A food and wine holiday in British Columbia

When I come back from a holiday, I want to be able to say “the people were friendly, the wine was wonderful, the food delicious and the weather sunny”…… Well that is certainly the case for a summer holiday to British Columbia in Canada.

Last summer travelled around a few areas, with a focus on eating in restaurants which created superb food, ideally surrounded by a winery!

In this case pictures do speak a thousand words, as my holiday photos start to do justice to the food and wine we consumed, so if you don't have time to read the words, just flick through the pictures!

About 3 hours from Vancouver is the Okanagan wine region, you are unlikely to have tried their wine before as very little is exported, they are very clever people! The wineries are welcoming and I bought a very useful guide book, so that I could prioritise my tastings : John Schreiner’s Okanagan Wine Tour Guide – this guy knows his stuff! It’s well worth a read.

We stayed in Osoyoos which is one of the warmest places in Canada, we swam and kayaked in lakes in the days, did a little wine tasting, and then headed out for dinner in the evenings. Two of the best restaurants we ate at were the Burrowing Owl winery and Hester Creek.

Terrafina at Hester Creek is sat up on a hill surrounded by vineyards, you can have a table on the terrace or inside. The tasting room is open late, so you can pop in to try their wines before dinner, or have a glass on the terrace. It has a wonderful friendly atmosphere, relaxed and professional. For me the first part of the meal was the most special, a lovely glass of wine from their cellars and an antipasti section of homemade ciabatta, pickles, olives, cheese and hams - I think that I could live on this!

We arrived at the Burrowing Wine Estate by driving under a double rainbow in a flash thunder storm, it was pretty magical, and the rest of the evening didn’t disappoint. We started with another excellent board of antipasti, and then progressed to wonderful mains of duck, pasta and lamb but it was the smooth chocolate ganache and the creamy rich crème brulee which were the stars of the show.

Salt Spring Island also has wineries and it has an amazing food market each Saturday, and it’s only a ferry hop from Vancouver. The island is known for its arts, crafts and artisan food / wine production. We loved our dinner at Hastings House, in fairness it was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. The high light here, despite the incredible Belgian Chocolate pate with caramel sauce for dessert, was my appetiser: Halibut, Salmon, Prawn chowder, double smoked bacon and garden chives. This chowder was neither thick nor over rich, it was smooth, light, and fragranced and I think I could eat it every day of my life. All I can say is that you must go there and try it yourself!

I’d love to talk more about this holiday, so feel free to get in touch if you’d like a chat or to see some more pictures.