Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009

Another hot sunny day in the Okanagan…and a great one for a road trip to Naramata!

My day started early as usual with a walk to Starbuck’s followed by some reading and relaxing in the morning sun. At 11am I strapped on the riding leathers and headed south on Highway 97 with the goal of having a patio lunch and visiting Elephant Island Winery.

I reached the Naramata Bench on the east side of Penticton close to 1pm. After finding that Red Rooster was closed, I went down the road to the Hillside Winery to enjoy a quick bistro lunch on their patio. Shortly afterward I was back on the winding and hilly Naramata Road heading to Elephant Island…an orchard winery that I’ve enjoyed visiting every year I come to wine country.

The winery did not disappoint. They let me taste their wines on the patio in the midday sun. There was nothing new, and most of the flavours I’ve always enjoyed came right back to me. I’ve adopted a new policy of buying just one bottle (yesterday I was on a slippery slope to multiple bottles), and I decided on the Apricot dessert wine.

On the way home I decided to visit Red Rooster Winery, but it seemed busy and the staff simply ignored me as I approached the tasting bar. Not one who is easily ignored, I took this as a sign that they were not interested in my business, so we left. Anybody who is a fan of Red Rooster can consider this a negative review. I went across the street to Ruby Tuesday Winery instead for a tasting.  At this point I noticed some rain clouds and decided to get back to Kelowna.

After an enjoyable ride home along Lake Okanagan, I settled into La Mission and eventually made my way to a nearby sushi restaurant. I ordered ‘to go’ and enjoyed dinner on the beach as the sun went down. I followed this up with a walk back to my room to enjoy some goat cheese from Carmelis with crackers and a bottle of Ehrenfelser.