A reunion, a road trip and a valley full of wine

Last year, my cousin Kathy contacted me and my sis and the rest of the family on our mother’s side to get together for a family reunion. It had been way too long since we had seen one another — our last reunion was in July 2005!

Since then, unfortunately, we’ve only seen each other on sad occasions. And since then, we have lost my mom, her sister Lynn and her brother Barry. All three siblings gone. Just a tragic decade for our small, but mighty, family.

But this past summer it was all about joy and laughter and basking in each other’s company and doing fun things in a lovely spot like Kelowna. Truly an adult’s playground.

Our group was only 14 this time. And we filled up our four days in Kelowna with a flurry of activities. Some golfed, some did a wine tour, some shopped, some biked and some beached. We dined out, we pizza partied, we did takeout at the beach and we ended it all with Sherri’s spicy caesars, croquet and a sunset BBQ by the lake.

It felt short, but it always does with this bunch. The convo never ends and none of us can really get it all out or take it all in. I love these folks with all my heart and wish we lived closer. But I’ll take what we can get. ♥️

We promised not to wait so long again to do this. Five years max. I hope we stick to that.

A wine journey on steroids

Weeks before our trip, my Uncle Len emailed the family reunion group his detailed itinerary for our wine tour. I almost fell on the floor when I saw he listed 10 wineries (with a lunch)! 10!? T.E.N.?! Seriously, 10?!?! I was like there’s no way we can accomplish that. No way one could survive that. I did three vineyards in Napa years ago and barely survived. So ten seemed like a logistical and wine-imbibing impossibility. (10 wineries x 4-5 tastings = approx 45 tastings total!)

But never underestimate my 87-year-old uncle and his love for the grapes. He had everything scheduled down to the minute. To the point where he would be, “look guys, we’re three minutes behind schedule, drink up.” Or, “hey, look, we are five minutes early. Good job everyone.”

So, here is what visiting 10 wineries in one day looks like in Kelowna…

Stop 1: Off The Grid Organic Winery

Our first spot was Off The Grid, a small organic winery that housed a couple of nice rosés…and a couple of grazing goats! This definitely made it one of Chuck’s favourite spots of the day. That photo below shows his face when he first spotted one of the goats.

Stop 2: Kalala Organic Estate Winery

Stop 3: Crown & Thieves

One thing I discovered on this whirlwind of a tour was how stunning the vineyards are in Kelowna — views for days — and how close they are to each other. We were never more than 10 minutes away from the next winery.

Crown & Thieves was an especially pretty spot. Its surrounding landscape was breathtaking and their tasing room as well as their rooftop restaurant, Angel Share, was just as lovely.

Stop 4: Mission Hill Family Estate Winery

After a quick lunch, we moved upwards to Mission Hill, which definitely provided us with the most fancy private tasting of our day. I felt our tasting room looked like the Oval Office. All-in-all, the place is a gem to visit, and I wish we had more time to move around, but we were three minutes behind schedule at this point! lol

Stop 5: Frind Estate Beach Winery

After Mission Hill, we went down to the water to visit Frind. This place was BUSTLING! Definitely a popular spot to eat, drink and be merry. Some folks have the added bonus of being able to arrive by boat.

Usually I’m a bold red wine person and I always thought the temperatures/growing season in Canada couldn’t really make the type of wine I love most. But I was wrong. Three places I found had pretty great reds: Mission Hill, Frind and Quails’ Gate.

And there were a couple places I couldn’t throw in the spit bucket fast enough.

Stop 6: Quails’ Gate Estate Winery

Quails’ Gate was hands-down my favourite place on our tour. The location is a stunner and the wines are quite nice. We also dined at their restaurant, Old Vines, the first night we all arrived and it was delightful.

Stop 7: Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery

Ok, now we are at the point where everything is getting fuzzy. The next four vineyards all blur together for me. All I can piece together is their names.

Stop 8: Beaumont Family Estate Winery

Stop 9: Black Swift Vineyards

The only thing I remember about this place was a trio of extremely loaded young ladies trying to kick down the bathroom door while I was in it. They could hardly stand up and their perfectly put-together wine tour looks were starting to fall apart.

I wonder if they were on stop 9 as well? lol

Stop 10: Rollingdale Winery

The finish line! We did it, fam!

By the time we left Rollingdale we were pretty much made out of wine, but boy did we have a great time together. And we did all 10 of those wineries! Never doubt a retired engineer and his spreadsheet.

And I know I’ve been teasing my uncle’s intense schedule, but the hours of our day really flew by in the best way possible, because the “catching up” chatter was non-stop, the laughs were plenty and the warmth of being with family we don’t see nearly often enough was priceless. *burp*

*Stop 11: Kitsch Wines

This is stop 11 for Chuck and me. (ON ANOTHER DAY OBVIOUSLY.) I follow Kitsch on Instagram so wanted to check it out as I hear they make a mean Pinot Noir Rosé. They do. And the place was super cute.

Two made for the road

What can I say? We LOVE to travel and we thoroughly enjoy a good road trip. I can’t wait to pack up the car and hit the road with this beautiful man and a new playlist. We laugh, we have deep discussions and debates about almost everything, we ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ around almost every bend in the road, and we both carry a similar sense of adventure. That makes a world of difference in travel.

Around Kelowna

Just a few scenic shots around this beautiful place in the Okanagan Valley.

Scenes from the road

And more photos from the road.

That Rocky Mountain majesty

The Badlands of Alberta

Back to Big Sky Country