Have you heard of Road 13? It's all about the dirt!

Road 13 Honest John's Rose 2009 Okanagan BC $26.99
Road 13 is the only winery in the Okanagan with a locally born and bred winemaker. Here's the concept: Why not make a local wine that tastes like, well, a local wine..not French,  Australian or Napa Valleyian!
Their motto, “it’s all about the dirt” reflects their belief that great wines start in the vineyard. Winemaker Michael Bartier crafts award‐winning wines in three distinct tiers: a rose, and red and white blends called Honest John’s; a varietal series of red and white wines under the Road 13 label; and a premium tier of small lots and blends called Jackpot. 

Road 13 is located south of Oliver, BC on Road 13 off Highway 97. Open year round, the wine shop offers small lots and back vintages in addition to current releases.  A new private wine club tasting room overlooking the vineyard is set to open early fall 2010.

Why not go for a drive over to Oliver when you are staying at KeriGlen? They even have this dauschund there. I wonder what KeriGlen's resident dauschund Lexi would think of that?

Gurvinder Bhatia is the owner of Vinomania CLICK ON THIS LINK AFTER JUNE 17 (podcast updated) for the CBC podcast on Honest John's Rose.  Gurvinder is Edmonton AM's Wine Columnist and you can hear about his picks for great wines.

Creating Your Own WIne

Have you ever considered making your own wine?

After all how hard can it be, right? Well, as it turns out making wine is actually pretty idiot proof with the right equipment, and sanitizing again and again. You'll need some equipment and some ingredients, but don't worry. Most of it will last many batches with the proper cleaning and maintenance. The trick of course is consistency and time…..

….well, let me tell you about a short cut we’ve discovered that will allow you to get the highest quality wine for a great price. You can actually hire a wine cellar that will create the exact wine you like under quality controlled conditions.

One of our very favorite places is Terrell House Cellars in the middle of a small vineyard near Penticton, BC. You can produce your own fine wines from their grapes or you can purchase one of their wine kits. Quality is the key and so is the price.

So next time you’re in Penticton check them out and if you like their product you can order a kit. We’ll be here to help you with the details and even supply the chocolate cups when you return to pick up your very own wine!

Enjoy,
Fred

Roses & Ribs: Signs of Spring

Have you ever noticed that exact moment when you know spring has truly arrived?

For me it was this Sunday during a belated Mother's Day trip with my daughter to my favorite greenhouse. Their specialty is tea roses of exotic hues and spicy perfumes that patiently park in my Alberta garden for a brief furlong of perhaps 4 months, on a good year that is. Then in September Fred pulls in to my yard and gently says, "It's time... "

I reluctantly say good-bye to summer as he loads the tender roses into his truck-rescuing the red and white splashy "George Burns" and the blood-crimson "Northern Ruby" to the safe lands of Penticton where -45 is a measurement only found on an ice cream freezer. Like refugees they seek a better land at KeriGlen where they can thrive in Elsie’s garden and I will delight to see them blooming in Okanagan glory again next summer.

But as I write this it is 9:00 pm on the mountain at KeriGlen and the temperature is a beautiful balmy 20 degrees with a slight breeze south up from Skaha Lake. Fred has likely fired up the new Weber BBQ and Elsie is trying this wonderful Weber BBQ ribs recipe she has sent me. So I am thinking...let's try it together at home and when we get back to KeriGlen, we'll sample Elsie's version. Let me know what you think of it. Try it with the early fresh corn on the cob that is now out and pretty good although the August peaches and cream from the South of Lake Skaha farms is unbeatable with its sweetness and tenderness.

But it all tastes extra fantastic while sitting around the patio table at KeriGlen watching the golfers below swinging off the 5^th hole with the blue and silver lake below. Come and see for yourself if you can also say, as you lick the sweet sauce off your fingers, ahh..this is the moment that Spring has arrived.

And if you have a killer ribs recipe, then post it here!

The Weber Arrives!

Sprucing Up for Spring

The winter had been long, and we were longing for spring. My Daffodil Garden

So we pointed the trusty old green Taurus "Beast" west and poked a hole through our icy Eastern Rocky slopes. Up and over to that magical other side, the western side that harbours a wind full of warm Pacific promises.

The Beast sighed with relief, shedding her tailpipe icicles as we lumbered into the ridiculously green curves of the KeriGlen mountainside.

As we stiffly lumbered out of the Beast, we looked up...mouths agape!















Elsie's Daffodil Garden 

Fred and Elsie have been at it again and the spring preparations were in full swing. And swinging it was! Is that a crane? I exclaimed to Dave.

As we were trying to make out what on earth could have been in the huge wooden crate that was dangling from a crane arm, Elsie waved and shouted a warm welcome from the deck above.

Just then Fred emerged from a huge new garage bay grinning like a proud prairie rancher who had just delivered a fine crop of heifer calves despite a late spring snowstorm. You're just in time! he grinned as he bear hugged us. Peaches wiggled her welcome and showed us to the front door, but we couldn't stop gaping up at the ascending crate. What was in the box?

So, Fred repeated, you're just in time..we're barbequing in style tonight. And would you like a glass of our new red or the white?

I could feel the water in my blood begin to unthaw and my shoulders slowly unscrunched from where they had been pinned to my earlobes for the past 8 months. White, I stammered, and Sam McGee-like, I stumbled towards the warmth.







Fred, Elsie & Dave building the new 1000 sq ft deck and outdoor kitchen...sprucing up for spring and YOU!
















While they were building the deck I was also on the deck....doing my yoga while watching the traffic!