An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a
very narrow field. -Niels Bohr, physicist (1885-1962)
Up at 8:30 am after a simply glorious sleep-in. My early bird house guests, Luise and Dave, were already gone, off to breakfast with Spumoni before a hike to White Lake. Made my mug of java and set myself down to "attack" my long overdue notes on last Monday's hike. If I'm lucky, I'll have the Roddy Flats Field report finished and distributed to my clamouring fans before tomorrow's outing! Wish me Buona Fortuna, Dear Reader!
Beavered away until bird-watchers returned and then we hit the wine-tasting trail, first stopping at Upper Bench. Had a grand time there, as you can well imagine. Shana and Gavin were off but happened to pop their heads in and then stayed to visit. As things would have it, one of the young women behind tasting counter is from Merritt and she knows Prince Valiant's wife, Megan, [She is a public health nurse there.], very well. I mentioned, to S/G, that Lady Dar was in Vancouver, attending a baby shower for Megan as we had introduced Shana and Gavin to Flamin' and Sarge last year. "Small big little town", is that how it goes?
Then on to Terravista, a winery above Naramata Road, I'd never been to before. Wanted to taste there for a number of reasons. Hildegard von Bingen, a wonderful dynamo of a person, living in Oliver, in the house she grew up in, mentioned on a hike, on Easter Monday, above Tinhorn Creek Winery, that she was going to help bottle wine there the coming week. She knew Sanka/Bob Tennant from the time when they were part owners, (20%), of Black Hills Winery on Black Sage Road. Sanka was the wine-maker, (She vinted the very highly regarded Nota Bene), and Bob grew the grapes. About four or five years ago they, and their partners, sold Black Hills and S/B built Terravista. On Easter Saturday Sarge and Flamin' tasted at Terravista and were most impressed by the product, white wine only, as part of sale of Black Hills included a restriction that Sanka not produce red wine for a number of years. This alone acknowledges how highly regarded she is as a wine-maker.
At any rate, it is a gorgeous property, (Views similar to those from KVR!), and the winery itself is a wonderfully attractive concrete structure, designed for natural climate control, nestled into the hillside as it is. We were only people there when we drove up so Sanka, (She is Croatian so I plan to bring Ragin' on his next visit, some time, later this summer, I trust.), set us up at one of the small picnic tables outside, on the large, covered patio area, overhang form the slanted roof. She is a lovely, lovely person and we visited and tasted and chatted and sipped, talking about everything under the sun. She uses Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier, Rhone varietals that are some of my very favourite whites. Three that we tasted, the 2012/2013/2014 Figaro, a blend of the three, were wonderful but I was drawn to the 2013 vintage, 14%, because it was the boldest, liquid dynamite.
After about an hour we bought our wine and as we were loading it into the car Bob called us over as he wanted to show us some of the rest of the property, views, vineyards, etc. During the course of the ensuing conversation I discovered that the land had once belonged to Jake and he built all of the many incredible stone walls on the property! I knew that he had once owned a small cattle ranch, somewhere in Naramata, for about 20 years, between the '70's-'90's, I think, but I didn't know it was this specific property. Circles and Circles and Circles!
When we went back to the car another couple had arrived and I went over to ask Sanka for her email address as I wanted to send her some pictures. Introduced myself, as Patrizzio, to the couple and when I shook the husband's hand, he said, "I know you!" Turned out that we had met Rita and Bill Levan at Orofino last September, with Jos and Aarturo. They remembered me as I'd ridden to the winery. When I asked what they did Rita offered that she was a nurse and Bill said he taught English at Pen Hi. This being the case I asked if he knew Jake. Although Jake is now retired they were colleagues at one point! Bill didn't realize that the property once belonged to him either. Bill is also of Dutch origin so he had spoken in his mother tongue to Famiglia Dronkers, who, as of this writing, are in Bali!
Waving goodbye to all our new best friends, we made for Il Palazzo di Lighthall where we enjoyed a quick visit. Their flowers are stunning! Before we left Jugos gave us two large bags of fresh rhubarb. Luise gave me her recipe for chutney so I plan to make up a batch in the next few days. After thanking and waving goodbye to the Naramatians we made a stop at Legend Distilling, more or less just around the corner form them. Had never been before and was quite impressed with the range and quality of their product. One can do a tasting of four for $4, fee waved with purchase. I was taken with the Slowpoke Naramata Sour Cherry Vodka. It is Dom Jugos' birthday on May 19th and we have been invited, along with another couple, to celebrate event. Will start evening by having cocktails here. Another stunning view from their deck so should be fun!
Back home to prepare dinner. Put all the Freeloaders to work and we had a grand time, everyone helping so most enjoyable. Had dessert, watermelon drizzled with Balsamic, around fire-pit and after Spumoni went home we enjoyed a few snorts of Long Table Aquavit in the living room. Not too, too late an evening as Denman folk needed to leave by 7:30 am Monday morning and I was hiking myself.
Up at 8:30 am after a simply glorious sleep-in. My early bird house guests, Luise and Dave, were already gone, off to breakfast with Spumoni before a hike to White Lake. Made my mug of java and set myself down to "attack" my long overdue notes on last Monday's hike. If I'm lucky, I'll have the Roddy Flats Field report finished and distributed to my clamouring fans before tomorrow's outing! Wish me Buona Fortuna, Dear Reader!
Beavered away until bird-watchers returned and then we hit the wine-tasting trail, first stopping at Upper Bench. Had a grand time there, as you can well imagine. Shana and Gavin were off but happened to pop their heads in and then stayed to visit. As things would have it, one of the young women behind tasting counter is from Merritt and she knows Prince Valiant's wife, Megan, [She is a public health nurse there.], very well. I mentioned, to S/G, that Lady Dar was in Vancouver, attending a baby shower for Megan as we had introduced Shana and Gavin to Flamin' and Sarge last year. "Small big little town", is that how it goes?
Then on to Terravista, a winery above Naramata Road, I'd never been to before. Wanted to taste there for a number of reasons. Hildegard von Bingen, a wonderful dynamo of a person, living in Oliver, in the house she grew up in, mentioned on a hike, on Easter Monday, above Tinhorn Creek Winery, that she was going to help bottle wine there the coming week. She knew Sanka/Bob Tennant from the time when they were part owners, (20%), of Black Hills Winery on Black Sage Road. Sanka was the wine-maker, (She vinted the very highly regarded Nota Bene), and Bob grew the grapes. About four or five years ago they, and their partners, sold Black Hills and S/B built Terravista. On Easter Saturday Sarge and Flamin' tasted at Terravista and were most impressed by the product, white wine only, as part of sale of Black Hills included a restriction that Sanka not produce red wine for a number of years. This alone acknowledges how highly regarded she is as a wine-maker.
At any rate, it is a gorgeous property, (Views similar to those from KVR!), and the winery itself is a wonderfully attractive concrete structure, designed for natural climate control, nestled into the hillside as it is. We were only people there when we drove up so Sanka, (She is Croatian so I plan to bring Ragin' on his next visit, some time, later this summer, I trust.), set us up at one of the small picnic tables outside, on the large, covered patio area, overhang form the slanted roof. She is a lovely, lovely person and we visited and tasted and chatted and sipped, talking about everything under the sun. She uses Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier, Rhone varietals that are some of my very favourite whites. Three that we tasted, the 2012/2013/2014 Figaro, a blend of the three, were wonderful but I was drawn to the 2013 vintage, 14%, because it was the boldest, liquid dynamite.
After about an hour we bought our wine and as we were loading it into the car Bob called us over as he wanted to show us some of the rest of the property, views, vineyards, etc. During the course of the ensuing conversation I discovered that the land had once belonged to Jake and he built all of the many incredible stone walls on the property! I knew that he had once owned a small cattle ranch, somewhere in Naramata, for about 20 years, between the '70's-'90's, I think, but I didn't know it was this specific property. Circles and Circles and Circles!
When we went back to the car another couple had arrived and I went over to ask Sanka for her email address as I wanted to send her some pictures. Introduced myself, as Patrizzio, to the couple and when I shook the husband's hand, he said, "I know you!" Turned out that we had met Rita and Bill Levan at Orofino last September, with Jos and Aarturo. They remembered me as I'd ridden to the winery. When I asked what they did Rita offered that she was a nurse and Bill said he taught English at Pen Hi. This being the case I asked if he knew Jake. Although Jake is now retired they were colleagues at one point! Bill didn't realize that the property once belonged to him either. Bill is also of Dutch origin so he had spoken in his mother tongue to Famiglia Dronkers, who, as of this writing, are in Bali!
Waving goodbye to all our new best friends, we made for Il Palazzo di Lighthall where we enjoyed a quick visit. Their flowers are stunning! Before we left Jugos gave us two large bags of fresh rhubarb. Luise gave me her recipe for chutney so I plan to make up a batch in the next few days. After thanking and waving goodbye to the Naramatians we made a stop at Legend Distilling, more or less just around the corner form them. Had never been before and was quite impressed with the range and quality of their product. One can do a tasting of four for $4, fee waved with purchase. I was taken with the Slowpoke Naramata Sour Cherry Vodka. It is Dom Jugos' birthday on May 19th and we have been invited, along with another couple, to celebrate event. Will start evening by having cocktails here. Another stunning view from their deck so should be fun!
Back home to prepare dinner. Put all the Freeloaders to work and we had a grand time, everyone helping so most enjoyable. Had dessert, watermelon drizzled with Balsamic, around fire-pit and after Spumoni went home we enjoyed a few snorts of Long Table Aquavit in the living room. Not too, too late an evening as Denman folk needed to leave by 7:30 am Monday morning and I was hiking myself.
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