At last, Thornhaven Estate Winery!

We arrived at Thornhaven Estate Winery with a fair bit of anticipation. First, a bit of back story…

Last summer we spent our first Naramata vacation renting a house with our buddies Sharole and Diego. One day, instead of our usual shared journey to a particular set of wineries, we decided to visit different spots. Sharole and D' decided to head up to Summerland, while we drove down to OK Falls.

That evening S&D came back raving about Thornhaven. We opened up a bottle of Thornhaven's Reserve Pinot Noir and immediately fell in love. There is no other way to describe it. We all felt that this smooth, flavorful varietal was one of the best wines of our 2006 Okanagan wine exploration.

A couple of bottles in and we all became The Lords of Thornhaven, some kind of imaginary Goth/Scandinavian warriors (Sharole wears her Danish heritage proudly). We became "the Lords" to humour ourselves, and to convey enthusiastically how much we liked this Pinot. We would pronounce Thornhaven with a roar worthy of Ian McKellen as Gandalf: THOARN-HAY-VUN!

Our Lords gag resurrected itself throughout the following winter, usually when we opened up a bottle of Pinot Noir from the case we bought with S & D.
So when we arrived at Thornhaven finally during our 2007 Northern Adventure, we had built up a bit of a mystique about the place. When entering we were greeted warmly, and I said something about having been here 'in spirit' already.

As a venue Thornhaven Estate Winery is one of the nicest stops in the Okanagan. It has a big patio with a priceless view of their vineyards and beyond, which makes a great stop for a picnic and a glass of Chardonnay.

Our beloved Pinot was still being bottled when we arrived (to be released August/September 2007). We picked up several bottles, including their delicious Diosa Late Harvest wine.

Thornhaven picks:

Thornhaven Chardonnay 2004
Thornhaven Diosa 2006
Thornhaven Gewurztraminer 2006
Thornhaven Pinot Meunier 2006