Thursday, September 14, 2006

Touring the Okanagan......where wine is king!!

These are some pictures that we took on my digital camera (when we remembered) of our tour around the wineries.

So we start this short picture essay at St. Hubertus on the Okanagan Mountain side of the lake. This was a winery affected by the fire of 2003 (They have pictures as you enter the shop) and in the background you can see the remnants of the fire on the mountainside. The winery is run by two brothers, one using the label of Oak Bay and the other using the St. Hubertus label.






These are two pictures taken from the Noble Ridge Winery above Vaseaux Lake. Absolutely stunning view...it was taken about 11:30 am on a beautiful sunny morning. The second picture shows the netting over the vines to prevent the birds from feasting!! There were varied methods to combat birds.... cannons, netting (various setups) and I have even seen glittering strips, although I think those are more for the orchards. Interesting that in Langley, so much is made by the neighbours of the noise of the cannons for the blueberry farms, but up here, it's just a matter of course....but then vineyards are probably so much more prevalent up here and it's all a part of the lifestyle....you live here, you accept it...simple as that!!












These next few pictures were taken at Red Rooster winery....the home of "The Traveller", which, if you're wondering, is not available because he is presently in Langley getting bronzed!! However, these gorgeous bronze art pieces more than make up for his absence.




This is my mate pretending to take a bronze suitcase statue into the winery.
There are, as you can see, suitcases lining the walkway into the Wine Shop








Front view of a rather tousled mermaid....and you can see in the background the big doors of the winery and the bronze harp next to it.....a pic of that is coming up....










Side view of the same....

I noticed that a lot of wineries carry a wonderful selection of local artwork. Nk'Mip in Osoyoos is especially notable for their aboriginal artwork, one of which I bought on our trip last year.









These next two are on either side of huge doors leading into the actually winery part (not the shop).

I think the sculptures are pretty much life size.....but the doors are huge.









Apparently the little bird here (it's not real) is a type of quail that is the official regional bird....and those are arms playing the harp.








This was an intriguing little bench at Red Rooster...not sure if it would hold me....but I'm sure it would work for someone....and I do like the music motif....













A little bird house of sorts....note the suitcases...and ignore the dear lady who unknowingly got into my picture!!












This is our wonderful little Bijon companion for the trip...Chauncey....and those of you who know us, know that he is spoiled.....but... ooooh sooo cute!!
While we travel he sits on my arm resting his paws on the edge of the car window surveying all as we tootle along. Then slowly his head sinks to rest on his paws and the eyes close .....all is well in his world for a time. Whatta dog!!




And then there is this picture.....my mate took it of me feeding the fishies and the ducks, whilst Chauncey waits for any crumbs!!

I have made it my desktop background, primarily to remind myself of how broad my backside is!!!






And so, there we have it. Not a lot of pictures of wineries....but some. It was definitely all we had hoped for and now we must get back to the business of being retired.....at home!!

Slainte!!

1 comment:

T. said...

Yay! The pics are great :-). Looks like such a good trip. I'm totally jealous!