We are nearing the deadline for getting your reservations in for the bus trip to the Okanagan Wine region of Canada. So, if you are waiting, please act now. Our first stop on Saturday, September 28th will be at “See Ya Later Ranch”, named in honor of the original owner Major Hugh Fraser, who signed his letters with “See Ya Later’ The tasting room and wine shop are in his 1900’s home made of hand split stone. We will start with a seated wine tasting followed by lunch on the veranda featuring Okanagan Salad, Tea brined Stuffed Chicken Breast and Blackened Salmon with two glasses of wine and Dessert.

We will then go to Hester Creek Winery and Gehringer Bros. Winery for private tastings and presentations. Both of these wineries were Platinum winners last year and were featured during Platinum XXII. Gehringer Brothers Estate Winery was named the Pacific Northwest Winery of the Year in 2024 by Great Northwest Wine magazine.

Saturday evening after checking into our hotel we will have dinner at “The Miradora Restaurant at Tinhorn Creek Winery” The Executive Chef-Jeff Van Geest will prepare a meal consisting of their featured soup or salad and your choice of Wild Mushroom Garganelli or Lamb Ragu Casarecce accompanied by a glass of their wine and Tiramisu for dessert.

Sunday morning, we will drive to Okanagan Falls for wine tasting at the Cellar Door (formally the Jackson-Triggs/Inniskillin tasting room) where we will taste a wide variety of wines from The Great Estates Wine Company, including Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin, Sumac Ridge, Black Sage, IMBZZL, Saintly, and Steller’s Jay. Some of these smaller wineries are not available to visit or taste their wines other than at this location.

Following this stop we will have a wine tasting at “Church and State Winery” in Oliver, followed by lunch at “Phantom Creek Winery”. This new winery was designed, taking over 3 years to build, sparing no expense and finally opening in 2020. The director of winemaking is Mark Beringer from the old Beringer winery in Napa, California. Here we will have a private wine tasting followed by lunch with your choice of “63 Acres Flank Steak” or “Road 17 Artic Char”.

We will then travel to “Burrowing Owl Winery” for a final tasting before heading back to Yakima. At one time the Burrowing Owl was considered extinct in the area but through conservation efforts it has come back. The owners of Burrowing Owl Winery, Jim and Midge Wyse, have donated over a million dollars to this cause. Your prepaid tasting fee will be donated by Borrowing Owl to this conservation society.

Please talk to your friends and neighbors. We are not charging an additional upcharge for non-members of YES and currently the Canada-US exchange rate is very favorable.

This trip is all-inclusive and covers all expenses except wine, beverages and cocktails not mentioned above and a tip for the bus driver. We have booked several of the two-bedroom suites that include a kitchenette and a lake view at the hotel, so please consider sharing a 2-bedroom suite with family or some close friends.

Please go to our website "yakimawine.org" for more information and the registration form.