Black Widow Winery — Attraction in Penticton

The dominant attribute of the Naramata Bench is how many of the wineries sit right off the main road and not down one of the many branching roads. A few like Bench 1775 have their own roads, though their Google Maps stars still claim them right on Naramata road. However, many you can see as you drive by, their parking lots just an expansion of the road without even a curb. What an amazing place to live as you casually pass Hillside, Quidni, and Black Widow. And what a challenge it must be to stand out among the giants. Smaller estate wineries only have their signature buildings and their passion, lacking the funds and/or infrastructure to build great monuments to viticulture. You’d think these would have blurred or blended together by now. And I admit that is a danger. In Osoyoos, with fewer wineries across a larger region, there stands a better opportunity for individualism. In Naramata, which is considerably more compressed, it falls on the wineries to make their presence known, usually involving some profound architectural testament costings millions of dollars. And there are such wineries to be found here—Terravista, Serendipity, and Hillside can all be seen within the pages of wine magazines extolling the breathtaking nature of their construction. Whenever a friend shares a post regarding wine on my Facebook, it’s about how beautiful the buildings are and not extolling how good the actual wine is. Family run estate wineries have an uphill climb then, with Black Widow’s issue exasperated by its location, only a few minutes’ walk from other wineries like Tightrope, Bench1775, Quidni, Ledlin, and the Hillside. So, it is noteworthy that given that my girlfriend and I have made two runs through Naramata wine country, Black Widow is one of the few wineries we visited twice. On our previous journey, over six days, we visited sixty wineries. That’s sixty wineries, not an exaggeration. We ended the trip with 120 bottles acquired. On our second trip, my girlfriend wanted to visit Black Widow to refill her stock (mostly involving their Red Back) while scored the 2014 Mirage fortified. The actual winery is simple, sitting atop an outcropping at most forty feet from the road. Cars park at its base with customer climbing to the main door. Inside feels more like an intrusion into a workspace. There is no division to conceal the mechanics of the wine industry—there sits a single wine bar in front of dozens of barrels and nicely polished fermentation tanks, all shrouded in shadow. A few décor choices help support the name choice, but in the end, the tasting room doesn’t stand out. No, the real draws are the people behind the bar and the wines they offer up. That Mirage, for example, is a fortified white spiked with grape brandy. I’ll let that sit for a second. Yeah, they make one barrel that ages for two years. Twenty bucks is a bargain. My girlfriend loves Black Widow…and she hates spiders. Like really hates. She’ll squash the first, but the second…recoil in horror forcing my intervention. Aragog? She’ll close her eyes. Shelob? Skips the scene. But she’ll scale those steps and pass through those gates for good wine. The passion of the winemakers can be easily found in the quality of their bottles. Black Widow stands out not in their construction but in what matters most. They...

One of the other wineries we stopped at during our little tour said we should really check this winery out. It's pretty small, so you don't need a lot of time here unless you get to talking to the owner, who was really nice. I was driving so I didn't have any of the wine here, but my boyfriend bought a couple bottles of red wine. The interior actually seems to be the front of the winery itself, so you can see all the barrels and stuff behind the barfront, it's pretty cool. It's a little different from other places we've visted, where it's like a little restaurant/gift shop kinda thing (though they do sell some merch like shirts and stuff), this is more of a straight up, no-nonsense "look here, we're a winery" kind of place. I liked the interior a lot. It's very easy to find, there's a big spider on the building and it's literally right next to the road. Definitely...

GEM OF NARAMATA!! Absolutely the best wine of our day! Bold, rich and well-bodied reds and crisp whites. This wine is an amazing value for great handcrafted quality. This boutique location provides better quality wines than any of their competition. While other vineyards focus solely on marketing campaigns with deep pockets to sell their subpar wines; 🍷 Black Window delivers quality wines with flavour, structure and deliciousness! Check it out to see...