Do you enjoy the sweetness and the fragrances of wines? Do you like to enjoy the beautiful scenery bathing in the warm sun shine with holding a glass of wine ? Do you wish to escape the press and stress of daily life and to enjoy some sweet and relaxing moments with the people you love? Then you should probably consider to start a laid-back wine tasting journey in Kamloops.
As a wine lover, I think that Kamloops would be an holy land for people who are like me. Kamloops is a medium-sized valley basin city within hot weather and great sunshines in summer. The geographical conditions of Kamloops are excellent for grapes planting. What fascinates me the most is not just the amazing taste of the wine produced here, but the combinations of it with the funny wineries employees and the beautiful natural sceneries make wine tasting a very wonderful experience. I have summarized 3 Kamloops wineries that I have been to myself and still think it’s worth a second visit. I will list them in the blog and I strongly recommend wine lovers to go.
Monte Creek Ranch Winery
Monte Creek Winery is currently the most well-known winery of Kamloops and it is the winery that has been mostly visited by the tourists . Monte Creek Winery covers an area of 75 acres of vines and it owns two vineyard, Monte creek and Lion’s Head.( Monte Creek Winery, 2020) Monte Creek is located outside of Kamloops city. It takes only 20 minutes to drive there.
The quality of the wine produced by Monte Creek Winery is undoubtedly good, especially their white wines. Monte Creek’s White wine has won the Canadian wine championship for several times. But my favorite wines from Monte Creek are the rose sparkling wine and the blueberry fruit wine. I am a person who has relatively high requirements for the sweetness of wine, and I like to drink wines that are sweet and that contains fruit fragrance. So if you have the same taste with me, I strongly recommend you to try these two when you go there.
But what makes Monte Creek Winery stand out from other wineries is not just the quality of the wines they produce. Monte Creek Winery provides visitors with excellent picnic location that allows them to overlook the Thompson Riverside from the hillside. Imagine yourself sipping wine by holding the wine glass while sitting lazily on the chair and sightseeing the sunshines reflects on the sparkling river surface. Such an experience will be really enjoyable for any visitor.
Harper’s Trail Winery
Harper Trail’s Winery is the first winery in Kamloops and it is also undoubtedly the winery with longest history in Kamloops. Harper’s Trail winery is located on the bank of the South Thompson River, and the winery is sandwiched between Sage Mountain and the Thompson River.
The quality of wines produced by Harper Trail’s winery is also quite outstanding. The Cabernet Franc they produced in 2018 won the Bronze Award in the Decanter world wine awards, the world’s largest wine competition this year. The Silver Mane Block Riesling they produced in 2018 also won them the gold medal of this year’s Decanter World wine Championship.
What impressed me the most about Harper Trail’s Winery was not their wines, but their winery employees. The staff at the harper trail winery are polite and friendly.You can tell from the conversation with them that they really have the passion for wines and they do have considerable knowledge of wines. They would patiently answer any of your questions within a lot of details covered. In addition, as the winery within longest history in Kamloops, it is also interesting to learn about the history of Harper Trail’s winery from the winery employees and the owner of the winery.
If you are the type of wine lovers who wish to gain knowledge related to wine from your journey, then I think this is the right place for you to go.
Privato Vinyard and Winery
Privato Winery is a family-owned boutique small winery where visitors are able enjoy vintage Burgundy-style wine and services. Privato Winery is located at the north side of the Thompson River. The name of the winery Privato means private in Italian, which represents that this is a private winery.
Compared with Monte Creek Winery and Harper Trail’s Winery, Privato Winery is very low-key.The amount of tourists visit there is not many good as the Monte Creek Winery and Harper Trail’s Winery. So that makes the environment of Privato Winery quieter than the Monte Creek Winery and Harper Trail’s Winery.
The reason that I recommend this winery is that it is really a great place to come with your lover or your best friend. The seats and spaces for each pair of tourists private , you do not need to be surrounded by other people when you drink wines here. If you have some little secrets that you want to share with your lover or girlfriend and don’t want them to be heard by others , then this is the best place for you. In addition, the internal environment of the winery is just lovely. There is a garden inside the winery, and they have dense vegetation everywhere in the winery.Entering Privato Winery really gave me the feeling of walking in a small European boutique garden. I even forgot that it was in Canada and that I had a paper to be submitted the next day.
I visited to these three wineries at days. Each of the experiences is unique and has really made my day. If you like drinking wine and travel, but are still hesitant of where to go. Please come to Kamloops. Go to the three wineries I recommend. They would not regret you.
Monte Creek Ranch Winery.(2020). About Us. Retrieved from: https://www.montecreekranch.com/ Harper Trail's Estate Winery.(2019). Winery information. Retrieved from: https://www.harperstrail.com/winery-information Privato Vinyard&Winery.(2020). Privato Vinyard&Winery. Retrieved from: https://www.privato.ca/ Kamloop Wine Trail.(n.d). Kamloops Wine Trail. Retrieved from: https://www.kamloopswinetrail.com/ megan.(September 24, 2008). Winery[digital image].Flickr. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/23722299@N02/2886608544/in/photolist- Mike Klassen.(July 13, 2012). Our #BCWine summer continues with @HarpersTrail Riesling. Luscious fruit from Kamloops' 1st estate winery. @OKCrushPad[digital image]. Flickr. Retrieved From: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kino/7559196336/in/photolist- Natulive Canada.( July 12, 2018).Monte Creek Ranch Winery[digital image]. Flickr. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/natulivecanada-marikoishikawa/42887562905/in/photolist- Stefano Bosia. (2019, June 8).Wine taste[digital image]. Flickr. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/151036972@N05/48066544472/in/photolist- Kamloops Wine Trail.(2020, July 15). Discover the Kamloops Wine Trail[Youtube Video]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99VjNgTW804
