Reasons to wine tour in the spring
Kelowna is the birthplace of BC wine and with more than 40 wineries in the city and its neighbouring communities, West Kelowna and Lake Country, it’s easy to visit a number of incredible wineries over the course of a day, enjoy award-winning wines and old favourites—or discovering new ones.
Each spring, as the vines awaken from their short winter nap, the winery springs into action, pruning and prepping to ensure the vines get the most sun possible to produce a bountiful harvest.
And while summer is a popular time to tour wineries, here are six reasons why wine touring in spring is amazing.
Less time waiting
Get front-of-line access anytime when wine touring in spring. Most wineries in Kelowna operate year-round with seasonal hours, but start to expand their hours as early as March. If driving, the parking’s good and easy, too. However, make sure to consult the winery's website or call ahead, as a tasting time may need to be booked in advance.
More time
Fewer people going into the tasting rooms means more time to enjoy, talk about, and savour every sip. Knowledgeable tasting room staff are happy to share food and wine pairing tips and fun and interesting stories from around the vineyard. Have questions about wine or the winemaking process? There will be time to ask questions and satisfy that curiosity (and those tastebuds!).
New releases
Who doesn’t love being first to try (or buy) something? Be the envy of social circles by being the first to enjoy some of the new releases from Kelowna wineries. Spring is a terrific time for aromatic white wines like rieslings, viogniers, and gewürztraminers, the wines that have the most vibrant bouquet. Tour in the spring and pick up new releases to show off (paired) at your next dinner party.
More selection
Great wines often sell out early in the year. By touring in the spring, chances are increased of getting all the wines you want! A super strategic wine tourer will make a sweep to all their favourite wineries in the spring (and maybe again in the fall) to pick up all their favourites for the season. With patio weather upon us, it's smart to stock up soon! If driving to Kelowna, be sure to save some space to fill the trunk and if travelling by plane, good news, most wineries will ship to most places (and some even offer free shipping!).
Great weather
Kelowna’s spring is beautiful. The snow stays up on the mountains for those that want to ski, but down in the valley, blooms and blossoms happen early and last right into the growing season. When bud break happens, the beautiful, bright, green grape leaves are soon to follow. Seeing the fresh leaves against the sun-kissed lake makes for a pretty fresh Instagram feed. And there’s lots to do in between winery stops, from golf to hiking to downtown shopping.
Bragging rights
Wine touring with the squad is fun, but admit it – it can be pretty fun to share wine touring stories (and most recent wine finds) with friends when back at home, right? It won’t be hard to make them envious of the great time you had in Kelowna, and maybe it will be easy to convince them to join in on the next trip to Kelowna and the Okanagan Valley, too!
Check out the wine pages of Tourism Kelowna’s website for ideas or to start planning—find out more about the area’s five wine trails, which make touring easy, or connect with one of the many wine tour operators, with sommelier-led options, wine pairings and zip lining, and so much more.