Winter Winery Touring
When the mercury drops, winery touring in Kelowna shines with its special off-season appeal. Tasting rooms are uncrowded, winemakers often emerge from their cellars to pour wine for visitors, and wineries deck themselves in a festive look, some offering special seasonal events (like this one at Quails’ Gate this Sunday).
In the video posted below, I stopped in to speak with Ingo Grady at Mission Hill Family Estate about winter winery tours. So if you have visitors in town this winter, or if you are a visitor to Kelowna or Big White, make sure you put winery tours on your list of things to do.
Wine Cellary at Mission Hill Family Estate.
Many wineries in Kelowna are open year-round for tastings and tours. As this article in the Globe and Mail attests, winery tasting in the winter is particularly charming.
Now to the winery featured in this video below. Mission Hill Family Estate is an architecturally stunning winery with an army of accolades to its name. For instance, the winery’s Terrace Restaurant has been named one of the top 5 winery restaurants in the world by Travel + Leisure magazine; Mission Hill’s 2006 Reserve Riesling Icewine was named Best in the World at the 2008 London International Wine & Spirits Competition. The winery also boasts an impressive range of works of art and wine artifacts. It’s a joy to tour the beautifully manicured grounds of the winery in any season.
Entry to Mission Hill - before the snow flies.
One exciting way to experience Mission Hill this winter is through its culinary workshops (cooking classes!!!). Click on Winter Classes on the left hand side for the full gamut of classes available. Executive Chef Matt Batey is passionate about about locally sourced foods, internationally-inspired dishes, and really terrific wine pairings with Mission Hill’s outstanding wines.
I hope this video below gives you a good idea of the beauty of Mission Hill and the joy of winter winery tours. Welcome Old Man Winter!
