Wine Touring Part 3 - Oct 2nd - 5th.

Wednesday morning we were up moving a little earlier as it's check-out day. First stop this morning is to see if Ray could get a shot of the Layer Cake Mountain. He had tried the night before from a different direction and other than being a mountain goat, he was unsuccessful. Today he's able to get to where he wanted. He found it so surprising to have never heard about this mountain considering he lived in Kelowna for his teenage years. The pictures would have been better with a sunset but we weren't waiting around. lol

After our stop it's time to head to the western side of Okanagan Lake called West Kelowna (called Westbank to Ray) and get to Crown and Thieves Winery where I had booked an 11 am tasting. The tasting room seems to be in a "ruin" with a Speakeasy downstairs. Pretty cool place. They have really funny wine labels. Apparently most of this "ruin" was imported from Europe, a piece at a time.

"A rebellious Okanagan winery born in secrecy, Crown & Thieves is where cult wines meet unapologetic creativity. Nestled in the vines, our ruin-inspired tasting room offers bold, small-batch wines and unforgettable wine tastings for those who rule their own way."

The sun’s out, the wine’s flowing, and the ruin is rumbling back to life. The doors are officially flung open for the 2025 season, and we’ll be pouring daily from 11am–6pm. No secret password required, just show up thirsty. Walk-ins are always welcome, but if you’re the type who likes to pencil things in, you can book your tasting online. The cellar’s not the only place stirring. The Broken Hearts Club is in full swing with live music, tricky tricksters, and general debauchery.

Downstairs is their Lonely Hearts Club Speakeasy. The staff gave us a ticket to the show tonight, but it starts at 9 ... past our bedtime. We gave it to someone else while visiting Quails Gate.

After many samples (and purchases) it's time to feed me lol. Their wine is super tastey.

We decided to eat at Quail's Gate and then sample their wine after. A beautiful winery.

They have so many delicious choices, we decided on 4 appetizers to try a bunch. They also have fresh in-house baked sourdough bread.

BC HIRO WAYGU BEEF TARTARE

QUEBEC FOIE GRAS TERRINE

BC WILD MUSHROOM RISOTTO

GRILLED BABY OCTOPUS with Scallops added

After lunch, Ray took off to take some pictures while I went upstairs to the other building for my wine tasting on the sundeck.

Looking up at the tasting room from the restaurant patio.

Next up, our last of the day, Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery. I must say their reds are fabulous. Our server, once he realized I'm buying too, and spitting out the last of the taster, he brought out many samples to try .... delicious. 

More visitors.

I noticed the staff are working at crushing the grapes and managed to get a quick picture.

I received a text that our suite is ready, so after this tasting we headed to the resort. What a suite, apparently 1200 square feet. Too bad the two couples we had invited couldn't make it. Ray took a video before we messed the place up with our stuff. lol When we decided to stay an extra 2 days to visit more wineries, this was the only place that had a water view that was available, so we "bit the bullet" and paid the price.

After dumping off our luggage, we headed to the bar, on site, for a drink.

Ray inquired if there is underground parking to keep our wine safe. There is, which is great as the elevator to the garage is beside our room and you also accessed the pool from there. He also saw this cool car down there.

They have beautiful grounds around the resort.

Before dinner, we went out to the hot tub to try it out. Jets not great, but at least the water is hot. We decided to have dinner here at the resort. Ray ordered fish and chips, which were good. I ordered pita with a crab and artichoke dip .... way too spicy, you couldn't taste anything other than "hot". I declined that and just ate Ray's coleslaw and some of his french fries.

Friday morning, we had a lazy start. I sent Ray up to the Two Donkey's Bakery for our pastries for breakfast. They're delicious. There's a pamphlet showing various scultures around the resort so Ray went for a walk.

Once he was back it's time for 3 more wineries. lol

First up, Ciao Bella Winery. Very small Italian Winery with only 16 acres of vines. They make their wine very traditionally. Family run, by the son and grandson of the original owner. The wine labels show early pictures of Grandpa who came from Italy with his wife and bought the land here in the 60's. The wine is just ok, but I bought a couple of bottles, the white and rose mostly for the labels. lol

Time for lunch, we chose The Frind Winery, as they have great reviews for their wood fired pizza, not to mention their wine. The story goes ....

The owner was a guy, last name Frind, who started "Plenty of Fish" dating app after graduating from BCIT in computer sciences. (Same place Ray went for Business Finance.) He ran this app for 10 years before finally selling it out for Billions of Dollars to Match.com. With that money he decided to start a winery here in Kelowna, all high tech. The building that the tasting room and restaurant is in, was originally W.C. Bennett's summer home and property. Wow. He was a premier of BC at one time. He has since bought several more blocks of property, some near Vernon, some near Oliver to grow various types of grapes. This winery apparently, is the only one in North America on a beach. 

Their wine's tasty and so's the food. Definitely a good pick!

There's even a pile driver going by on the lake, felt like home. lol

The last one for the day, was Little Straw Vineyards, one of the three original wineries in Kelowna. The first two being Mission Hill and Quails Gate. I found their wine so so too. This stop is more the view for Ray, looking over the vineyards to the lake.

Back to the suite and relax on our deck for a couple of hours. We did go back down to the lounge for a drink and an appetizer, then back to the suite for the evening. Ray ate left-over pizza for his dinner. The sky turned dark with clouds and the wind's up so we hunkered down inside. Tomorrow we go home. What a trip!

Saturday morning, Ray headed out to the bakery for our breakfast again, and then it's time to finish packing and hit the road. Out the door at 8:30 am. We fueled up yesterday at gas at 141.9 in West Kelowna so we were good to go. Traffic's good, although we hit rain on the Okanagan Connector. Being Saturday morning it was pretty much smooth sailing all the way to Tswassen. Even Highway 1 through Chilliwack to Surrey is moving along at 100 km most of the way. It only took me 4 hours with 2 short pit stops from West Kelowna to Tsawwassen. When I realized we were making such good time, at Hope, I changed our ferry reservation to the 3:15 pm instead of the 5:45 pm ferry.

One of our "Pit Stops" lol Osprey nest.

We ate lunch at a new place to us, the Four Winds Brewing Co., right in Boundary Bay. Ray had a great Cod Burger and I  their Beef Burger and great beer. Delicious. 

There's a cute community garden across the street as well.

At the ferry terminal, we only had an hour's wait for the 3:15 ferry We were offloaded pretty quickly and home by 6:15 pm with the sunshine. We've enjoyed pretty good weather the whole trip, only rained Monday night. Our mini vacation timed perfectly. lol