Situated between Okanagan Lake to the north and Skaha Lake to the south, Penticton is the gateway to the wine country of the South Okanagan. It’s a transitional point in the Okanagan Valley, where you’ll begin to notice the shift into the Sonora Desert climate of the South Okanagan Valley around Osoyoos and Oliver.

Developed in 1907 by John Moore Robinson, Naramata’s heritage is in agriculture. In its early years, Naramata wasn’t accessible by land and paddle wheelers brought visitors to Naramata. On the return trip, they took Naramata’s fruit to market.

Start your tour at the Wine Country Information Centre in Penticton at 553 Railway Street. There is also a VQA Wine Store here, with a great selection of BC VQA wines for sale. Proceed to your first winery, Mistral Estate Winery. Mistral is a small estate winery just on the outskirts of Penticton dedicated to producing high quality wines.

Turn right onto RAILWAY ST. toward ECKHARDT AVE. W/PROVINCIAL ROUTE 97. Turn LEFT onto ECKHARDT AVE. W. Stay STRAIGHT to go onto HAVEN HILL RD. Turn RIGHT onto JOHNSON RD. Turn LEFT onto UPPER BENCH RD. S.

Mistral produces a varietal wine from the Zweigelt grape-Austria’s most extensively planted red grape and a cross of Blaufrankish and St. Laurent. It’s one of just a few wines produced from that varietal in British Columbia.

From Mistral drive a short distance along UPPER BENCH RD. to Stonehill Estate Winery. Stonehill is Mistral’s sister winery and sits just below its nine acres of premium vineyard. Stonehill produces a Port-style wine from the Gamay grape called Esprit de Gamay and like Mistral produces a Zweigelt, this one from the first Zweigelt grapes planted in the Okanagan. From Stonehill, continue on to Township 7.

Township 7 also has a winery in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia and takes its name from the township in which that winery is based.

Start out going NORTH on UPPER BENCH RD. Turn RIGHT onto McMILLAN AVE.

Township 7’s site is a combination of its production facility and tasting room and offers visitors the opportunity to see the workings of the winery first hand. Township 7 focuses on the production of small lots of high quality wines from varietals such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

From Township 7 proceed to Red Rooster Winery. As passionate about the arts as they are about wine, Red Rooster’s tasting room building features an art gallery with both permanent and rotating exhibitions, including “Frank” The Baggage Handler—once a controversial, clothing-optional piece of public art in Penticton.

Turn RIGHT onto McMILLAN AVE. toward RESERVOIR RD. Turn LEFT onto NARAMATA RD. and continue to Red Rooster.

Red Rooster allows its fans to “Adopt a Vine” - renting one row of vineyard for year. In exchange, adoptive parents receive a case of wine and an invitation to exclusive events twice a year. Red Rooster completes your tour.

TOTAL DRIVING TIME (ROUND TRIP): 30 MINUTES
RECOMMENDED TOUR TIME: HALF DAY