Long before the Okanagan became Canada’s wine country, the hillsides of West Kelowna were shaped by orchards, family farms and generations of people who worked the land.
Today, Quails’ Gate Winery carries that agricultural heritage forward, inviting visitors to experience the estate well beyond the traditional tasting room. Set above Okanagan Lake, the family-owned winery has created a collection of relaxed summer experiences that bring together wine, food, local producers and the landscape itself.
It’s an especially fitting approach in a region gaining international recognition for its culinary culture. Kelowna was recently named Canada’s first and only UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy, celebrating the farmers, growers, winemakers, chefs and producers who have helped shape the region’s distinctive sense of place.
For travellers exploring the Okanagan this summer, here are three ways to slow down and experience Quails’ Gate.
Play Pétanque Overlooking Okanagan Lake
A centuries-old French pastime finds a particularly picturesque home in Okanagan wine country.
Guests can gather for a relaxed game of pétanque at Quails’ Gate’s harvest gathering site, overlooking the vineyards and Okanagan Lake. Played with metal boules and a healthy dose of friendly competition, the game requires little experience and offers a wonderfully unhurried way to spend a summer afternoon.
A glass of Quails’ Gate Rosé completes the experience.
Price: $25
Availability: Daily at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Walk the Vineyards
To better understand a wine, it helps to see where it begins.
Quails’ Gate’s guided Vineyard Tour & Tasting takes visitors beyond the tasting room for a walk among the vines and a behind-the-scenes visit to the winery’s barrel cellar.
Along the way, guests learn about the Stewart family’s deep roots in the Okanagan and the evolution of an estate that has become part of the region’s modern wine story. The experience concludes with a tasting of five estate wines.
Summer also marks the return of several warm-weather favourites, including Heirloom White, Rosé, Riesling, Gewürztraminer and Chenin Blanc.
Price: $40 per person; wine club members receive 15% off.
Availability: Daily at noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Taste the Okanagan, One Burger at a Time
Sometimes a region’s culinary story can be told through something as simple as a great burger.
Available for a limited time from Quails’ Gate’s historic Market Building, the Farm-to-Farm Burger celebrates Kelowna’s UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation by bringing together ingredients from several notable Okanagan and British Columbia producers.
At its centre is a 63 Acres BC Hiro Wagyu beef patty, accompanied by house-fermented mustard aioli, Village aged cheddar, crisp iceberg lettuce from Herb Patch Farm, onions and pickles, all tucked inside an Alchemy sesame potato bun.
Grilled fresh outdoors and enjoyed against the backdrop of the estate, it’s an approachable expression of what the UNESCO designation is ultimately about: local ingredients, local producers and the relationships that connect them.
Availability: Daily from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A Different Taste of Wine Country
Wine may be what first draws many travellers to the Okanagan, but increasingly, the experience is about much more than what’s poured into the glass.
At Quails’ Gate, a walk through the vineyard, a leisurely game overlooking the lake or a burger built around neighbouring producers offers another way to connect with the region.
Together, these simple pleasures capture much of what makes an Okanagan summer so appealing: beautiful landscapes, good food, local wine and, perhaps most importantly, permission to slow down and enjoy them.
