3 Best Kelowna Wine Tour Regions
If you’ve been looking for the best areas to travel on your next trip to Kelowna in search of amazing wine, look no further! Welcome to our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions. While everyone’s palettes are different and there are so many good wines to go around, Kelowna is the nucleus of the local Okanagan wine industry.
When beginning to plan a wine focused trip to Kelowna, the choices and regions can be a little overwhelming. With over 60 wineries alone within 30 square kilometres, it can be challenging to know where to start. While our experience has shown there are no bad areas or wineries to visit, you can definitely put the odds in your favour by doing a little research and ensuring the wineries you’ll visit offer wines geared to your palette. To that end, we present you with the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions.
West Kelowna Wine Region
Beginning with the most popular wine region in the valley, West Kelowna’s “Westside Wine Trail” offers wine lovers a great combination of strong wine portfolios, lake and mountain views, modern tasting rooms and the most iconic wineries in the valley that have put Kelowna on the Map. West Kelowna is wine region of choice for many first time travellers and a great place to begin our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions
Names such as Mission Hill Family Estate Winery, Quails Gate Winery and Mt. Boucherie Estate are recognized world wide for their stunning vineyard properties and quality wines produced annually. True, these iconic wineries will definitely tick the “wow factor” box, but West Kelowna offers a whole lot more!
The main trail heads down Boucherie Road where you’ll have access to wineries such as The Hatch, Black Swift Vineyards, Beaumont Winery, Volcanic Hills Estate, Little Straw Vineyards, and Frind Estate Winery. Venturing off the main road, there’s more to explore including the “one of a kind” Crown and Thieves (think a medieval castle!), The Gallery Winery, Grizzli Winery, Niche Wine Co and Off The Grid Organic Winery.
Travelers could spend 3 days or more exploring the wineries in West Kelowna alone. With their own charm and character, extensive portfolios and varied tasting experiences, there’s something for everyone’s style and budget.
A host of tasting experiences are available from $5 / person all the way to $125 / person. If you’re looking to experience several wineries on a budget, check out the introductory tasting experiences at Rollingdale Organic Winery, Grizzli Winery and Little Straw Vineyards.
For a more sophisticated approach and some in depth knowledge on their winemaking process, tastings at Frind Estate Winery, Mt. Boucherie Estate Winery and Black Swift Vineyards should deliver the experience you’re after. With tastings averaging $15 / person, you’ll find higher quality wines, access to bold reds and gorgeous, modern tasting rooms with friendly staff ready to answer all your questions.
For wine lovers seeking the “best of the best”, you’ll be hard pressed to beat a visit to Mission Hill Family Estate or Quails Gate Winery. Both of these wineries have a long history of grape growing in the Okanagan with a focus on quality above all else. Aside from the stunning setting of these wineries, the wine portfolios are sure to match. We highly recommend booking a tasting that offers their reserve wines in a private tasting setting. One-on-one with a sommelier with an opportunity to learn about the history, viticulture and winemaking processes are what these experiences are all about.
If this is more to your liking, we encourage you to explore Mission Hill’s “Behind The Cellar Door Experience” with access to their underground barrel room complete with wine and food pairings. Quails Gate Winery also offers their “Library Tasting” offering wine lovers a private room surrounded by the wineries top back vintages and including wine and food pairings. It’s the top experience Quails Gate offers and is sure to have you craving more!
With such a variety of wineries and wine styles available, its not wonder that West Kelowna is our top choice on our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions.
Lake Country Wine Region
Located only 10 minutes north of the Kelowna International Airport, among the rolling hills and orchards that border Okanagan Lake, lies the Scenic Sip wine trail. Known locally as the second most popular wine region of the Okanagan Valley, its beauty and laid back atmosphere is rivalled only by the quality of wines this region produces. The perfect spot to continue our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions, Lake Country awaits you!
Predominantly growing “cool climate” grapes such as Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, and Pinot Noir, with some Merlot and Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon mixed in, Lake Country should be on the radar of wine lovers for years to come. It’s no wonder travellers come from across the world to visit the wineries of Lake Country and it should remain a staple on our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions for years to come!
For those looking for the most expansive red wine portfolio in Lake Country, we highly recommend checking out Ex Nihilo Vineyards. Offering a “movie worthy” vineyard setting and gorgeous patio, their portfolio includes all the white wines you would expect plus a large offering of red wines. We’re big fans of their “Night”, a Bordeaux style blend that will pair well with any number of proteins. Speaking of food, you can enjoy wine tasting experiences paired with canapés, charcuterie or stay for dinner at the decadent Chaos Bistro located on site!
Other well known names in Lake Country include Arrowleaf Cellars (incredible views of Okanagan Lake), Gray Monk Estate Winery, Intrigue Wines, O’Rourke’s Peak Cellars and 50th Parallel Estate Winery.
For those interested in architecture along with award winning wines, we encourage you to spend some time at 50th Parallel Estate Winery and if time permits, enjoy lunch or dinner at their award winning restaurant, Block One. Routinely voted in the top 100 restaurants in Canada by Open Table guests, the menu, the views and the atmosphere are stunning.
Looking to the future, the O’Rourke Family Estate is slated to open in 2026, offering an unparalleled wine tasting experience in one of the most opulent winery settings Canada offers. Years in the making, the new winery will feature accommodations, restaurants, meeting rooms, event space and a massive amphitheatre for concerts!
With so many amazing wineries located on the shores of Okanagan Lake, it’s no wonder that Lake Country makes our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions to visit on your next trip to the Okanagan Valley.
East Kelowna Wine Region
What happens when you combine the best of both the West Kelowna and Lake Country wine regions? Well, you get East Kelowna! Rounding out our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions, East Kelowna offers something for everyone!
Set among the large apple orchards and vineyards in one of the oldest areas of the city, East Kelowna turns back the hands of time offering a glimpse into what Kelowna used to look like in years gone by.
For the most part, wineries are small in size, but large in character. Names such as Spearhead Winery, The Vibrant Vine, The View Winery and Cidery and Nagging Doubt offer wine lovers the authentic charm of a family run winery.
For those looking for modern, larger scale operations, Tantalus Vineyards, Summerhill Pyramid Winery Cedar Creek Estate Winery and the “one of a kind” Martins Lane await your visit. We highly recommend taking an afternoon to enjoy Cedar Creek’s Aspect tasting and the head over to their on-site restaurant, Home Block to continue the fun. An ever evolving menu, farm fresh ingredients and stunning views will have you planning your next trip back before even leaving the city!
East Kelowna wines are dominated by Pinot Noir and Riesling, although you’ll find an extensive portfolio at most wineries. Along with the charm of exploring the local farms, fruit stands and restaurants in the region, you’ll enjoy mountain views and some massive vineyards. Indeed, some of the largest wineries in the Okanagan have vineyard blocks in East Kelowna due to their slope, soil composition, sun exposure and warm temperatures!
With so much history, some of the oldest vines in the valley and of course, incredible wine, East Kelowna caps off the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions to visit on your next stay in the area.
While the Okanagan Valley continues to deliver world class wine experiences, and with over 270 wineries in the valley, it can be hard to know where to start when planning a wine getaway. By focusing on the 3 Okanagan wine regions above, you’ll be well on your way to understanding more about our local wine industry and hopefully finding some lovely wines to enjoy!
We hope you found our list of the 3 best Kelowna wine tour regions useful and the city of Kelowna looks forward to welcoming you! For those looking to take the stress out of the logistics, we encourage you to explore our West Kelowna Wine Tour, Lake Country Wine Tour or East Kelowna Wine Tour. Enjoy!
