2023 Farm to Glass Season Review!

Well hey there friends!  As always, this is Jess from Farm to Glass Wine Tours.

Did you fall into fall like I did?  Maybe you're wondering what I mean when I say that? 

Well... I managed to fracture my ankle on the first day of fall, 4 hours before a wine tour.   Silly me only thought it was a sprain, and since it wasn't my driving foot I still managed to do the tour as I'm stubborn like that.  But enough about me... WE HAVE WINE THINGS TO TALK ABOUT!

Farm to Glass Wine Tours has officially completed it's sophomore year and it's because of amazing people like you!  With a slowing of tourism this year that was quite palpable in the region, combined with rock slides blocking highways, highway closures and devastating fires, Farm to Glass shined and grew like a cute little vine in it's second leaf (that's geek talk for the vine's 2nd year).

So thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

This fall newsletter is a little longer winded, but its in two parts.  First, I want to share some highlights and silliness from the season, then the second part is the What's Happening section of events, news, fun facts, and all that other wine related fun stuff.  To find the second part, click here.  

So drumroll please.... ratta-tat-tat-ratta-tat-tat-ratta-tat-tat-ratta-tat-tat! 

• Lulita the Tesla is now sitting pretty at just over 45000km in the 20 months that I've had her.  July was her busiest month at 4500km and August was her slowest at just 800km.  All the driving this season (approx. 17000km) was just $775 in charging!  (Secret though, I just got an adapter and have free fast charging for the time being and I haven't been paying a $ for the past weeks)
• 2 Wine Tours were donated that helped raise $8000 for Doctors Without Borders and over $1.5 million for Canuck Place!  
• $1025 from tours were donated to: Foundry Penticton, Foundry Kelowna, SOWINS, CSAs for families in need via Puzzlegrass farms and Klippers Organics.
• I had two repeat guests! It's honestly the best compliment I can ask for, y'all ROCK! 
• Visited 52 wineries this season! 
• The most visited wine regions this season were: 
  • Naramata & Penticton (this region has my heart, for good reason)
  • OK Falls & Kaleden (this was a goal for me this season so I'm so happy to show y'all why I love it so much)
  • Similkameen Valley (I love this region, so this made me wiggle with delight!)
• Top 10 wineries visited Farm to Glass Wine Tours this season: 
  • Daydreamer (must be those darn sheep!)
  • Nichol
  • Roche, Fox&Archer and Joie (tied)
  • Terravista
  • Bella
  • Lock&Worth and Black Market Wine Co (tied)
  • Lakeboat/The Wine Umbrella
• 25 new 5 star Google Reviews 
• 22 new 5 star TripAdvisor Reviews
• 2 podcast episodes:
  • The Sipster Podcast with Luke Whittall
  • Beyond Organic Wine Podcast with Adam Huss
• I lost count but a whole bunch of hyper-local goodie bags featuring: Bella Wines (Naramata), The Market Bags (Kelowna), DebbyStamps (Lake Country), BC Buds Garlic (Vernon), Edible Adventures from The Paisley Notebook (Kelowna), The Pickle Princess of Naramata (Dixie-May Kunicky) and some other fun Farm to Glass swag!
• I got to dip my toes in the wine media trips in collaboration with Discover Naramata, the most recent one with Steve MacNaull of Now Media Group and you can find it here.
• 2 new tours were launched this season:  Wonder Women in Wine & the Garnet Valley Summit & Sip Tours.  I'm in the beginning conversations of another new first-of-its-kind tour for next season so stay tuned.  
• Being able to cater countless lunches, bday treats and snacks from: Wayne & Freda (Penticton), Naramata General Store (Naramata), Cuterie Creations (Penticton), Honey Toast Cafe (Penticton), Gratify Cafe (Penticton), Off the Grid (West Kelowna), The Restaurant at Poplar Grove (Penticton), The patio at Sage Hills Estate (Summerland), Boards of Keremeos (Olalla), The restaurant at Crowsnest Vineyards (Cawston), Serendipity (Naramata) and OROLO (Penticton).
• A few of my personal favourite highlights this season were: estate tours with Ron at Stag's Hollow, getting the red carpet treatment at Clos du Soleil, the sheep being sheep at Daydreamer (funny how they always seem to appear when we're eating lunch), and the ranch tour at Garnet Valley Ranch Winery.  (There's many more... some that aren't PG but the giggles this season where EPIC!

This all the while having a full time job as a flight attendant.  I can tell you that the burnout was REAL by the end of July, but August was slow which I was incredibly grateful for on a personal level.... as I lost my father-in-law that month so Jeff and I were going back and forth to Prince George quite a bit (I'm grateful I work for an airline so I can travel easily when needed).  

But I love what Farm to Glass is becoming, and where it's going and WHO it's going with.... people like you. 

2024 is going to be another goodie!  In fact, I'm opening sooner next year!  

From the bottom of my heart, thank you so darn much and let the wine adventuring continue!

Hugs, hugs, HUGS!  

Jess, Owner & Guide - Farm to Glass Wine Tours