Even though I’ve been living in the Okanagan for almost a couple months now, I’ve really not had much time to traverse the region as much as I would have liked to.  A couple times, my days off involved a trip to Vancouver, there was a trip to Calgary, plus often one of those days is spent down in Penticton doing “city” errands like banking and shopping.

Last week, my lovely wife was here with me, and we had two fantastic days off together.  We visited some friends, some wineries, and just had some quality hang out time, strolling around Naramata with plastic cups of Riesling in hand.

I’d never been to Mission Hill before, so a visit was long overdue.  Certainly the granddaddy of BC wineries, the place is known for its iconic setting, its tourist-friendly hospitality, bell tower and (oh, yeah) quality winemaking program.

Above is one of their cellars which, if anything was such a nice, cool break from the crazy hot day.  Ingo Grady walked us through a vertical of Oculus (they can all still lie down for a few years) and we got to try some wacky stuff from the archives like the Estate 2001 Chardonnay, which still has some life left to it amongst the muddled lemon, pineapple and butterscotch notes.

When we headed down toward Oliver, we made sure to swing by Road 13, as they’re good friends who make great wine.  Mike Bartier‘s Sparkling Chenin Blanc (above left) is thisclose to being ready to go, and those old Chenin vines (40+ years) are looking as gnarly as ever, and starting to produce another vintage’s worth of amazing fruit.  Mike had gotten word that my birthday was the day before, and surprised me with the first bottle of 2009 Jackpot Riesling to leave the winery.  Even drunk out of yellow plastic cups, the wine was rich and delicious, full of apricots and honey with a good diesel and mineral thing snaking through it.

The best thing about being down around Oliver is that it’s just a quick jaunt over to the Similkameen Valley, where our friends Rhys & Ali live and have a vineyard.  We spent an afternoon catching  up, drinking wine and having chips and salsa, which I love.

They have this neat mulberry tree in their vineyard (above left) and I got to eat fresh-picked, sun-warmed mulberries for the first time ever in my whole life!  Good times.

Such a good couple of days off, I hope I get to do this kind of thing more.  The clock is ticking.

By the way, Rhys is organizing the Okanagan Feast Of Fields this year, I’m on the planning committee and my wife and her friend Kate are doing the marketing for it.  You should totally attend!