That sign is outrageous! It looks most unstable - I wonder how it stands up to a high wind. Where is the winery?
My dear husband just informed me he's re-organizing the computer equipment, and will be disconnecting the satellite modem so he can string the cable up into the ceiling and across to the other wall, so I may be off the Internet for a while. If he has problems getting everything re-connected, I might be away from the website for a while. Please carry on posting, and I'll catch up later.
Alberta-British Columbia Boundary.
That Winery is in Vancouver as are all these next ones.
At Chute Lake Road, Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada (Southwest Mission)
http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/contact-us/directions
This Winery is also in Vancouver.
The Great Computer Equipment Move seems to have been successful, and I have Internet access again!
Ginger, did you get a complete tour of the winery? It's eye-opening to see the progression from bunches of grapes to the final, drinkable product. This tub full of luscious, sweet, dark grapes is about to be processed at a small winery near Mount Etna, Sicily.
All these places are just for the Tourist.
They grow a couple of rows of Vines.
All their Grapes come from subcontractor growers.
Pity really, Their main sales are Meals.
I'm not even sure these Grapes find their way into their Wine Bottles.
Those grapes look good enough to eat! The winery I visited, Cantine Nicosia, allowed the tour group to walk around one of its vineyards located on volcanic slopes high above Catania, where we saw the grapes being hand-picked and loaded onto a small pickup truck to be taken to the winery. The owner then took us into an old barn where he showed us ancient wine making equipment, including a stone trough where the grapes used to be trodden.
Sicilian wine production is much more high-tech nowadays.
I would have loved to see things like that in Canada.
This is as close to seeing it made as we got. (fermenting)
Still very impressive.
Have you visited any Australian wineries? Are you in a wine-growing area of Ozz? Do you have a favorite Australian wine?
We visit at least 5 Wineries each year.
Our closest Wine growing area is 3 hours drive away.
And that is Stanthorpe.
http://honeysucklecottages.com.au/websites/wineries-in-the-stanthorpe-granite-belt-region-of-queensland.html
This is still the same Winery.
This was the tasting table when we first arrived.
Thanks for the link. Quart Pot Cottage sounds like a good place to stay.
At your tasting table, there seems to be too many glasses and too few bottles!
The Bottles kept coming as they were emptied.
I will only buy Wine worth up to $12 a bottle.
I really can't afford any more.
All my savings go towards our Canadian Holidays.
We have a Grange Hermitage worth about $15,000 a Bottle here in Ozz.
Can you imagine drinking that ?
http://www.nicks.com.au/index.aspx?link_id=67.700
http://penfoldsgrangeforsale.com/forsale.php?Penfolds=2318
Not sure why they have a Church bell there ?
Some very odd architecture. I'm sure there's a reason!
I can't imagine who would spend $15K on a bottle of wine. $15 is more in my price range.
I once shared a $1,000 bottle of Grande with 3 other people.
That was one glass full each.
$250 for one glass full.
Never again in my lifetime thank you.
The Building on the left is what is above ground off the underground cellar.
This is My Cellar. ^_^
Straight on the Studio Floor/Carpet.
We can buy 'Cleanskins' for $2 a Bottle.
But only by the box full. ( one dozen)
And it tastes not too shabby.
Very impressive bottle collection, ginger! My "cellar" is a 10-bottle wine rack in the cold, dark closet under my basement stairs where I also store suitcases, a folding bed, and packets of seeds. I never buy wine by the case, just different bottles of whatever takes my fancy to fill up the rack when it starts to look empty. My local liquor store (run by the bureaucrats at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario) stocks a small selection of imported wines from around the world, but rarely has anything that I'm specifically looking for, and is unresponsive to requests. After returning from the Sicily wine tour, I asked LCBO staff why none of the excellent Marsala wines I had tasted were available, and all I got was shrugs and disinterest. On my next visit to the LCBO I will look in the Australian wine section for any bottles from Stanthorpe Granite Belt wineries, and hope I'll be pleasantly surprised!
I hope you can find a bottle or two from Stanthorpe.
On arriving at this Estate, one good look at this Sign told us to move right on along.
If this is the best they could do to try to get us in ?
They were sadly mistaken, leaving all of us happy to go to the next Winery.
If their Wine tastes as BAD as this Sign looks. (time for a wake up call folks)
The Bus simply drove right on by after a vote from all of us.
We were more than happy to give this Fine looking Winery a try.
The Cheese Platter at the tasting table was simply heavenly. (sorry no Picky)
It's sad that a lot of small businesses fail because they don't pay attention to appearance - they let their sign fall to bits, don't spend money on advertising or landscaping, and so on - so even if their product is good, they don't get many customers. I hope the wine at the second winery was as good as their sign and their cheese.
I really liked this Sculpture of the adult 'Quail'.
The old Grape Vines were used for the bodies.
No one else noticed that fine touch.
I bought a Cork screw Wine Bottle opener with a Vine handle.
And this was the last Winery for the day.
And probably the best set out.
Those bird sculptures made from vines are amazing! I wonder how they're made.
They are woven over a wire frame.
Can you imagine holding a Wedding in these grounds ?
I wonder how they keep their Grass so green and perfect ?
This is looking 180º in the opposite direction.
That is the undercover reception area at the top of the stairs.
Wow! A gorgeous spot for a wedding - or indeed any special occasion. Did those lovely roses have a scent?
They sure did.
I never did find out what genus they were.
And that's not like me at all.
I have their Email Address so I may ask them.
The Barrels in all these Winerys all looked so new compared to ours over here ?
I wonder if it is our Dry and Hot weather ?
Can you believe the size of these Floor Tiles ?
I'm not sure what type of wood Canadian wineries use for their barrels, or if the barrels are made in Canada or imported. I do remember on several Italian winery visits being told that French Oak is greatly favoured for wine barrels, but I'm sure there aren't enough oaks in France to supply the entire world's wineries. Some research is required!
Yikes, those tiles do look huge! Maybe concrete was poured and then made to look like tiles?
Do you still see any Wine Bottles with Corks in them ?
We have almost done away with them completely.
I personally like the screw tops.
Easy to get off and easy to reseal and put away for tomorrow.
Also the Restaurants can't charge you $10 corkage for opening your Wine at the table.
In some Restaurants here in Brisvegas they even charge you $2 each for providing you glasses ???
So to sit down and eat a $32 meal, It can cost another $25 for incidentals.
What really gets up my goat is they don't tell you in advance.
It's just added to your bill at the end. (too late to argue then)
http://danmurphys.com.au/dm/home.jsp
After a quick trip to Google-land, I can report that Canadian and American oaks are used to make wine barrels in North America, although they apparently do not impart exactly the same taste as French Oak.
On the subject of corks - I prefer to find real cork stoppers in my wine bottles, as cork is not only bio-degradeable, but also a renewable resource. I do not like plastic or resin corks, because of hazardous chemicals getting into the soil, air, and water at their production and disposal sites. Screw tops are fine for wines that are drunk young. I recently encountered re-usable glass stoppers on some wines from Italy - luckily I noticed that the cork was glass before I used a corkscrew on it.
I'm not sure what the usual restaurant charge for "corkage" is hereabouts, as I never take wine to a restaurant. I figure my local restaurants need the money on the wine mark-up to stay in business, and if it's a good restaurant, I'd rather keep it going than have to eat somewhere worse next time. Not many folks are eating out these days, due to the economic recession, and only the cheap and ghastly "value meal" providers are busy. KFC, McDonalds, etc. thrive, while bistros serving real food die out. That's how it is in the rural communities outside Toronto, anyway. When I visit the city, the restaurants there seem to be as busy as ever!
Thank you for the info on the Oaks.
In a previous life I made my own Whisky.
I bought French Oak wood shavings to soak in the pre mixing.
It was filtered out later and cold not be used again.
I wonder if any one can guess what Sammy is looking up at ?
I'm going to guess it's some kind of information notice attached to the stone. I hate guessing, because I'm always wrong.
How right you are.
And this is the complete Picture at Whistler.
An impressively solid-looking structure. I hope you didn't accidentally run into it on your snowboard!
It was far to big to miss.
Heading North from Vancouver.
We could not believe this Train had a Pot-Belly Stove in each Carriage.
Take a look at the glass cabinet above the Stove.
There are two Axes just in case we break down and run out of fire wood.
At least we would not die from Frostbite. ;o)
