A Wine experience at Mission Hill Family Estate
Story by: Karen Montgomery
This series will take you along on adventures as we head out to find all of the different activities and opportunities to truly experience the Okanagan.
For this episode of Experience the Okanagan we brought together ten people, ranging from wine lovers to non-wine drinkers, to experience a 90-minute sommelier guided tour of Mission Hill Family Estate Winery.
The ExperienceIt doesn't matter if you think you don't like wine, you will enjoy.
We gathered a mixture of wine lovers and wine newbies to try the sommelier guided 'taste of the estate' experience at Mission Hill Family Estate Winery that exceeded all of our expectations.
Our sommelier guide, Bram, was incredibly passionate and kept everyone in our group entertained and interested with his extensive knowledge of wine and the region of the Okanagan Valley.
He even had our wine ‘beginners’ asking questions, trying new wines and leaving with bottles in hand! As someone who loves wine, and has experienced wine tours all over the world, this was by far one of the most memorable.
“He lives and breathes wine. He is walking, talking wine!”
And not to mention, the grounds and history of Mission Hill and the family is incredible. Seeing the old bottles given as gifts and ancient decanters aging back hundreds of years in the cellar was so neat.
The TourA scavenger hunt to find wines and snacks
We started the experience with a glass of rosé in the courtyard, where Bram gave us an introduction to the grounds and what we could expect. From there we went on a ‘scavenger hunt’ through the grounds where Bram walked and talked about wine, grapes, the history of the Okanagan Valley, old world vs. new world wines and how the estate has bee hives that they collect honey from for some dishes in their Terrace Restaurant.
On our scavenger hunt, we would come across a table with a different kind of wine to taste, paired with a small snack. Bram would go into detail about the wine notes and why it pairs perfectly with the food portion.
When we got to the wine cellar, we actually got to taste wine straight out of the barrel! It was delicious, and a very cool experience.
You Gotta Try It!Gather your friends and go!
There are various experiences that you can choose from at Mission Hill - we tried the Taste of the Estate which was a 90 minute experience including a walk around the grounds, wine and food pairings and a brief rundown on the history of the winery and region.
This is a great way for a group of up to ten people to get together, taste some wine and learn about what makes our valley one of the best for growing grapes and making beautiful wines.
Regardless if you are a wine-o through and through or just learning to acquire the taste, an experience like this is enjoyable and interesting for everyone!
Kaz's 🌵🍉💛✨Okanagan Bucket List
☑ Snowmobiling in the Graystokes
☑ Visit the Okanagan Lavender & Herb Farm
☑ Hydro-Fly at Downtown Marina
☑ Weekend at Big White in the summer
☑ Smile Cycle Tour through Kelowna
☑ Sommelier-guided experience at Mission Hill Winery
.png)