What to Expect on a Wine Tour in Kelowna?
What to Expect on a Kelowna Wine Tour: A Complete Guide
If you’ve never taken a Kelowna wine tour before, you may be wondering what the day is actually like. A Red Dog Wine Tours afternoon experience is designed to make wine tasting easy and relaxed: we pick you up at your Kelowna or West Kelowna accommodation, drive you to four wineries, arrange your tastings and take care of the driving.
Here’s what you can expect from a typical Red Dog public afternoon wine tour.
Where Does the Wine Tour Start?
Your tour starts with pickup at your Kelowna or West Kelowna hotel, B&B, vacation rental or residence within our pickup area. You don’t need to drive to a central meeting point or find parking somewhere before the tour.
Afternoon tour pickups typically take place between 1:00 PM and 1:30 PM. Because public tours may have several accommodation pickups, your exact pickup time depends on the day’s route. We provide the specific pickup information before your tour.
For more information, see what is included with your Red Dog wine tour.
How Do You Get to the Wineries?
You don’t have to worry about driving between wineries. Your Red Dog guide drives the group in one of our comfortable, air-conditioned Mercedes tour vehicles.
This means everyone in your group can enjoy the wine tasting experience without having to navigate unfamiliar roads, find parking or decide who will be the designated driver.
Our standard public afternoon tour focuses on the West Kelowna wine route, where wineries are relatively close together. This allows us to spend more of the afternoon enjoying the wineries rather than sitting in the vehicle.
How Many Wineries Will You Visit?
Our standard public afternoon wine tour visits four wineries. We deliberately don’t try to squeeze as many tasting rooms as possible into the afternoon.
Four winery stops gives you enough variety while allowing time to enjoy each experience without constantly watching the clock.
Learn more about the reasoning behind our four-stop format in How Many Wineries Do We Visit on a Kelowna Wine Tour?.
What Happens at Each Winery?
At each winery, you’ll take part in a guided wine tasting. The winery’s tasting-room staff will introduce the wines and explain what you’re tasting, and you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions.
You may also have time to look around the property, enjoy the scenery, take photographs or browse the wines available for purchase.
We generally allow approximately an hour at each winery. The exact timing can vary depending on the winery and the tasting experience that day.
For more information, see How Much Time Do You Need at a Winery?.
How Many Wines Will You Taste?
The number of individual wines offered at each tasting can vary because each winery determines its own tasting format. The important thing to understand is that your tour includes a tasting at each of the four winery stops.
Tasting pours are smaller than a normal glass of wine, and you don’t have to finish every pour. Wine tasting is about sampling and discovering wines you enjoy, not drinking a full glass at every stop.
See How Many Tastings Are Included on a Red Dog Wine Tour? for a more detailed explanation.
Are the Wine-Tasting Fees Included?
Yes. Standard tasting fees at the wineries included in your Red Dog tour are included in the tour price. You don’t have to pay a separate tasting fee at each stop.
For current pricing and what’s included in the tour price, see our Red Dog Wine Tour Prices page.
Is Food or Water Provided?
We provide bottled water and a light snack during the tour. We recommend having lunch before your afternoon pickup so you aren’t beginning your wine tasting on an empty stomach.
The snack is intended to complement the tasting experience rather than replace lunch.
Can You Buy Wine During the Tour?
Absolutely. If you discover a wine you particularly enjoy, you can purchase bottles directly from the winery. We provide secure storage for your wine purchases in the tour vehicle while you continue with the rest of the afternoon.
Do You Have to Drive After Wine Tasting?
No. That’s one of the main advantages of taking a guided wine tour.
Red Dog provides door-to-door transportation within our designated Kelowna and West Kelowna pickup area. After your final winery visit, we’ll drive you back to your accommodation so you don’t have to worry about driving after tasting wine.
What Time Does the Tour Finish?
Our standard afternoon wine tour is approximately four hours, although the exact length can vary depending on the day’s route and accommodation pickups.
The winery portion of the afternoon runs at a relaxed pace, with approximately an hour at each of four wineries, along with the driving time between stops and the accommodation pickup and return.
What Should You Do Before Your Wine Tour?
A little preparation will make your afternoon more enjoyable.
- Eat lunch before pickup so you’re not tasting wine on an empty stomach.
- Wear comfortable clothing and shoes suitable for walking around wineries.
- Bring a light layer because temperatures can vary between the vehicle, tasting rooms and outdoor areas.
- Bring your phone or camera if you’d like to photograph the scenery.
- Leave the driving to us and enjoy the afternoon.
What If I Want a More Personalized Experience?
The experience described above is our standard public afternoon wine tour. If you’d prefer to have the vehicle and itinerary exclusively for your group, a private wine tour gives you considerably more flexibility.
You can learn more about the differences between the two options in Public vs. Private Kelowna Wine Tours: What’s the Difference?.
If you’re interested in creating a private itinerary, use our Private Wine Tour Planner.
The Bottom Line
A Kelowna wine tour should be more than simply being driven from one winery to another. At Red Dog, the goal is to make the entire afternoon comfortable, organized and relaxed.
We’ll pick you up at your accommodation, handle the driving, take you to four wineries, arrange your tastings, provide water and a light snack, safely store any wine you purchase and return you to your accommodation at the end of the afternoon.
For a broader overview of planning and enjoying wine country, read our Ultimate Guide to Wine Tasting in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Ready to experience Kelowna wine country?
Related questions: How Many Wineries Do We Visit? · How Many Tastings Are Included? · How Much Time Do You Need at a Winery?