We are very pleased to offer two pre-conference excursions for WBC13. These excursions are open only to registered attendees of the conference. You can register for an excursion at the same time you register for the conference or, if you are already registered for the conference, by emailing sonya @ zephyradventures.com. Please note, in addition to these pre-conference excursions, we have the standard wine country visits during Friday of the conference itself, culminating in an evening party in the Osoyoos area.
Our local partners arrange transportation, hotel space, meals, and winery visits. While there is an additional fee to attend these excursions, a large portion of the costs are subsidized by our local partners. Because they do this to make connections with and receive exposure from bloggers, the cost of the pre-conference excursions is subsidized for Citizen Bloggers who agree to write one or more blog posts about the excursion, with a topic of your choice.
Pre-Conference Excursion From Seattle Via Chelan, Washington
We are partnering with our friends at the Lake Chelan Wine Valley to create an incredible two-country excursion that starts in Seattle on Wednesday, June 5th and finishes in Penticton the following day. In addition to seeing an interesting up-and-coming wine area, the benefit of this is you can make your plane flights TO Seattle and then home from either Penticton or Kelowna.
Lake Chelan is placed just about midway from Walla Walla (home of the 2010 conference) to Penticton. The naturally beautiful valley has been a vacation destination for decades and is now becoming well known for its excellent wines, with 20 wineries in the officially-designated AVA. This is a fantastic chance to see a new area, bond with a smaller group of attendees prior to the conference, and enjoy some fantastic wine.
- Cost: $100 for Citizen Bloggers who agree to write at least one blog post about the excursion and $200 for all others
- Includes: Transportation from Seattle to Lake Chelan to Penticton; boxed lunch on the ride to Lake Chelan; one night lodging at Campbell’s Resort & Spa on beautiful Lake Chelan; wine tasting and winery excursions; winemaker dinner; sparkling wine tasting and brunch the following day; and boxed lunch en route to Penticton.
- Maximum: 50 attendees
- Pickup: 11:15 AM on Wednesday, June 5th at Seattle Tacoma Airport
- Dropoff: 4:30 PM on Thursday, June 6th (approximate depending on border crossing) at the Penticton Resort in Penticton
- Bus Time: 3:10 from Seattle Tacoma Airport to Chelan on day one and 2:50 from Chelan to Penticton on day two, not counting any border crossing delays
Pre-Conference Excursion in Kelowna, British Columbia
Kelowna is not only the airport most of you will use for the WBC but is also the northern end of the Okanagan Valley and home to over 25 wineries. Our partners at Tourism Kelowna have arranged an excellent excursion in the Kelowna wine country that starts at the Kelowna Airport on Wednesday and finishes at the Penticton Resort on Thursday in time for the start of the conference.
The Kelowna pre-conference excursion will take participants to three of the area’s winery and vineyard pioneers, along the Lakeshore Wine Route, one of Kelowna’s 5 Wine Trails. You’ll fly into Kelowna on Wednesday afternoon and get picked up at 4:00 PM at the airport. We’ll then travel to Summerhill Pyramid Winery, where we will explore how aging wine and sparkling wine inside a 1/16 replica of the Great Pyramid of Cheops can positively impact its flavours. As the sun sets over the lake, we will unlock the secrets of biodynamic farming as we enjoy an organic feast at the winery that has achieved Canadian Producer of the Year and Best International Sparkling Wine at the London International Wine & Spirits Competition in recent years. After dinner we’ll drop you off at your Kelowna hotel for the evening.
The next day, we’ll shuttle from the hotel to Tantalus Vineyards, BC’s first and only LEED-certified winery, for breakfast. Here you will get to taste Riesling that has been lauded by wine reviewers such as Jancis Robinson for achieving the most perfect definition of Riesling from some of the area’s oldest vines. We’ll also visit the winery’s beehives. We’ll then depart for CedarCreek Estate Winery, one of BC’s first eight wineries and twice named Canada’s Winery of the Year, where we’ll meet with the winery owners and key staff. We’ll have lunch at CedarCreek Estate Winery in a locally-sourced outdoor feast. In the afternoon, we’ll head on to Penticton and your hotel for the weekend.
For anyone curious about the history of this wine region, this pre-conference excursion will be your only opportunity to see the Kelowna area wineries during the conference.
- Cost: $100 for Citizen Bloggers who agree to write at least one blog post about the excursion and $200 for all others
- Includes: Local transportation; one night’s lodging in Kelowna; lunch at CedarCreek Estate Winery; dinner at Summerhill Pyramid Winery; and breakfast at Tantalus Vineyards.
- Maximum: 25 attendees
- Pickup: 4:00 PM on Wednesday, June 5th at Kelowna Airport
- Dropoff: 4:30 PM on Thursday, June 6th at the Penticton Resort