therapy vineyards / naramata, british columbia

For a girl out of Europe, I have done an embarrassingly meager amount of traveling in the last.. well – undisclosed & embarrassing amount of time. I have, at least, managed to target Wine Country BC as my feature destination over the hotter months of these last two years.

A rich, rolling scenery of grapes, stretching wide across barren cliffs that tower majestically over a long, glistening lake is nothing short of spectacular to me. The drive there, for as short as it is in its five hours away from the city, is a plethora of morphing landscapes; wavering swiftly from gorgeous greenery to thirsty, desert-ridden trees. The winery & guesthouse that I stay at in Naramata, which is located on the east shore of Lake Okanagan, is called Therapy Vineyards. Let me just say first, that I love Naramata. It’s my most adored of all the communities in the Okanagan & for me offers all the isolation & charm necessary for a tranquil refuge. The air there is sultry & the energy of the land harmonious. You could not ask for a more convenient & yet contrasting escape away from the city.

I first came across the Therapy Vineyards label while purchasing their dry, fruit-driven Pink Freud rosé at Marquis Wine Cellar in Vancouver. I was drawn to their canny marketing tactic of tying in the Therapy label by illustrating Sigmund Freud in a facetious manner. Their other, more complex wines, such as the Shiraz, Pinot Noir, Merlot & Chardonnay, all bare psychoanalytical labels, by using the Rorschach Inkblot Test illustrations by asking the consumer, “What do you see in this wine?”. A marketing strategy created by Brandever.

All that aside, their tastiest bottle to touch my lips, would most certainly be the Super Ego, which is a blend of 55% Merlot, 28% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 8% Shiraz. Those who know me know I like to torture my taste buds with fruit bombs & big reds. This one did no less harm. It’s sold for about $56 in private wine shops throughout Vancouver, but you can grab it for $37 on the vineyard, when they’re not sold out as they usually are.

Their guesthouse itself is totally serene & sits motionless on a cliff next to the vineyard, over-looking the water & the intertwining boaters below. Breakfast is an array of local cheeses, fruits & freshly made morning pastries. Their hot tub is sublime & I am yet to come by a better scenery to sip wine within.

The Naramata bench is scattered with gorgeous vineyards, but in terms of staying on one, this particular winery truly rephrases what therapy should really be about.