Weekending || Black Hills Winery Surprise Day Date

Saturday mornings are usually pretty boring around around here. I usually spend them doing chores and puttering around the house. They are filled with fun stuff like laundry, vacuuming and washing the floors etc. I like to up the ante a bit and I usually have a Disney movies playing while I try to get all that mundane stuff done. This weekend’s selections where The Lion King and Aladdin. Classic. Probably my all-time faves. Although, I think they are tied with Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. I’ll forever be a 90’s child. I am trying to pretend that the distance between then and now isn’t making me super crazy or old. Haha.

Anyways, while I do these super fun things Scott usually goes and get groceries and does whatever errands he needs to get done. Yesterday that meant a run out to Keremeos to get some peaches for canning on Sunday. When he got back he asked if I was done all my chores for the day. Insert sheepish grin here. No…why? He says that he wants to take me out for a surprise day date! I got to go even though I was a bad girl and didn’t get all my chores done. Clearly, there must be some other time I can clean the bathroom this weekend. #SundayFunday?

I quickly got ready and we headed out. It was a gorgeous day for a drive here in the sunny Okanagan. Which actually was sunny. We have been plagued with a smoke over from all the fires for a lot of this summer. I am sure you have heard me complain it about more than once before.

Once I realized we were headed south, I was hoping that we would end up exactly where we did, Black Hills Winery. We have been talking about heading back out here since our first visit last fall. We immediately fell in love with the wines and the setting is what dreams of made of. It feels like a little vacation from everyday life. It turns out that Scott had the same idea that I had and that is exactly where we ended up. I wish I had of thought to bring my big girl camera. Since I stopped blogging this year took a blogging break, I really haven’t been carting it around with me much. Even the camera roll on my phone is a bit pathetic this year. Next time I will bring it for sure.

They do a sit down guided wine tasting experience, which I love. It is so nice to sit back, relax and really enjoy each wine. They do a 2oz pour for each wine you are tasting so we like to get a little something is snack on while we sip. The food is amazing so that is a good motivator too.

We did a Portfolio Tasting which is a flight of 6 wines, 3 white and 3 red. The varietal specific Riedel wine glasses were a nice touch.  We tasted Alibi, Viognier and Alias for whites. The Alias is a bend of 6 different grapes while the Alibi is a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. They were all good but the Viognier was definitely my favourite. For some reason, I didn’t snap a picture of the whites. Of course, I got the empty glasses while we were waiting. Blogging fail.

Although I do love their whites, the real stars are their reds. We tasted in order of right to left because I am crazy like that Cellar Hand, Syrah and their Flagship wine which is a cult classic, Nota Bene. It was said that the 2015 vintage we were tasting was the already turning out to be the best vintage ever.

They had a vertical tasting of all the Nota Bene vintages ever released, all 18 of them. According to our Wine Evangelist, this vintage is either the best or second to only the 2009 vintage. I’ll have to take his word for that but from what I tasted it was damn near the best wine I have ever had so it must be true. I’m biased though being a recent convert to the Nota Bene cult. Also, I feel like I really should have been at this special event. There’s always next year.

We enjoyed the Cellar Hand as was expected but that Syrah wins all. It stole my heart. It was the perfect wine for the Margherita pizza we shared. It may have even stole a bit of the Nota Bene’s thunder. Just a bit.

As good as the food and wine are the setting also can’t be beat. It is perfect for enjoying a little break from everyday life and especially those mundane Saturday morning chores. The poolside cabana’s make you feel like you are on vacation somewhere tropical. We didn’t get a cabana this trip but we are planning on booking one before the season is out. Plus, what would a perfect a patio happy hour be without a little music.

We loved it all so much we decided it was time to become wine club members. We have been talking about it since our first visit and it was the perfect way to top off our afternoon. I am so lucky to be living here and able to do and share all this with my best friend. Maybe a little spoiled too.

Surprise Saturday day date success!