Before you depart Penticton, stop by the Okanagan VQA Wine Store located at the Visitor Information Centre. It features a full selection of wines from one end of the valley to the other.
Head south on Highway 97 towards Canada’s desert region and the town of Osoyoos. Stop for some coffee or ice-cream there at Tickleberry’s – they have the best ice-cream in the valley!
From Okanagan Falls, take Green Lake Road to your first winery visit of the day at See Ya Later Ranch Winery, formerly known as Hawthorne Mountain Estate Winery. Originally planted as an orchard in the early part of the last century, this winery has terrific wines, a fabulous view and a unique north-east facing vineyard.
Consider stopping for lunch at the Toasted Oak Bar and Grill in Oliver. Known as the "Wine Capital of Canada", Oliver is a thriving agricultural community that’s home to the popular Festival of the Grape and the Tomato Festival. The Toasted Oak has a large selection of B.C. wines by the glass and a unique menu that features many ingredients from this area.
Spend your afternoon with a tour of Burrowing Owl Winery. This is a sprawling estate winery that produces some of B.C.’s most sought after wines. Buy them at the winery because they’re hard to find elsewhere. Next it’s on to taste the wines of Tinhorn Creek Estate. This winery is nestled in the hillside next to a former gold mining creek and near the site of an old ghost town. One of the early pioneers and best-known success stories in Canada’s wine industry, Inniskillin Winery, is just down the road. It was founded in Ontario in 1975 and in 1994 developed a winemaking partnership with the Inkameep Indian Band by purchasing the band’s extraordinary 23-acre Dark Horse Vineyard.
Overnight at Osoyoos.
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