Road Trip to Kelowna – Greata Ranch Estate Winery
This entry is based on my trip to Kelowna on mid June 2008. My other entries on this trip includes:
Road Trip to Kelowna – Highway 3
Road Trip to Kelowna – Downton Kelowna
Road Trip to Kelowna – Sumac Ridge
I was originally planning to put the list of wineries I visited in sequential order – the reason why Sumac Ridge was first. However, I soon realized that I might be a bad idea, as that meant the ones I enjoyed the most might be blogged first. So, I decided to shuffle them and blog the rest from the one I liked the least to the one I liked the most. As mention in its entry, Sumac Ridge is in the middle of the pack.
Caveat Emptor: I am not a wine connoisseur. I don’t care about wine pairing or Parker points or who knows what. I drink what I like. Once in a while, out of whim, I visit a liquor store and buy a bottle of wine (the only condition is that it has to be VQA – support your local economy!). If I like it, I make notes of it; if I don’t like it, well, too bad. As I mentioned in a previous entry, my tolerance for alcohol is very low. That’s why, if I drink, most likely it will be at home or at a friend’s place where I know I can stay overnight. Enjoying the wineries do not require you to drink, there are other things it can offer you though, like the scenery.
Greata Ranch – Building façade
Having said that, from my trip to Kelowna, out of all the wineries, Greata Ranch was the one that, well, I was disappointed the most. Now, I am not saying they are bad, instead, it might be the fact it was the last one visited on my first full day in Kelowna. In a way, expectations were high – or, at least, mine was high. Also, by now, I already sampled over a dozen of wines from other wineries and was starting to get tipsy. The winery offered us a couple of samples of white and, at least, one red (sorry, my brain was fuzzy by then). At this point, I would not have been able to tell apart a Sauvignon Blanc from a Chardonnay. OK, I don’t think I would have been able to distinguish them even if I was sober; at least I could tell a Chardonnay from a Riesling or a Gewürztraminer (the last two have a “fruitier” taste). However, what we sampled was not “memorable” by any means. I guess one of these days I will have to get a bottle from the liquor stores and double-check…
Exterior – Facing north
Greata Ranch – Winestore
Greata Ranch – Patio
Having said that, we go to the “other reason”, the scenery. Here is where Greata Ranch fails. Now, it is possible it was the day itself (it was a bit cloudy) but, regardless, the area looked a bit… *plain*. Agree? Disagree? Please let me know how can I improve the pictures!
Greata Ranch – Facing South
Greata Ranch – Vineyard
Greata Ranch – Another view of the vineyard
