For the first few weeks in Kamloops it’s been all work and no play for us for the most part. We’ve been hitting the gym daily and working most of the day after that. So when an opportunity came to go on a Kamloops wine tour hosted by DiVine Tours, there’s no way we were going to whine about having to work some more! Sorry, terrible segue!
Terri Axani, owner of DiVine Tours, picked us up just before 10 am and our Kamloops wine tour was under way. Our first stop…
Privato Winery
I love driving up to wineries and seeing all the spruce trees lined up in symmetrical rows…wait…spruce trees? Where’s the vineyard? Okay, so Privato Winery started with a tree farm and is one of BC’s largest producers of Christmas trees! But they’ve now expanded and also have row upon row of grapevines – a vineyard! We sampled some whites and then reds in a cellar-like atmosphere, and in typical fashion, we took a few pics:
Privato is definitely a nice place to sample some vino. Next, we picked up two more fellow Kamloops wine tour-ists and it was off to our next stop…
Harper’s Trail Winery
Driving to this winery was quite scenic, with hoodoos, riverfront homes, eagles, and big horn sheep, to name a few things. It’s nice to have a someone else driving, I must say.
Harper’s Trail was a quaint little spot offering some nice whites, (which we bought a bottle of) and some awesome views of those aforementioned hoodoos. Hey, I’m not good with analogies, but I can rhyme anytime!
From Harper’s Trail we ventured over to the BC Wildlife Park. This was also the lunch stop on our Kamloops wine tour.
Now, I’ve gone on many guided tours in my day; live volcano tours, town tours, boat tours, cycling tours, walking tours, other wine route tours, you name it. Aside from food-specific tours, Divine Tours provided by far the best meal offered for a half-day tour.
A table was set up for the four of us and we were given some turkey pepperettes, sweet red pepper slices, brie and goat cheese with blueberries, bread, crackers, and sparkling water. They had me with the pepperettes. Perfect snack for a winery tour and much appreciated too. Some tours you’re lucky to get anything at all! And after that quick bite to eat we took a stroll to get a glimpse of the park’s waterfall.
One of the biggest draws to this park is Clover, and orphaned Kermode Bear, also known as a Spirit Bear. Evidently, it’s often tough to get a glimpse of Clover, but we were able to catch him wandering around.
I’m not a big fan of zoos, so to be clear, this is not a zoo. Clover was not only orphaned, he’d evidently become used to being around/near humans. This is dangerous to both the bear and humans alike, and he’s better off in a wildlife park like this than risk having to be put down for encroaching. All the animals here have been deemed to have some form of disability, thus, they would not thrive in the wild. Some may debate this and argue that these guys should be in their natural habitats. Well, it looks like these guys are having a good time at the park:
Anyway, after lunch it was off to the last stop with Divine Tours…
Monte Creek Ranch Winery
This winery is the cherry on top of the Kamloops wine tour, as Terri put it. The views alone are reason enough to call it that, and their white wines were pretty tasty too! If you find yourself in Kamloops and are interested in visiting a winery, Monte Creek Ranch has a pretty swanky restaurant with a fireplace as well, so a nice meal overlooking the river and mountains while watching goats and cows graze might be right up your valley.
Thanks to Terri at DiVine Tours we were able to get to all three wineries on the Kamloops wine tour trail. The whites at each winery are definitely worth the trip (and a purchase). I typically drink reds and found their red wines just didn’t have much to them when it came to flavour, they all seemed to fall flat. Kamloops is a slightly cooler climate than the Okanagan to the south, but in time, I’m sure they’ll have a few decent reds – they’ve only been doing it for about four or five years.
As mentioned, we’ve gone on many guided tours – From Bob Marley’s in Jamaica, to whale watching tours at each end of Canada. We’ve had “characters” on Chicago bus tours, clever and witty Hawaiians in Hawaii, comical Latinos in Latin America, and then we had Terri of DiVine Tours. Right from our initial contact with her she was quick to respond, she was on time, and she provided numerous other recommendations of places to visit. She kept us entertained, she provided added information and tidbits, and the best part, she was just so very genuine. She loves what she does and it shows.
If you’re visiting for a day, a week, a month, or if you live in Kamloops and are interested in a Kamloops wine tour, or any area tour, contact DiVine Tours – Terri arranges an amazing day and you’ll get a great tour, or you’ll have a great day and you’ll get an amazing tour. Either way, you’ll have an experience to talk about!
DiVine Tours Contact Info:
Now go sell all your stuff and drink some wine – but don’t feed the bears!