An easy 4.5 hour drive saw Joan and me at our first stop in Osoyoos. We saw only a very few burned out bushes coming into Osoyoos so I am starting to agree with Frank of Sagebrush Tours who told us reports had been exaggerated … at least around Osoyoos. So glad for that!

We checked into the Spirit Ridge Resort, a Hyatt hotel on the Nk’Mip (Inkameep) lands. Joan and I found ourselves with neighbouring balconies and only a five minute walk to our first tasting at the Nk’Mip Cellars.

For our first tasting the line up was:

• 2022 Pinot Blanc
• 2022 Dreamcatcher (a white)
• 2022 Rosé
• 2020 Talon (a red blend)

Joan’s favourite was the Dreamcatcher, a surprise as she is usually a red wine drinker. I liked the Pinot Blanc and Rosé a lot but found the Dreamcatcher a little rough due to its high acidity. (I’m a smoothie, don’t you know! 😋) Bottle prices are in the mid $20’s. I’ll await more tastings before I decide if I will favour Nk’Mip wines when I get home.

The tasting facility is beautiful – high ceilinged, airy, with lots of retail possibilties nicely arrayed. The view from the absurdly expensive café almost made the prices OK … almost but not quite.

Instead we dined at a local pub on nachos and shrimp & avocado ceviche. All the wines on the menu were local – yay! – and the view equalled what we would have had at the hotel. I want to know how, in mid-September, they keep their casscading petunias looking so great while mine look like it’s time to call it a day!

On the way back to the hotel there was such a pretty sky to help us call it a day. More wines tomorrow! Stay tuned.

“It matters not if the wine glass is half empty or half full,
clearly there’s room for more!“
from Atlas Obscura, Raise a Glass to our Readers’ Favourite Drinking Toasts