How to Tour the British Columbia Wine Country
- 1). Time your trip to coincide with one of the regional wine festivals. The Okanagan offers an Icewine festival in January, a spring festival in May, and an extensive fall festival in October, around harvest time.
- 2). Find out when each winery offers tours and tastings. Most Okanagan wineries are open to visitors who drop in between May and October, but many require appointments during the off-season.
- 3). Visit the British Columbia Wine Information Center in Penticton, at 888 Westminster Avenue West, Penticton, BC; (250) 490-2006. This is an excellent starting point for any wine-related trip; tours, tastings and tickets to regional wine events are also available here.
- 4). Pace yourself. There are lots of wineries in the Okanagan, most of them around the cities of Kelowna, Penticton and Summerland, and it is impossible to visit them all in a day or two. Try to limit yourself to three or four wineries a day so that you can get the most out of the tours and the tastings.
- 5). Taste carefully, starting with white or sparkling wines, then moving along to the reds (from lighter to heavier) and dessert wines. Or, try to restrict yourself to a particular varietal or style of wine on each day. A careful approach will prevent palate overload, which can happen quickly when you taste a large number of wines in random order.
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