You can’t really stay true to the cocktail thing if you’re in the middle of Canadian wine country. So if some place in Osoyoos — or anywhere in the Okanagan Valley, for that matter — is pouring, I’m drinking wine. Better yet, if my resort offers a Kid’z Kamp in the afternoon, I’m off to wineries for a boozy grape escape between the hours of 1 and 4 p.m.
Who says pink wine is so 80s? I proclaim it’s making a comeback. Yum.
First stop: La Stella Winery, a Tuscan-themed outpost in Osoyoos featuring a gorgeous rose wine called La Stellina. We sipped it, along with an un-oaked Chardonnay, a couple of Merlots and a Moscato, while gazing down at Osoyoos Lake as wine guy Wade Martin let us in on some Okanagan wine trends such as gravity-fed crushing (part of what he calls the “honest” wine movement) and Syrah (the “it” grape).
Next stop: Le Vieux Pin Winery, a little taste of France in nearby Oliver, complete with a tasting room modelled after a French train station. We got to watch them bottling Syrah, then retired to the cool tasting room to try it. Needless to say we felt hip sipping the grape-du-jour.
I loved the Syrah at Le Vieux Pin, and the pretty garden out front.
High: Drinking wine.
Low: Abandoning the Syrah mid-pour at 3:30 p.m. to rush back for the end of Kid’z Kamp.
Outcome: Buy a bottle to go and drink it after the kids are in bed!
Drink - Play - Love 