta, roasted sesame vinaigrette
• cock/mocktails

Completely stuffed, we kept heading south to Okanagan Falls. We stopped at Liquidity Wines, which had been recommended by our waiter in Victoria two days prior. The first thing we noticed was the incredible view:

The next thing we noticed was that the wines were pretty good. We satin the sunshine and admired the view, got some tastings of off-limits bottles, and ended up shipping a few home to Toronto.

A short drive later and we were in Osoyoos, checking in at Spirit Ridge just across the lake. We had the upper floor of a townhouse, with lots of space and a view of both the lake and the mountains. I opened the bottle of Quail’s Gate pinot we’d brought down from Kelowna, sat on our patio, and took in the view.

Dinner that night was in the onsite restaurant, The Bear, The Fish, The Root & The Berry:

• cocktails
  • Anarchist Mountain Whisky Sour: Tumbleweed Anarchist Mountain Canadian Whisky, fresh lemon juice, maple syrup, egg white, Angostura bitters (Dan)
  • Stoneboat Vineyards Bubble Boat Brut (Lindsay)
• appetizers
  • fry bread w/ berry wojape & sunny butter
  • Three Sisters salad w/ local greens, beans, corn, roasted squash, toasted pumpkin seeds, maple mint dressing
• mains
  • pan seared West Coast salmon filet w/ roasted red pepper sauce, coconut wild rice blend, 3 sister sauté veg, sweet & sour escabeche (Lindsay)
  • confit duck leg w/ white bean cassoulet, chard & chard chutney, elk chorizo, beets, saskatoon berries (Dan)
  • bottle of Blue Mountain Reserve Cuvee Pinot Noir
• dessert
  • “Mushroom”: caramel & white chocolate mousse,  salty caramel,  pear compote,  almond sponge cake,  feuilletine,  peach pate de fruit,  chocolate crumble,  sponge cake,  sweet rock,  tuile leaf

The food was good, if unspectacular, but that dessert was a work of art. They even let us take it back to our room (along with the rest of the bottle of wine) because Lindsay wasn’t feeling great. We ate it, and drank the wine, and watched more Temptation Island.

Mon Apr 13

After a decent sleep, we slowly mobilized for an afternoon of wine tasting. First, though: lunch. We stopped at Queen Of The South on the way through Osoyoos for coffees and huge sandwiches, then drove north.

Our first stop was Phantom Creek, one long on my radar. It is a stunning winery in a gorgeous location, and the wines kept up with the scenery. We liked everything we tried, and ordered one of each to be sent to our home.

Next up was Burrowing Owl, which TBH is showing its age a bit. Still, we enjoyed about half of what we tasted, and left with a couple bottles. Last stop of the day was Nk’Mip, right next door to our hotel, and an old favourite. We got there just before closing so the tasting room was nearly empty, and we got to have a little extra chitchat with our pourer. We left with three bottles.

We chilled in the room a bit before we realized we’d need more food, so we did the easy thing and went back to The Bear, The Fish, The Root & The Berry. We kept it simpler this time:

• appetizer
  • Bannock w/ black bean hummus, roasted vegetable ratatouille, sunflower seed romesco, corn & hot pepper succotash
• mains
  • pan seared Pacific Lingcod w/ chestnut pasta, peas, chorizo, spinach, white onion velouté (Lindsay)
    • glass of Hester Creek Winery Viognier
  • 6oz bison flatiron steak w/ steak fries, spicy green salad, chimi chimi, garlic aioli (Dan)
    • glass of Road 13 Select Harvest 74 K Block

We were feeling a little pooped; all we could manage to do was finish Temptation Island so we could leave that silliness behind us.

Little did we know, plenty more silliness would ensue shortly.