Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

I was absolutely exhausted today. I don’t mean in the evening after a full slate of activities all day, but the exhaustion started from the moment I woke up. I walked down the beach to get my coffee as usual, and on the way home I almost had to stop and take a nap. In fact, when I got back to the motel I did take a nap…and this is at 10am!

At 11am I forced myself up and decided to ride Silver down the west side of Okanagan Lake. I thought the fresh air rushing past my face would perk me up so I rode down to Peachland and back.  It seemed to help a little, and when I returned to Kelowna at 1:00, I grabbed a quick sandwich for lunch and headed out for some more wine touring.

Cedar Creek was the first winery I visited on the Easy Rider Tour 2006.  The wines are great and the winery facility is one of the best around, and I thought that taking their guided tour would be fun. When I arrived I was 45 minutes early for the next scheduled tour, so I went to another nearby facility: the Carmelis Goat Cheese farm!

I enjoy cheese. I’m not afraid to say that. And I really love goat cheese, so this place is usually a must- visit for me. Unfortunately the goats were hiding but I did try some great cheeses and bought a few of them. I was able to finish there and get back to Cedar Creek just in time for the tour.

The tour was a tad uncomfortable because of the heat (which was well over 30 degrees), but it’s a great introduction to the winemaking process and how to properly taste and evaluate wines. I was already familiar with everything after four years of touring, but I was mostly interested in the nostalgia of the tour.  After the tasting at the finale of the tour I bought a few bottles. I went with the Meritage…only because I found out they were sold out of Ehrenfelser! Good thing I stocked up the day before at Summerhill…

I enjoyed that experience so much that I drove up the street to St. Hubertus. This is a very underrated winery. They are very small but their product is superb (although they could use a label redesign). I have a new rule this year to purchase only ONE bottle per winery (a rule I broke last year and lived to regret it for months to come)…but I broke that rule here. The only reason was that the wines are so inexpensive…under priced in my opinion. I went with a Chasselas that I aim to drink with the goat cheese I got at Carmelis, and a Rose that was way too sweet and smooth to resist.

I was in a good groove by this point so I decided to head north of Kelowna to Lake Country to visit Gray Monk. I’ve only been there once before on the Easy Rider Tour 2006, and after I got there I regretted not visiting there again. Most wineries seem to have the same varieties…Reisling, Chardonnay, Merlot, and usually a Meritage…but this place had way more variety, and the quality was amazing. I will not bypass this place again…it’s a nice little gem in Lake Country. I broke my one wine rule again and bought two wines…a Kerner and a Port. I have never bought a Port before, and after one sip I was hooked.

The day ended back at Summerhill Winery for dinner. Unfortunately several order screw ups cast a dark cloud over what should have been a nice dinner on the patio. Afterward I adjourned back to the La Mission for some much needed rest after such a full day.  I was still exhausted.  The ride and the wine helped get me moving, but I was sluggish all day.