Wineries
Hillside Winery
About Hillside Winery
The Naramata Bench runs northeast from Penticton along the eastern shore of Okanagan Lake, a long shelf of vineyard land that has become one of the better known stretches of wine country in the province. Hillside Winery is out on that road at 1350 Naramata Road, a short drive from the north end of the city.
Wineries on the bench work to a rhythm set by the vines rather than by retail. Spring means pruning and bud break, summer means canopy work and the tourist season at full volume, and autumn brings the crush, when the days run long and the buildings smell of fermentation. Visitors are generally welcome, but what a visit involves differs from one property to the next, and tastings, tours, seated flights and group bookings often need arranging in advance. Anyone planning a day out on the bench should also sort out a driver before setting off.
Enquiries go to 250-493-6274, and hillsidewinery.ca is the place to check what is running before making the drive. The road out from Penticton is narrow, busy with cyclists through the warm months and slower than the distance suggests, so allow more time than the map implies. Autumn is the most interesting time to be out there, with harvest under way and the benches turning colour above the lake, although it is also the busiest, and winter on the bench is a very different and much quieter proposition.
Visiting Hillside Winery
Getting there
In the Downtown Penticton neighbourhood of Penticton.
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