Mary in Vancity

For Labour Day long weekend, my husband and I decided to visit his family in Vernon, BC which is about a 5-hour drive from Vancouver. On the way to Vernon, we visited two wineries in Lake Country, BC: Arrowleaf Cellars and Gray Monk Estate Winery. Lake Country is a municipality in the Okanagan Valley region, and it is only approximately a 20-minute drive northeast from Kelowna, BC.

The sun was out, though sometimes it was shy; therefore, it was a great day to visit Arrowleaf Cellars, a family-owned business since 1997. This winery’s picnic areas, tasting room, and balcony/restaurant area overlook Okanagan Lake, mountains, and their vineyard. I did a wine tasting of three white wines and two red wines for $5 which was waived since I purchased a bottle of wine. My favourite here is definitely the Field Collection White because it had a hint of lychee. It paired well with the raspberry chocolate cake and Oreo creampuff which I enjoyed while I sat by the balcony and took in the beauty of the panorama.

It was so hard to move on to another winery after a great experience at Arrowleaf, but we had to move on! Only a 2-minute drive away, Gray Monk Estate Winery, established in 1972, also has a breathtaking view of Okanagan Lake, mountains, vineyard, and a fancier restaurant. I did their $5 wine tasting as well where I tried a sparkling wine, two reds, and two whites. All of them were exceptional.

If you want to do a wine tour, I suggest you to go to (see map):

1. 50^th Parallel Estate
2. Gray Monk Winery
3. Ex Nihilo Vineyards
4. Arrowleaf Cellars
5. Intrigue Wines

There are many more wineries that I wanted to go to, but sadly we were on a time crunch! Otherwise, we would have visited all the wineries. I’m already planning an Okanagan wine tour for Summer 2019!