Liquor Stores
VQA Wine Store
About VQA Wine Store
Buying wine in the Okanagan means buying close to the source, with vineyards visible on the benches on both sides of the valley. VQA Wine Store trades in downtown Penticton, inside the compact commercial core built around Main Street and the side streets running off it.
Wine shops sort themselves by what they choose to carry and how much help they offer in choosing it. Some concentrate on British Columbia bottles, some run broad and international, and most will talk you through a shelf if you say what you are cooking or what you liked last time. Practical things to raise: whether mixed cases carry a discount, whether an order can be held or shipped, and whether anything on the shelf is otherwise sold only at a winery gate. Vintages come and go quickly in a small room, so a wine you find one month may not be there the next.
Penticton sits between Okanagan Lake and Skaha Lake with the Naramata Bench climbing the hillside to the northeast and the vineyards of Oliver and Osoyoos strung down the highway to the south. The city is the service centre for all of it, which is why a wine shop here can look outward across a large growing region rather than just the block around it. Downtown parking stays easy by big city standards, and the walk between the beaches and the shops is short enough that visitors manage both in an afternoon. Summer brings the crowds, mid August brings the Peach Festival, and the shoulder seasons bring the people who actually want to talk about wine.
Visiting VQA Wine Store
Getting there
In the Downtown Penticton neighbourhood of Penticton.
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From the blog
Penticton guides and stories
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Halloween Ideas and Events in Penticton
The Apple Bin Corn Maze's family and spooky-evening sessions, the Great Pumpkin Loop through wine country, and the City's road-safety guidance.
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Penticton's Labour Day weekend is the fullest calendar in the valley, beaches included
Two markets Saturday morning, a winery music circuit all weekend, a beach concert Saturday night, a benefit show worth crossing town for, and no triathlon this year.
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Where to shop in Penticton: small, walkable and mostly local
Penticton's shopping is smaller than Kelowna's and more its own thing: a Main Street of independents, specialty food shops that outclass their size, and Cherry Lane covering the mall tier.
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