Lunch Trip into Canada -- Wine Tasting, too!

8 August 2016.  A quick blog post, this one, but wanted to insert this entry now rather than chronologically.  I still have a couple "longer" entries (with plenty of pics) to post, so I'll pick those up when I have more time.  We've been staying at the Blue Lake RV Park in Naples, Idaho (about 20 miles north of Sandpoint) for the past few days -- we depart for the Spokane area tomorrow morning. The campground here is Naples is only about 30 miles south of the US-Canadian border, and while surfing the net I found two wineries in Creston, British Columbia: Skimmerhorn Winery and Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery.  So, I thought, "Wine" -- let's do a road trip!

I also discovered a scenic "loop" that would take us to our destination: the International Selkirk Loop, billed as North America's only multi-national scenic loop.  We would only drive a small part of the larger loop:  Up to Creston -- where we'd do some wine tasting -- then east on Canadian Highway 3, looping around Mt Thompson, and then reenter the US at Eastport where we'd pick up US 95 and head back to our campground in Naples.  So, around 10:30am we headed north from Naples on US 95/SR 1 and entered Canada thru Porthill.  First winery up once we got to Creston was Skimmerhorn, where we tasted all their wines -- found that we liked several -- and bought five bottles of wine and one bottle of their fortified port-style wine, Old Koot.  Think dark chocolate and cherry aromas with flavors of sweet plum, black current and cherry.  Quite nice, actually.

Entrance sign at Skimmerhorn

The Skimmerhorn Winery also offered several appetizers, and since it was close to lunch anyway, we opted for a cheese plate of local cheeses and crackers -- plus a couple of glasses of Skimmerhorn's fine Gewürztraminer.  The lunch hour was just about perfect weather-wise, with bright sunshine and blue skies (which would disappear on our drive home).  Skimmerhorn's also offered us a very nice covered patio where we relaxed and leisurely ate our scrumptious lunch.  Some really nice cheese with grapes and figs, in addition to the crackers.  Like I said, all in all, just about a perfect lunch.

 Lynette enjoying our cheese plate lunch -- and of course the wine!

View of Skimmerhorn's vineyards from their patio.

As a side thought, I almost bought two bottles of that Old Koot -- it really was delicious -- but I wasn't sure what customs might dock me when I reentered the US. Turns out I didn't need to worry. As the customs agent checked our passports at Eastport, he casually asked if we'd bought anything while we were in Canada.  I told him we'd visited a couple wineries in Creston and had purchased him a few bottles of wine.  He simply smiled, wished us a good day, and waved us through.  

Backtracking in my entry today, our second wine tasting was at the Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery, conveniently located right next door to Skimmerhorn.  We tasted all their wines, too, and ended up buying a bottle of their Récolte Blanche (Harvest White) -- a nice blend of four different white grapes (Pinot Gris, Schoenburger, Kerner and Gewürztraminer) -- and a bottle of their really nice Gewürztraminer.  I think we both liked the Skimmerhorn Winery better -- more rustic and enchanting, with a great view of their vineyards.

While munching on some cheese and fruit, I noticed a couple of photo ops: this old tractor... 

...and this really neat birdhouse tacked to a tree next to our table on the patio.

Me saying "So long" to the Skimmerhorn Winery

As another side note, the route that we drove today -- from our campground in Naples to Creston and back, leaving the US at Porthill and reentering at Eastport -- was just a small part (actually a side trip called Orchards Galore -- of the Selkirk Loop.  We did see loads of orchards as we left Creston on Canadian Highway 3: apples, pears, and cherries.

About the only drawback to the day was the weather, which turned nasty, on our drive home.  A thunderstorm, complete with heavy rain and lightning, accompanied us on virtually our entire jounry on Orchards Galore.  The rain really didn't let up until we had reentered the US at Eastport.  But we really did drive through some beautiful country.  Wouldn't mind returning to this area and driving more of the Selkirk Loop.  Hard to beat this Great Pacific Northwest scenery!