Okanagan Wine Tours
 

We will be visiting the Okanagan Region in late July this year on a whirlwind tour by car, staying two nights in Penticton and two nights in Kelowna. We want to do a wine tour that will give us a good sample of what the region has to offer with a nice vineyard lunch as well. Any recommendations?

Here is a good website that lists the area wineries. If you are staying in Penticton and have limited time I would stick to the area around Oliver. There are so many great wineries there (between Oliver and Osoyoos) as well as some good ones just a few miles north. Check the list for these wineries and then most of them list their website so you can look at them individually. Burrowing Owl has a lovely restaurant with great views for lunch but some of them have picnic tables if you bring your own picnic and buy a bottle of wine to go with it. Hester Creek has a nice little picnic area but lots of them do as well.

http://www.bctravel.com/wineries/okanagan.html

Be sure to check out Silver Sage - their wines are quite unique and the grounds there are gorgeous. If you have any questions just ask. (I am only familiar with the South Okanagan wineries including Penticton, Naramata etc)

Are you thinking of taking a guided tour? So you don't have to worry how much wine you taste?

I haven't done this but there are several companies that offer tours. When I was in the area last fall I thought this one was interesting.

http://www.wildflowersandwine.com/

We really enjoy lunch at Gray Monk winery which is 20 minutes north of Kelowna. They have an awesome view from their outdoor patio.

Thanks for that information. We will be doing a guided tour since, with wine tasting over an extended period, it's hard to keep tabs on how much is being consumed.

If you want a personalised tour check out this company
http://www.ok-limo.com/ok-wine-tours.htm

I don't know the cost but you can check that with them. I would choose the Oliver, Okanagan Falls tours.

We have just returned after a most enjoyable trip. We only managed to visit Silver Sage and Oliver Twist in the area south of Penticton. You are correct, traveller69, the Siver Sage wines are unique. We managed to fit a bottle of their sage-infused gewurtztraminer into our case to enjoy with a roast chicken later in the year.
We did a tasting tour of the Naramata Bench with Top Cat Tours - five wineries and a reasonable lunch at Hillside Estate. I thought this was quite good in terms of value for money.
Lunch the following day at Sumac Ridge was worthwhile too.