I rarely run out of wine, but a few weekends ago I realized the stash was getting dangerously low. Yeah, I know – I live in the heart of British Columbia wine country, minutes from great wineries. How could I get close to running out of wine here? Shame on me.

There’s one snag to dashing out to a local winery right now: it’s winter. Not all of our wineries stay awake during the off-season; some close, some stay open and some open by appointment. So, what’s a girl to do? Go wine shopping anyway. Maybe even call on a winery – just for good measure.

First, a visit to the Penticton Visitor’s Centre was in order. It’s a fantastic place to grab some BC wine because it’s got a VQA store on site. This one has a huge variety of wines from the Okanagan, you don’t have to travel far and they’re open all winter. Bonus.

The staff is friendly and will happily show you some remarkable BC wines. And so I met Aaron, a wine enthusiast who knows his grapes. He’d set aside a few bottles of the 2004 Hester Creek Cabernet Sauvignon for me – I had to book it there because there aren’t many bottles left. Their 2005 is on shelves soon, though. Yummy in a bottle.

Oh, but that’s not all. I also left with a couple of white wines: a White Meritage from Jackson-Triggs (white blends are less common) and two bottles from Larch Hills – a Siegerrebe and an Ortega. Each of these white wines is under $20. (by the way, it’s taken me ages to pronounce it: pretty sure it’s see-ger-RAY-bee, baby)

Up the hill from Penticton you’ll find Naramata, and the Township7 winery. Winemaker Bradley Cooper made time for me while I was in the area, even though the winery wasn’t open. They’re nice that way, like lots of our local wineries are. Good news! Township7 is open again as of this weekend: Friday through Sunday from 12:00pm – 5:00pm.

It’s amazing how much time I can waste – er, spend – when buying wine. But dinner doesn’t make itself, so I had to head home. We were making sushi for some friends and I could think of nothing better to go with it than a dee-lish BC wine. White wine? Sure.

If you’re missing summer, this wine’s for you. The Siegerrebe from Larch Hills is like tasting a little bit of summertime in a glass. It’s a sit-on-a-patio-out-of-the-summer-sun-and-gab-with-friends kind of wine. And it went well with the sushi, too. Nice.

Did we stop there? Of course not. After dinner we opened up that 2004 Cab Sauv from Hester Creek. This is hang-out-with-good-friends-and-tell-stories wine, the stuff you want to linger with. I think we were all sad when we saw the decanter was empty. (Yeah, I drained the bottle into a decanter for about an hour that time – but go ahead and pour it straight into your glass. I do both.)

Sleeping vines doesn’t mean you can’t explore BC wine country. And all of our little wineries are just starting to wake up again, which makes it a perfect time to un*wine*d with an Okanagan wine. Think I’ll go and do just that.

Cheers!
Jeannette

Tags: Hester Creek, Jackson-Triggs, Larch Hills, Naramata, Okanagan Wine Festivals, Penticton, summer wine, Township7