My Top 3 British Columbia Winery’s:)

Wine Tours. Glorious wine tours. One of the best past times of my life. I have had the privilege of doing wine tours all over the globe. This time around, I had the pleasure of doing wine touring in my own spectacular Country. It’s often we forget what we have in our own back yard – and this was the perfect opportunity to remind myself of the incredible things we have right here in Canada. Not to mention the incredible vineyards Canada boast’s.

Trust me, seeing as how I was road tripping like a solo rock star, it was only fitting that I wine tasted like a solo rock star.  I took full advantage of being in wine Country while in beautiful British Columbia. Wine is an art, and here in BC wine Country, they take their art seriously. There were so many too choose from, I couldn’t get them all in, but made a massively good effort – if I do say so myself. I was blown away at the beauty of pretty much all of the vineyards I visited. I mean this is British Columbia, it’s over flowing with endless beauty. I also really appreciated the fact that all the winery’s I visited are family run – it definitely adds to their charm.

The wine touring I partook in was between Kamloop’s, Salmon Arm, and Vernon. That being said, as much as I would love to write about every winery I visited, I can’t. That would be very long, and I have so much to tell about at the moment – that I have to narrow it down and tell you about my favorites. So here are my top 3 wineries of this trip.

Monte Creek Ranch just a 10 minute drive outside Kamloops. An area rich in history – the family whom began Monte Creek Ranch, wanted to maintain and cultivate the land. Livestock share the ranch with grape vines and wild stock. They have two vineyards, Lion’s Head Vineyard, and Monte Creek Ranch Vineyard(where the tasting room is located). Everything they grow on the farm and vineyard is organic and chemical free. Just the way I like to live my life. Not to mention, every person working there, was very knowledgeable about about the ranch, and happily shared as much information about it as I could take in. Customer service at it’s finest.

     

They have quite the array of wines, and I love their labeling, just as much as their wine. The view from the tasting room, is as salivating for the senses as is their wine. With majestic mountains sprawling around you for your viewing pleasure.You can sit and enjoy some incredible vino and canape’s while taking it all in. Before you go, don’t forget to top up on all their farm fresh products, including grass fed beef, all the way to honey.  I am happy to say I enjoyed every wine that I sampled, it was hard to choose just one to purchase, as I could have taken a couple cases, but in the end settled on a bottle of the Rose.

Sunnybrae Vineyards & Winery Nestled at the base of the Bastion Mountain and on the shores of the Shuswap Lake, you will find the radiant and meticulously groomed vineyard of Sunnybrae. The staff were also very welcoming and friendly. Sunnybrae has also received awards for their finely crafted wine’s.

    

From the tasting room you have an exquisite view of the lake and Mount Ida.When you step out to the Vineyard, you can not help but be blown away by the picturesque beauty. I had to just stand there and take a hard 10 of basking and taking it all in. When I say it is meticulously groomed, that is no exaggeration.   

They proudly offer wines made from their Kerner, Ortega, Siegerrebe, Schonburger, and Marchel Foch grapes. Once again, not one of their wines I sampled disappointed. However my palette fell head over heels for the Ortega, and the Siegerrebe, and I ended up having to get a couple bottles of each(they had a sale).  What classy lady can say no to a sale?!

Larch Hills Winery A farm winery located at the Northern end of the Okanagan growing region, not far outside of Salmon Arm. There is a nice little drive up the mountain to reach this little stunner, and also warm welcome awaiting you in the tasting room.

  

Larch Hills has some phenomenal wines, and as you can see, have received numerous awards.

 

Specializing in cool climate grape growing, they offer wines made from Ortega, Madeleine Angevine, Madeleine Sylvaner, Siegerrebe, and Agria grapes, grown right there on their vineyard. Also Foch, Merlot, and Pinot Noir grapes outsourced from contract vineyards. I ended  up getting a couple bottles of the Lemberger, as they were so kind enough as to give me one as a gift too.  Being ridiculously good, and very limited due to the fact that there were only so many bottles made from what they yielded from the crop, and its popularity was very large – so they were down to their last few cases.  Now I have more stop that needs to be mentioned. It’s not wine that is produced from what they grow, however it is something even more unique that comes from their crop, that being – Haskap Liqueur.

High Mountain Farm located in Salmon Arm, BC, is the first commercial grower in the North Okanagan of the marvelous haskap berry. Up until this point in my life, I had never even heard of the haskap berry, let alone Haskap Liqueur. However, thank’s to my lovely sister’s recommendation of visiting this particular farm, a whole new world opened up to me. Run by the most lovely family ever, they were more then happy to give me a tour of the 108 year old farm – and teach me everything I needed to know about the wondrous little haskap berry. I learned that not only does the haskap berry contain 3 times more antioxidants then blueberries, there are also various types. Here at the High Mountain Farm they proudly grow, Indigo Yum, Indigo Gem, and Aurora, all grown naturally and pesticide free.

   

Let me tell you, these little berries pack a punch of flavor! Axel and Doris were so amazingly hospitable during my visit, I had the best time ever just visiting with them. Not only did I get to sample some of their delicious berries on ice cream, and some refreshing frozen haskaps.

  

We also cracked open a bottle of the Haskap Liqueur that is not made on the premises, but is made directly from their lovingly grown haskaps.

 

Careful though, haskap’s do stain the fingers. Stopping here was one of the highlights of my trip. Thank you so much High Mountain Farm! Well I can’t wait to go back to BC for round two of my wine tasting adventures. I will happily re-visit any of these places, and can’t wait to check out some new ones. With all my goodies, I was able to share some tasting’s of these fine wines with some other special people along the way of my adventures.

 

Happy wine tasting days!