We arrived at the Lakeshore B&B yesterday evening and were met by the lady of the house, Louise, in the driveway. She was on her way out and directed us to the back of the house where her husband Andy was tending to the garden, which borders at its western edge the Okanagan Lake. Andy welcomes us, offers us a cold drink and shows us up to our room for the next two days. We are undoubtedly in the house’s master bedroom with a sumptuous bathroom, and a deck with a superb view over the lake.
I bring in the cases and we settle in. We return downstairs again, and are greeted properly by Louise. We chat for a while, and get some information on where to go for dinner. In a short time we feel comfortable and relaxed, both with the house and the hosts. They check on any allergies, likes and dislikes. At this time we learn that our breakfast in the morning will be eggs, smoked salmon and asparagus. We return to our room and change for swim in the lake. (My head is just visible in the next picture by the way).
We wash up and head out to dinner at the Manteo resort, a recommendation by Andy. Excellent food but slow service and loud music. We observe an osprey swoop and pull a fish from the lake and take it to a perch on the boom of a crane at the lakeside. I proceeds to eat the fish as we eat our dinner. We return to the house and chat some more with our hosts, and retire with a cup of tea on the deck and watch the sun going down over the lake and hear the waves lapping gently on the shore.
The next morning we go down for breakfast at eight, Louise is ready and waiting for us. The sideboard is prepared with yoghurt, cereals and fresh fruit. And serves as the waiter and delivers fresh orange juice, tea and coffee. Once we finish with our bowls, Andy delivers the expected eggs and smoked salmon, with asparagus on top. A home made sweet scone is also placed on the table, together with Andy’s home made grape jelly made with grapes from the vine in the garden.
Shortly after breakfast we take some pictures of the garden and the lake.
On the road now, our destination is the Quail’s Gate winery on the opposite shore of the lake which we passed on the way in yesterday.
This part of the district is covered with vineyards, some growing for their own production, others for sale to larger producers. We pull in to the car park at Quail’s Gate and it immediately becomes obvious that money has been spent here. There is a visitor centre, complete with a wine bar, gift shop, restaurant and wine sales area. We buy tickets for the tour due shortly. Our host, a sommelier named Brian joins us and takes on a journey around the property including the winery and the vineyard. He explains in some detail how the vines are tended, how the juice is extracted and when, what happens to the different varieties of juice , how the fermentation takes place, and the importance of aging in barrels to the making of wine. The majority of the barrels used in the vineyard are made in France and cost in the region of £7,500 and has a life expectancy of just five to seven years. After the tour we are taken to a private area at the rear of the visitor centre for a tasting. Brian has selected three wines for us to consider, one of them a Gewürztraminer, a bottle of which we had purchased at an off licence the day before and left in the fridge at Lakeshore. As I am driving I only take a small sip of each wine. Two ladies next to us, we imagine a mother and daughter, were throwing the sample down their neck as fast as possible.
Brian leaves us after a well deserve round of applause and we enter the gift shop and wine sales area. We try a couple more wines at the bar, this time not included in the tour price. We did pencil in lunch here, but decide instead to skip lunch and instead buy a few bits at the gift shop. We buy a small bottle of Icewine one of the wines sampled at the bar, this is one thing we are not likely to see at home. It is made after the first snow falls when the temperature is at -8°C. The freezing temperatures helps to increase the sugar in the grape juice used for this wine.
We have no plan for the rest of the day, indeed we are eager to return to Lakeshore. We stop at Urban Fare grocery store and buy a few provisions for a picnic. When we get back to the house, there is nobody around. We go to our room make our lunch, and have a glass of the wine purchased the day before. We go down to the garden and relax for the afternoon, some reading, my fellow traveller painting and drawing. I take some more photographs. A bit later Louise returns with her grandchildren. It is getting hot now in the garden, so we return to the room to cool down.
We finish up the remainder of the wine and settle down for the night.