Our rolling wine rally
started off with 13 of us converging on our first stop at Osoyoos. Ron
had picked a great spot, right on the lake with waterfront sites all in a
row. Ben & I got there Tuesday afternoon, while Barb & Bob Brown explored
Leavenworth and the Rawsons connected with some hereto unmet relatives in
Okanagon, WA for what sounded like a rip-snorting party. As Wednesday
wore on, we collected more of our group, renewed friendships, acquired new
members, met non-Trek guests and had an impromptu happy hour – as we
always seem to do. The RV park was on Indian land, with newly constructed
luxury condos, spa, winery, and Indian cultural center within walking
distance up the hill. Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday was spent biking,
kayaking and winery touring & tasting, with those with cars offering rides
to those without. Friday night, we all gathered at Smitty’s restaurant
for a good group dinner.
Saturday AM,
we Trekkies all headed to Oliver, while our non-Trek guests, Dennis &
Barbie Clayton, peeled off to go to Banf. In Oliver, we were again at an
RV park on another lake, where Cherry & Don Haas and Gary & Sharon Brunner
introduced us to bocce ball, with what I suspect was their version of
Calvin & Hobbes rules! Lots of fun. We explored on our own on Friday,
and Saturday most of us attended the community wine festival – a grand
all-day affair, complete with a marching Portuguese band, food booths,
crafts & products booths, more than 30 wineries offering tastes, and
entertainment by the Nylons, Geoff Gibbons and a grape-stomping contest.
Monday Jim & Diana Greer
left us and the rest of us moved to Pentiction, where John & Lisa
Nicholson joined us. Half of us got a van ride to the Lost Moose Lodge –
the highest spot around – for dinner Monday night, while the rest went on
Thursday night. Stan & Barb Shackell had to leave us at this point, so
“then we were 11.” (This is beginning to sound like “10 Little
Indians”!) More bocce ball, interspersed with more wine and bike rides.
We had a guided bus wine tour and lunch on Tuesday. Wednesday evening we
had a blind wine tasting contest & potluck dinner hors d’oeuvre. Each
coach brought a bottle of uncorked wine in a brown paper bag, which we
numbered from 1 to 11. Everyone was given 2 stickers to vote for whatever
wine or wines they liked, with the bottle receiving the most votes winning
the prize of a great book on hiking the hot springs of the Pacific
northwest. Our prize winner, with 8 votes, was a Chilean red wine brought
by our newest members – Janna Caughron & Wayne Vandergriff from Truckee,
CA. They also contributed a second entry – which was square-shaped & not
a bottle! At the end of a fun evening, Janna & Wayne announced they were
having so much fun with their new friends that they wanted to share a
newly baked batch of warm brownies and a bottle of late harvest Riesling
with us!
The blind wines, in order of
popular choice, were bottle:
| #8 (Janna & Wayne) Tabali
Reserva Merlot 2003 - Chili (8 votes) |
| #2 (Eddy) Jackson Triggs Merlot - BC (7) |
| #5 (Weibel) Naked Grape
Sirah - BC (7) |
| #7 (Schindler) Charles Shaw Chardonnay 2005 - CA (5) |
| #1 (Penny) St. Laslo Pinot
Auxerrois - BC (4) |
| #9 (Brown) Okanagon Vineyards Select White 2003 - BC (2) |
| #6 (Wayne & Janna) Sawmill Creek Merlot – box (2) |
| #11 (Nicholson) Stonehill Proprietor’s Blend 2003 - BC (1) |
| #3 (Beers) Bob’s Barrell Room Reserve Shiraz – homemade (1) |
| #10 (Rawson) Penfold’s Rawson Retreat Merlot – Australia (0) |
| #4 La Finca Chamiza
Merlot-Malbec – Argentina (0) |
Friday morning, Bob & Barb
Brown and Ben & I had to leave the group – the Browns to visit some
friends in Kennewick and us to join our yacht club for yet another 3 days
of wineries from Richland to Yakima!
All in all, an immensely
enjoyable and exciting rally put on by Ron & Ginny Rawson – thank you!
Submitted by: Penny Braden
