Since we can't really travel anywhere right now one of the popular social media activities right now is for people to post pics of places that have made them happy. You know the pics, the ones you look at and you get that feeling of calm and happiness inside. I've decided to do that for this week's edition of Travel Tuesdays.
This is the 21sr edition from my self isolation of sorts . . .
One of the popular social media activities right now is for people to post pics of places that have made them happy. You know the pics, the ones you look at and you get that feeling of calm and happiness inside. I've decided to do that for this week's edition of Travel Tuesdays.
This is the 15th edition from my self isolation. In case you're wondering about the theme . . . I've not had my breakfast yet and am hungry.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has kicked the crap out of small businesses Some have just shuttered Others have adopted to different business models in order to stay solvent.Niagara wineries have been particularly hard hit. The wine business is never an easy one but 202o seems to have them in its crosshairs between a catastrophic loss of business (including the lucrative restaurant sales) and a brutal polar vortex last week.
I received an email this week from one of my favourite wineries - Westcott Vineyards. They were offering a special treat for wine club members - a private tasting of some new wines. Paul and I booked a appointment for Saturday.
Westcott does a neat thing in regular times . . .on Friday nights they bring in a visiting chef and they have a fireside dinner next to their ginormous fieldstone fireplace in the tasting room. We went to a dinner there back in December (goodness, it all sees so long ago now . . .). The chef team was a duo called Ricky and Olivia. The vibe was fabulous and the food even better. When the pandemic hit the fireside dinners stopped. Westcott also has a seasonal patio which features Ricky and Olivia working their magic in an outdoor kitchen.
Rickey and Olivia have been doing curbside pick up meals and they had one last weekend at Westcott. The menu looked amazing:
House Brioche Dinner Roll
Living Green Salad
Greenhouse lettuces, local cherry tomatoes, pickled red onion, Thornloe blue cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds, R+O garden herb vinaigrette
Wood Oven Roasted Striploin
Ontario beef, wild leek mashed potatoes, wood oven roasted+glazed carrots, Westcott Pinot Noir gravy
So we ordered three dinners to go - lord knows after 9 weeks of being shut in her house mom deserved a treat as well!
We arranged to pick the dinners up after the wine tasting.
Then as fate would have it, another of our favourite wineries (Sue Ann Staff) released a new rosé - the 2018 Windsock Rosé Cabernet Sauvignon. She calls it Ontario's most high flying rosé. The winery isn't opened for visits but they do have curbside pick up. You call ahead, order and pay, and when you get to the winery honk at the back door. While that sounds a bit cketchy to me as I type it the reality is anything but.
Our three bottles of pre-ordered wine were placed in the back of the car and we headed off to Westcott.
I was a bit surprised at the number of cars in the lot. It turned out that any people took advantage of the gorgeous day to hang out on socially distanced chairs and sip wine overlooking the vineyard after their tastings.
We went inside and were seated well away from the other couple in the room. We tasted 9 of their wines, including the new sparkling rosé which was amazing.
After the tasting we headed outside to those socially distant chairs and enjoyed sitting in the sun, looking at the vineyards, and sipping a glass of rosé.
This is exactly what I needed!
Later we picked up the meals we had ordered (and a case of wine!) and headed home.
Dinner was every bit as good as we had anticipated.
It did our souls good to get outside.
Given we have the luck by nature of our work of both still being employed and earning our regular salary it is important to us to support those small local businesses.
More shots from out mid-winter trek to the Central Coast Wine Country of California.
A couple of years ago we were in the central coast wine region of California at the end of January/beginning of February. We sipped on our own for a bit before meeting with some of our amazing travel pals for fun in wine country.
You know that we have made it home in one piece (flight cancellations aside) but there is still one last day of our vacation to cover.
Hard to believe it was 8 days ago!
Vacation memories fade quickly when you hit the wall of work.
Our last full day in the Okanagan was a travel day. Basically we were packing up the car in Naramata, heading north along the west side of Lake Okanagan (and through the fire zone) to Kelowna where we would stay the rest of the day, spend the night, and fly home the next morning.
Because we are who we are we were packed and ready to go before we needed to be. We couldn't leave a second before our 10:30 departure time though. We relaxed and enjoyed our last glimpses of this view . . .
SIGH
Unable to stop time, we hopped in the car and headed towards Kelowna.
Traffic was quite light - I suspect because of the fires. When we got to the fire zone the highway was open and there were no delays although it was eerie looking at the blackened earth and the still-smouldering stumps. There were a number of police cars with flashing lights blocking off exits and areas that were still evacuated.
We had lunch reservations for 1:00 - I had built in time since I assumed we would be delayed. Since there was no delay we had plenty of time to spare. We went back to Canoe coffee for one last really, really good coffee from a local, independent coffee spot.
We also decided to pop into the chocolate shop next door. We saw it before we headed south into wine country but never stopped in. A number of wineries featured their chocolates so we decided to stop. Karat chocolate uses single origin chocolate and all natural flavoring and additives - many of them local. For example, the cherry and apricots truffles featured centers made from fruit bought from an area farmer that week. The chocolates are beautiful - almost too good to eat - but the flavour! You'll want to eat them. :-)
We drove through Kelowna on the back roads to Gray Monk Estates. I wanted one last lunch with a view. Other winery restaurants were booked up and a friend had recommended Gray Monk. They were able to accommodate us with a reservation so we were set.
We were still early for our reservations so we did a tasting first. The wines were delicious and reasonable priced so we joined the wine club. Just what we need . . . another wine club membership. :-)
We headed downstairs to the restaurant and were given a table at the edge of the patio with a fabulous view of the lake.
Lunch was excellent.
Bread basked with flavoured butters and cherry spread.
Arancini with crab and Gruyere dip.
Warm poached apple salad.
Bison burger.
Steelhead filet.
One last amazing lunch with a view.
Our next stop was our hotel - a brand new Holiday Inn express. It was nice and well located. Being brand new was also a plus.
We rested up after our HUGE lunch and just hung out. There was a lot more we would have done in Kelowna but frankly after a couple of weeks of being on the go we just wanted to hang out a bit and take it easy.
Later we had dinner in a local brew pub which had excellent beer but only OK food.
We woke up to a happy sight . . .
. . . and we were off on our marathon travel day!
Yesterday was the laziest of lazy summer vacation days. It was also our last full day in the area. There may be a connection.
It started off like all other days:
Sipping coffee, taking in the view.
Breakfast was a bit of a 'clean out the refrigerator' affair.
Then we napped a bit.
Then we read and relaxed.
Followed by lunch.
We headed out shortly before 2:00.
I had mode an appointment at La Frenz winery for a 2:00 PM tasting. La Frenz sits on the Naramata Bench just north of Penticton.
The eastern side of Okanagan Lake basks in warm, sunny days, resulting in a super-long growing season. The moderating effects of the lake and gentle slopes minimize the incidence of frosts, enabling growers to harvest fruit at optimum maturity.
La Frenz focuses on producing premium table wines. They use state-of-the-art deficit irrigation and canopy management techniques to provide consistently high-quality fruit. This enables La Frenz to produce powerful, fruit-forward styles that reflect the vineyard terroir. The winery employs the most gentle processing equipment available, traditional small barrel usage, and winemaking techniques that results in wine styles with layering and complexity.
While a small winery they have won some prestigious awards.
They offer seated tastings, we opted to sit out on the patio to enjoy the view.
A view that was featured on the Canadian 100 dollar bill for much of the 1950s and 60s (although with all of those grape vines).
We opted for the reserve tasting. the server brought out each bottle, poured a generous tasting, and explained about the production of each, potential pairings, etc. It was a great way to do a wine tasting.
We bought three bottles of wine to add to our collection.
Now about that collection. Over our 8 days in the Okanagan we have amassed many bottles of wine. So many that our original shipping plans would no longer work.
We investigated a bit and discovered a company that would ship wine back to Ontario.
In the end the cost for shipping was less expensive than our original plan of checking the cases on the plane would have been. It also meant far less schlepping of wine through the airport!
After we dropped the wine off we decided to visit the waterfront.
It was far less busy today than it had been last Saturday. We wandered about and made a point of getting ice cream from the Giant Peach (which was closed for the season when we were last in town).
I had offered to pay for Paul to go parasailing but he would have none of it.
Darn.
We relaxed some more when we got back to the house.
Later we finished off the cheese, meats and crackers.
I ordered pizza and wings from the local pizza spot to go with the last if Paul's amazing salad.
One last sunset (made even more colourful thanks to all of that smoke) and then it was time to start packing.
Paul and I are really getting into this vacation thing. We have few set plans. Yesterday after we were done breakfast we relaxed a bit and thought about what we wanted to do. Not having an agenda is nice.
We decided to head south a bit and pay a return visit to Liquidity winery for lunch. Not far from Liquidity is Blue Mountain winery - one I had heard good things about. North of the two, on the way back to Penticton, is Painted Rock winery - one I wanted to visit when were last in the region but it was still on winter hours and closed for visitors.
Suddenly we had a plan!
First up was Blue Mountain.
For more almost 40 years the Mavety family has been farming grapes in the southern Okanagan Valley. A series of glacial lakes and rivers comprises the valley, each surrounded by cliffs of granite, making for magical scenery and virtually perfect conditions for grape growing. The soils vary widely from the northern to the southern ends of the valley, but are generally comprised of well-drained glacial moraines and sedimentary erosion deposits.
The extremely dry climate eliminates the concerns that most wine grapes face: rot, mildew and rains at bud break or at harvest. This allows Blue Mountain to minimize most crop applications and employ organic and sustainable practices to produce beautiful fruit. Since the first vintage in 1991, they have always focused on Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Gamay Noir and Pinot Noir. Blue Mountain is known for their traditional method sparkling wines.
The wines were every bit as delicious as we had heard. It was also nice to enjoy a quiet tasting - it seems as if not many people make it this high on the mountain.
We were early for our lunch reservations so we hung out on their patio and enjoyed the view for a bit.
Liquidity winery is on the way back down the mountain. We weren't here to taste the wine s- we had done that on Monday - instead we were there to try the bistro which looked fabulous but our timing was off on Monday. We were early for our reservation so we wandered around the looked at the grounds as they have a number of interesting garden and art installations.
(next pic was taken at our house in case you are wondering what the inspiration was for that last sculpture).
We were seated on the terrace for lunch with a beautiful view overlooking an infinity fountain and down to the valley below.
The restaurant does some interesting things with fresh herbs and vegetables, they also practice some molecular gastronomy so there were interesting foams and crisps. We ordered rose wine and the chips and dips to start with.
Those chips were outstanding. The first tow on the left were made from carrots and beets. I can guarantee that you have never had carrots and beets like this! All four chip styles were wonderful and so was the fennel dip they were served with.
For our mains we ordered the specials of the day - the pizza special had a garlic scape base, cheddar cheese, bacon, potato, a poached egg, and smoked hollandaise. The sandwich was house cured coppa, roasted vegetables, and smoked gouda cheese on their red fife bread.
People online have complained about the portion size. Not sure what they were expecting buy we both felt quite happy with what we received.
We still had room for a light dessert. I ordered the honeycomb which was served with milk crisps, some fresh herbs and fruit. It also had a sauce made from sorrel I believe.
This was one of our favourite lunches of the trip - amazing and inventive food, the amazing view, that delicious wine, and well, the company was grand as well. :-)
Our last stop before we headed home was Painted Rock winery. I think i was first drawn to this spot because of the pictures online of the beautiful facilities The I read the reviews of the wines and was sold.
A few years ago when we were first in the area I tried to visit but like many wineries in the region they shut down for most of October to May. I could have called ahead to make an appointment but had assumed they were like wineries in Ontario and pretty well always open.
On this visit I checked the hours.
Am I ever glad that I did.
The tasting room is stunning, and yes, so were the wines.
We met the owner (the guy in the black t-shirt above) who chatted with us about their philosophy and the wines. The Bordeaux blend we tried last is going to fly off of the shelves in a few months - it will be featured on the cover of decanter magazine as one of the best in the world - the first Canadian red wine to win that distinction.
The tasting room has a patio from which you can see most of the property and look down to the valley below.
(sorry for the jagged edges to that pic - you can see I am still learning how to use the panoramic setting on my camera)
I sure will miss vies like this when I am back in ONtario next week.
Boo hoo.
We relaxed the rest of the day back at the house. The smoky air makes breathing difficult at times and Paul has hurt his back (likely from carrying all of those cases of wine) so we were happy to lounge about and read.
Before dinner we enjoyed the cheeses we bought at the Poplar Grove cheese maker and a bottle of Pinot Gris.
The sunset, coloured by all the smoke, was beautiful.
Just another day in BC wine country . . . .
Yesterday was a strange day for us. It started peacefully. The smoke from the fires seemed to be dissipating which was a good thing.
As I was sipping my morning coffee and thinking about how much I could get used to this view, I noticed a plume of smoke to the north of that fire but thought nothing of it.
After breakfast we had our usual conversation about what we felt like doing during the day. Paul wanted to visit a winery in Summerland that we had been to on our last visit. It was not far from one that I wanted to visit so we set out.
The Okanagan Crush Pad was our first stop. It is designed as a hub for local winemakers. Heritage techniques, modern knowledge and the spirit of collaboration fuse to form a vanguard for the Okanagan’s next generation of wine making. Okanagan Crush Pad’s labels include the single vineyard Haywire collection, Narrative series and Campus wines.
When we arrived there was a semi parked in front of the facility - it was a portable bottling machine filling bottles with the latest vintage.
The tasting room is small and it was crowded with a large group. Once they left we were able to enjoy a tasting of 8 wines.
The winemaker uses a very minimalist approach: wild fermentations and innovative techniques like using concrete tanks and relying on the flavour you get in the grapes with good organic farming. You won’t find new oak or any flavourings or additives that change the taste of the wines—these are about texture as well as complex and evolving flavours.
Our second winery was Dirty Laundry. Dirty Laundry is fun - with a story that starts in the late 1800s when a railway worker decided to open a laundry/bordello and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Dirty Laundry Vineyard, and its jaw-dropping gorgeous scenery that produces outstanding wines, has become a destination. It was the most commercial of the wineries we have visited but NOTHING like one would see in California. It was also the place where we least enjoyed the wines - they were good, but the wines at our other destinations have been GREAT!
Lunch was a picnic on the patio at Bench 1775, the winery below our house. Bench 1775 has two patios - the lower one is for picnics, the upper one is reserved for those who are served food prepared on site. I went in and bought a bottle of wine. they have some weird rules with certain wines being only available on the picnic patio and others only available on the full service patio. Once I navigated that I had a bottle of white merlot on ice and two wine glasses.
Paul had set up on a sunny table outside with a gorgeous view.
Apparently our sandwiches looked really good - someone came up and asked where we had bought them since they looked amazing. I think if we move to wine country I have a business proposition - making picnics. LOL
It was an amazing way to enjoy lunch - and would have been more amazing had it not been for the loud folks at a large table beside us. :-)
Other than the loud dudes discussing 'hat' size ad nauseam it was peaceful and relaxing sitting at the edge of the cliff overlooking the lake. To our left workers were tending the vines, in front of us people were out on the water enjoying themselves, I won't go on about loud people on the right. LOL The sky was a gorgeous blue with those fluffy, wispy, white clouds bouncing about.
Back at the house we relaxed in the full heat of the sun.
Naramata has a market on Wednesday afternoons so we thought we'd go and check it out to see if we could find anything for dinner. Most of the vendors were selling crafts or were information booths. They also had food trucks. Lots of people from the area were wandering about enjoying themselves.
We didn't buy much - some iced coffee from a local coffee roaster, scones for breakfast, soap, and two hand pies made with fresh, local fruit for dessert. Dinner remained a mystery until we stopped at the Naramata General Store and picked up some sausages and buns. Now dinner was planned. We would finally use the grill.
The wind had certainly picked up at this point and with it the fire over in Peachland. That small plume of smoke from the morning was a raging torrent now.
You can barely make out a water bomber in that picture - we counted 12 - they would swoop down to the surface of the water, skim along it to fill their tanks, take off again to douse the flames. It was fascinating to watch. The air was full of the hum of the planes and helicopters which carried huge containers of water up from the lake.
We are completely safe on our side of the lake. The only challenge is that the highway to Kelowna, the one we need to use on Saturday, is right in the middle of that smoke. in fact, for much of yesterday afternoon the highway was either closed or held to one lane both ways with cars requiring an RCMP escort.
Hopefully things will be under control in a few days.
Over here on this side of the lake, the locals are just going about their business as normal, you hear the odd conversation about the infamous 2003 fire which destroyed 238 homes, 25,900 hectares, and forced the evacuation of more than 33,000 people. It was also started by a lightning strike.
The winds really picked up at dusk and it was not long before you could see the flames up and down the side of the mountain.
A scary reminder of the power of Mother Nature.
Yesterday started peacefully and ended with 13 fires raging in the area and the humming of water bombers overhead as they fought the fires.
Back to the beginning.
The owner of our house provided an interesting self-guided tour of Naramata. We decided to visit some of the spots that she had identified.
The first was Creek Park. This park is basically a hiking trail that follows Camp Creek through a gully that leads to a more canyon-like area covered in beautiful waterfalls. It was a great trail to follow in the summer - you would never know it was 34 + degrees out under the shade of the trees.
I didn't have proper hiking shoes so we didn't go all the way along the trail . . . something for the next visit I guess. I my defense, one of the last conversations that Paul and I had before we left home was 'should I bring hiking shoes' and he replied 'no, we won't be going on any hikes, save room in your suitcase'. My fault for listening to him!
The next stop on the tour was Elephant Island Winery. Elephant Island is one of the original five wineries on the Naramata Bench and this was something a little different on our wine trail: a family run winery specializing in fruit wines. Situated in the heart of region's idyllic wine country, their orchards bear all kinds of fruit, from apricots to cherries, pears, and blackcurrants.
Normally I am not a fan of fruit wines, however I had read such rave reviews about this place that I had to try some. The reviews were right!
The tour continued along the old main street into Naramata. It was a picturesque road with orchards heading down to the shore on one side and towering wind-carved clay cliffs on the other side. In Naramata we parked and wandered the town - it is small so our wandering didn't take too long. Long enough, however that we were hungry.
The woman in the lavender shop told us that we needed to stop at Legends Distillery for lunch . . . so we did.
Urtica Eatery is 100% Naramata owned and operated. They either grow everything themselves or source from neighbouring farms as many of the vegetables, fruits and herbs as possible. As well, they serve only sustainably farmed meats, seafood, dairy and eggs. We ate out on the patio with spectacular views of Okanagan Lake.
Of course we had to start off with a cocktail featuring their own liquor.
For our lunch we started off with the sticky pork belly bites made sticky with local dandelion honey and served with apple salata. I had a buttermilk brined chicken breast sandwich and Paul the cheeseburger. Everything was delicious. Between the stunning view, amazing food, and great drinks you definitely want to stop in here if you are ever in the area.
We decided to take a break from the heat for a bit and relax back in the house. Hot summer vacation days are wonderful for lounging in the shade with a good book!
Before we knew it it was dinner time . . .
We started cocktail hour with a bottle of the prosecco style bubbly wine from Liquidity. This was AMAZING and the bottle went down so quickly.
It was a simple dinner - salad made by Paul and a sandwich made by Jerry.
As we were getting ready for dinner the clouds that were blanketing the sky decided that they were more than clouds - we were treated to a bit of a thunder and lightening show!
This pic shows how localized the rain was though . . .
We only received drops here and there but other areas had a downpour.
Soon the clouds and storm show and moved on and we sat outside and relaxed.
I LOVE vacation. :-)
As we sat there we both thought that we smelt smoke. I got up and looked around and sure enough we saw a huge plume of smoke rising across the lake.
It wasn't long before the smoke was billowing, you could hear the sirens from emergency vehicles, and there was a hum of water bombers in the air. At one point we saw 15 aircraft in the air dousing the fire with water and fire retardant.
I realize that for those folks who live in the area fires and summer go hand and hand. For us though we were mesmerized by the action.
We later read that there were 13 fires started by lightning strikes including two on our side of the lake (which was likely the cause of the smoke that we smelt).
I didn't take this picture (it was on twitter), but this is the lightning strike that caused the large fire.
The combination of residual clouds and the smoke meant we were in for an amazing sunset . . .
Just another amazing day in the south Okanagan . . .