And then I found the delicousness that is wine.

The first time I ever got drunk off wine it was a nasty, horrible and very regrettable experience. We had purchased 2 bottles of Mission Hill Merlot, sat on the couch watching a movie and ate air-popped popcorn. The wine was the most delicious thing that had ever touched my lips. I was instantly head over heels in love... with a $9 bottle of wine. This couldn't have got any better.

Oh but it did. The wine went down real smooth... a little too smooth in fact. Actually, so smooth we devoured both bottles in less than 1 hour. Do you know what a bottle of wine does to your relatively empty stomach in less than an hour? Oh I do. It was an evening of sleeping on the cold bathroom floor, hugging the cold cold porcelain.

Needless to say, I didn't have much of a taste for wine after that. And especially not much of a taste for Mission Hill or Merlot.

It took a good year or two before I dabbled in the wine again and since then, I've been delighted with the numerous wines I have found.

This past long weekend was a fantastic time for us to dabble in even more wine that we are growing to love more and more with every glass.

We had a plan to go to Kelowna and check out some vineyards but didn't know which ones to go to. I had really wanted to go to See Ya Later Ranch (as it's my fave fave FAVE as of late) but it was in Okanagan Falls which is a solid hour and a bit from Kelowna. And after being in the car for over two and a half hours already en route from Revelstoke, I didn't think it would be a great idea. So the posse went to Mission Hill instead... cute.

We had a tasting and looked for a seat on their patio restaurant but were told "all the food is spoken for... you will need to find somewhere else..." Okkkk. So then they suggested See Ya Later Ranch. Susie, oh sweet dear Susie, suggested this in fact. After asking how long of a drive it was, she said "oh only 35 minutes from here". 35 minutes? Fuckin' eh. And before we knew it - we were in the car and looking forward to being at our destination in 35 minutes. Well... 35 minutes turned to 45 minutes, 45 minutes turned to an hour... and an hour turned to an hour and 20 minutes when we finally saw the sign. Oh the sweet sweet sign.

We parked the car and bolted inside to the air conditioned tasting lounge. I was so excited to be there, I can't even begin to explain this to you. This is my new fave wine over the past year. (Side note... Ping retails for $42 in Alberta liquor stores, $27 in BC liquor stores and $30 at See Ya Later Ranch).

After a delicious tasting of their whites and both reds (Ping and Rover - both names of the Ranch's dogs who have passed on) we were out to finally have some food. Ok, so it was only cheese and grilled vegetables, but it was at See Ya Later Ranch and I couldn't be happier.

And I was with my man so it was of course, a perfect day.