Okanagan Valley: If You Go
Lynn Alley
Posted: August 17, 2004
 |
|
The best time to visit the Okanagan Valley is from late spring through fall. Wineries and restaurants expect to get most of their visitors during the summer and fall months; during the winter, some are closed or only open by appointment.
Kelowna, the valley's largest city, is centrally located and has a small international airport, making it a good base from which to explore the region, although there are bed-and-breakfasts and small hotels and motels scattered throughout the valley.
For information about seasonal wine festivals, check the official Okanagan festival Web site at www.thewinefestivals.com. In the listings that follow, all prices have been converted from Canadian to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate at press time: CAN$1 = US$.73; prices were rounded to the nearest dollar.
Where to Eat
Sonoma Room at
Burrowing Owl Estate Winery
100 Burrowing Owl Place, Oliver
Telephone (250) 498-6202; (877) 498-0620
Web site www.burrowingowlwine.ca
Open April 9 to Oct. 15, lunch, daily; dinner, Thursday to Sunday
Cost Entrées $15-$21
Credit cards Visa and MasterCard
Tables are on a deck that wraps around the Southwestern-style winery with great views of the lake and valley. Classically trained, French-born chef Dominique Couton serves West Coast Mediterranean dishes such as seafood cioppino along with the all-Okanagan wine list.
Old Vines Patio at
Quails' Gate Estate Winery
3303 Boucherie Road, Kelowna
Telephone (250) 769-4451; (800) 420-9463
Web site www.quailsgate.com
Open May to October, lunch and dinner, daily
Cost Entrées $14-$22
Corkage $7-$11
Credit cards All major
The winery's new restaurant is located in the middle of a vineyard on a gentle slope overlooking the lake. The views are stunning. Chef Judith Knight, who did a stint as personal chef to Kevin Costner, creates dishes using fresh, local, organic (whenever possible) ingredients. Only estate wines are served.
Fresco Restaurant
1560 Water St., Kelowna
Telephone (250) 868-8805
Open November to April, dinner, Tuesday to Saturday; May to October, dinner, nightly; closed in January
Cost Entrées $15-$22
Credit cards All major
Fresco offers world-class dining on an unimposing street just off Kelowna's main street. Chef-owner Rod Butters came from Vancouver Island's widely acclaimed Wickaninnish Inn. Seasonal, regional fine dining is served in the elegant, contemporary dining room. Gracious Audrey Surrao, Butters' wife and business partner, runs the front of the house. The 120-selection wine list is about 80 percent local and 20 percent high-end international.
Harvest Dining Room at the
Harvest Golf Club
2725 K.L.O. Road, Kelowna
Telephone (250) 862-3177; (800) 257-8577
Web site www.harvestgolf.com
Open Dinner, nightly; closed in January
Cost Entrées $20-$23
Credit cards All major
Situated on the edge of the lake and surrounded by 18 holes of championship golf and 300 acres of orchards and vineyards, the restaurant serves Pacific Northwest cuisine, which centers on local, fresh ingredients and herbs from the club's gardens. The wine list is just more than half Okanagan bottlings.
Where to Stay
Grand Okanagan Lakefront Resort
1310 Water St., Kelowna
Telephone (250) 763-4500; (800) 465-4651
Web site www.grandokanagan.com
Rooms 260
Suites 60
Rates $131-$372
The Grand Okanagan is the most elegant of the hotels in the region. It is located on the lakefront in downtown Kelowna and is within an easy lakefront walk to local museums, shops and restaurants. There are shops and a good restaurant on the ground floor, and two swimming pools, one of which is indoor-outdoor. Rooms are attractive and comfortable and some have lake views.
Manteo Resort Waterfront Hotel and Villas
3762 Lakeshore Road, Kelowna
Telephone (250) 860-1031; (800) 445-5255
Web site www.manteo.com
Rooms 48
Suites 30
Villas 24
Rates $109-$442
Manteo is a casual, contemporary Mediterranean-style hotel on the lakefront at the south end of Kelowna. Many of its rooms and suites offer terrific views of the lake and the mountains beyond. Its dining room boasts massive windows that face the lake, and there's patio dining in the summer. The cuisine is Pacific Northwest, and the wine list almost entirely local, with more than 20 wines offered by the glass.
 | |
| The Naramata Heritage Inn & Spa. | |
| |
Naramata Heritage Inn & Spa
3625 First St., Naramata
Telephone (250) 496-6808; (866) 617-1188
Web site www.naramatainn.com
Rooms 12
Rates $91-$329
The thoughtful and lengthy restoration of this 1908 hotel is complete. The small rooms have original claw-foot tubs and semi-private terraces. Every effort has been made to retain or recover original furnishings and building materials. The inn has a great restaurant with a local and regional menu and a wine bar that stocks a large selection of Okanagan wines. The Aveda Concept Heirloom Spa offers a surprisingly complete line of spa treatments for so small an inn.
Where to Visit
Cedar Creek Estate Winery
5445 Lakeshore Road, Kelowna
Telephone (250) 764-8866
Web site www.cedarcreek.bc.ca
Open May to October, daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., tours at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.; November to April, daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., tours by appointment only
Cost Tours $4; tastings $1
Founded 1986
Cases 28,000
This Mediterranean-style winery is owned by provincial Senator Ross Fitzpatrick, an Okanagan native, who's taken an active role in shaping and preserving the future of the region. American winemaker Tom Di Bello handles red grape varieties with particular skill. Views of the lake from the winery terrace are good, and lunch is served daily on the terrace from mid-June to mid-September. Cedar Creek also maintains a tasting room at its Greata Ranch Vineyards, north of Summerland.
Elephant Island Orchard Winery
2730 Aikins Loop, Naramata
Telephone (250) 496-5522
Web site www.elephantislandwine.com
Open May to October, daily, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; November to April, by appointment only
Cost Free
Founded 1999
Cases 3,800
Bordeaux-trained winemaker Christine Leroux makes wine on Miranda and Del Halladay's Naramata farm from Okanagan Valley fruit, including pears, apples, apricots, cherries, black currants and crab apples. Most wines are dry and food-friendly. Its limited production and distribution make visiting the winery a must.
| |
 |
| Visitors to the Quails' Gate Estate can sample the winery's bottlings in an 1873 home that was built by one of the valley's first settlers. |
| |
Quails' Gate Estate Winery
3303 Boucherie Road, Kelowna
Telephone (250) 769-4451; (800) 420-9463
Web site www.quailsgate.com
Open Mid-October to April, daily, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; May to November, daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; July to August, 6 tours daily, on the hour, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; May to June and September to mid-October, tours daily at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Cost $4
Founded 1989
Cases 40,000
Owners Ben and Tony Stewart are third-generation Okanagan farmers who pioneered the production of Pinot Noir in the region. Aside from its Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and unique Zinfandel-like Maréchal Foch, the Quails' Gate tasting room is worth a trip in itself. It's housed in the beautifully restored stone-and-wood home built in 1873 by John and Susan Allison, the first Europeans to settle on the valley's westside. Winemaker Grant Stanley comes most recently from New Zealand's Ata Rangi.
Mission Hill Family Estate Winery
1730 Mission Hill Road, Westbank
Telephone (250) 768-7611
Web site www.missionhillwinery.com
Open July to mid-October, daily, 9:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., tours every half hour, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; mid-October to June, daily, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., tours at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.
Cost $4
Founded 1982
Cases 140,000
Created by former Vancouver wine merchant Anthony von Mandl, the $40-million Mission Hill winery is a work of art, starting with the Chagall tapestry in the winery reception room, and continuing with von Mandl's collection of antique wine-drinking vessels and the cellar blasted from volcanic rock. An amphitheater and outdoor dining terrace provide splendid views of the lake. Chef Michael Allemeier's menu is prepared with fresh, local, organic ingredients. The terrace is for lunch May to October and for dinner in the summer months.
Nk'Mip Cellars
1400 Rancher Creek Road, Osoyoos
Telephone (250) 495-2985
Web site www.nkmipcellars.com
Open May to October, daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; November to April, daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; tours at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m.; every hour on the hour in summer months
Cost $4
Founded 2002
Cases 15,000
Nk'Mip Cellars is the new project of the Osoyoos Indian Band and Vincor International. The winery is located at the valley's southernmost tip. The dry, desert landscape gives the feeling that you're visiting a winery in Sedona, Ariz., rather than British Columbia. Some of the best red grape vineyards in the entire region are located on Osoyoos land. A desert heritage center, complete with an adopt-a-rattlesnake program, is also located on the property and to visitors. Although the center is currently housed in temporary structures, the showplace permanent building is scheduled for completion in March 2005.
