Wine, and anniversary

Went on a road trip on Labour Day weekend- wine touring and celebrating our one year wedding anniversary on Sept. 4!

So that is first- the anniversary. My honey is the best. I know everyone says that, but we fit together. I am a spaz and he is calm. It works well. His nature complements mine and vice versa. And sometimes it is scary how similar we think! Our first anniversary night was spent eating pizza and drinking beer (illegally) in a park in Oliver because all the restaurants were closed. What could have been a disaster was PERFECT.

But this blog is about one crazy day, the start of our vacation, where P., J., S. (the honey) and I toured 8 wineries in one day. It was one hell of a fun time, and I can't believe we managed it!

We stayed at S.'s parents in Vernon, got a late start and didn't get to Kelowna until 11 or so. We started in Westbank (which I want to call THE Westbank which is not correct in this case :)). We picked an excellent first start- Quail's Gate. Oh so lovely, what a location, and very nice wines. Not too crowded when we got there, and the tasting room is a cute little cabin off from the main winery. Unfortunately they were out of their older reds, so our only disappointment is that we were tasting reds that were not quite ready. From QG we bought a 2004 Pinot Noir, 2005 Chasselas. I think we would have given it 7 (of 8) thumbs up, full marks if the reds were ready.

Next we travelled down the road to Mt Boucherie. So unassuming compared to Quail's Gate, we were bracing for disappointment. I don't even have a picture of it, and I was snapping a lot! Anyway, how wrong we were. The wine was magnificent. Tied for first place, and 8 of 8 thumbs up. One of the owners (we think) served us, was so nice and very knowledgeable. Gave us an extra sample, which paid off because we bought some! We bought an Ehrenfelser and Melange Noir here. In retrospect, wish we had bought more.

Our third and final stop in Westbank was Little Straw, across the road from Mt Boucherie. What a cute place. It is not quite finished, but will be very inviting once it is. Too bad about the tastings however, it was certainly more chilly in attitude in the tastings room. I was trying to be generous, but we felt the least welcome here. Maybe we were too silly? Not serious looking enough? Perhaps the host thought we weren't going to buy? Doesn't matter. We bought a pinot noir only. As of now it is too young, but I suspect that (ironically) it will be pretty good in a year or two. Overall only 5 of 8 thumbs up, and only because the wine is probably going to be ok.

Ok by this time P. and I were completely plastered in the back seat of the car, and the boys were fine. Sheesh. We were having one hell of a time though. We headed to Quiznos for sandwiches (again probably being a little loud) and Tim's for coffee (because it was close and cheap). And then headed out a little less high strung to imbibe at more wineries.

We stopped in town at Calona but holy ******! It was PACKED full of people because a very large bus tour was in. We left town and headed south on the east side of the lake to Cedar Creek instead. Lovely lovely lovely setting! Someone was getting married in the gardens. The white washed buildings were so beautiful, fit into the surroundings. The tasting room was very well laid out, great lighting, and big enough to accommodate the tourists (yes, us). But we had to pay. Screech to a halt! What???? Darn. Only $2 so I am being cheap. But it wasn't worth it. Sorry Cedar Creek, but you are on the bottom of my list. We actually did not buy ANYTHING here. It wasn't worth it. I was not impressed by any of the wines on the $2 tasting list. Ok, so maybe the more expensive wines were better? Certainly not the shiraz priced at $30+ a bottle. J. tried it and said thumbs down. Apparently the chardonnay at similar pricing was worth it, but that is just beyond our means. Because it is at the bottom, it gets probably 4 of 8 thumbs up. My one up only for ambiance.

But it got bet after that, which was good because I started wondering to P. if I had just had enough wine, which was why I didn't like Cedar Creek. Nope. St Hubertus was like a whole other world, with lovely well priced (aged) wines, nice demeanor, and a haunting setting. This was the winery which was partly burned in the 2003 Kelowna fire. Apparently they lost their vines and a few buidlings in the fire. We tried the Firemen's Red put out to commerorate the loss, but I am not a fan of Gamay Noir which seemed to dominate the blend. Instead we choose 2 bottles of Northern Summer, a light fruity red which was the first red that tasted good on a hot day. Also bought the Chasselas. I would give it 6 out of 8, and I think once their vines are producing again they may have more to offer.

And then... Sumerhill. Oh my, what fun, what great wines. It was pretty busy here. They are the winery who ages their wine in a pyramid after all. We had an EXCELLENT host. She was as an assistant manager, who certainly sold us on the wine over and over. Wow. We got to try a lot of great wines. Could have spent more, but it was getting near the end of the day. But we all still bought a lot. Got a Foch, which I had been avoiding all day because of its tabacco overtones, but Summerhill's was quite nice. Also an Ehrenfelser and a Cabernet blend. And some bubbly. Wow, good bubbly. 8 out of 8 thumbs that is for sure!


Because Summerhill was so momentus the last 2 wineries went by with a bit of a blur. We went back to Calona, had to pay for a tasting, but the wines were fine. Nothing that grabbed us like Summerhill. Gray Monk we visited after dinner, and the tasting host was pretty tired. Again, they were out of the reds as well, so it was disappointing. Bought a Rotberger there. Had it before, like it, got another.







I think we were all feeling this by the end.....

But it was a grand time! A Grand Time! Good work gang!

Coming home through Osoyoos the smoke from the Tatoosh fire made a spectacular (but smoky) sunset.

Bowls (upside down hats)

W. and E. have were born one week apart exactly- I do believe their moms met in the hospital? Or is that an urban myth? Hmmmm, it works. Every year we seem to celebrate the two birthdays together. W's mom said this year I have an honourary August birthday. (April sounds like August).
This year I wanted to make presents, something knitted and fun. After some failed experiments I decided to make felted bowls. Without a pattern of course, as if my preference. I know how to make hats, and decided a bowl was just an upside down hat.

This is true. But still, I went through one felted experimental disaster and several wrongly knitted bowls before coming up with these two beauties. Experimental disaster was another project I attempted, a felted bag. It worked fine, but shrunk vertically more than horizontally. Ok, so I have to make the bowl almost the width I want, but twice as deep.

This was fine, except I got impatient (so not surprising) and didn't knit a few deep enough. Here is a picture of the red bowl before it was felted. I used size 6 kneedles and lopi wool. I cast on about 50 stitches. I knit only about 12 rows before starting to decrease. The hat was about half its depth at this point. I decreased the next row one decrease every 10th stitch (decrease on 10). The next row I decrease every 9th, 8th, etc. until I have about 2 stitches between every decrease. I then loop the thread through the last row and pull tight to form the bottom of the bowl.

The green bowl was using a dk weight wool, but I didn't count stitches. I like the green bowl in that the felt feels really nice, but the lopi gives the red bowl much more ridge sides.

The green bowl had to be run through twice in the washer on hot/cold cycle, while it took 4 washes for the red bowl until I thought it was felted enough. I then sewed little vortices in the bottom of each using some dyed roving. My time in Arizona made me really fall for the vortex symbol (even though me the scientist does not quite believe in the power of the vortex, sigh). That's all. My honey is leaving for 3-4 weeks to work in the Kootenays where he will be welding. I hate it when we are apart for so long. But anyway, I have lots to blog about (like the wine touring we did with P. and J.- 8 wineries in 1 day!) so that will keep me busy.