Ruby Blues Winery — Attraction in Penticton

I’ll spoil the plot by saying Ruby Blues is amazing and worth the visit in order to spare those with the attention of a ferret on a double espresso who don’t like big words or paragraphs longer that three sentences the remaining 595 words, because there be story time.

Two years ago, my girlfriend and I were slogging through West Edmonton Mall (which in the last few years has turned into Guantanamo Bay for chicklet-brains) when we stumbled into a liquor store. Perusing the selection, by almost random we picked up a bottle not out of name recognition but rather aesthetics. It looked pretty. We returned a few days later to our home town and allowed my sister to select one of the several wines we had purchased. And “yoink”, like that, without pause, she snagged that bottle, the Ruby Blues Red Stiletto, following that with her own tale of how she considers it her all-time favorite wine. Period.

Two years later, just last fall, my girlfriend and I embarked on our first official wine trip. Over a week, we visited 60 wineries and returned with 120 bottles. So of course, given the hype laid on thicker than Sofia Vergara’s accent, Ruby Blues had to be a destination. Unlike American political ads, this is propaganda you can believe—Ruby Blues is astonishing. Its history is coupled with the competing Red Rooster across the street. The owner of Ruby Blues had started with the other winery, but their phenomenal success proved overwhelming, and after the anxiety of dealing with marketing, winemaking, and weddings around an already expansive and expanding business, the owners decided to walk away. They sold all but one of their fields to a conglomerate and retired…for apparently 30 seconds. Ruby Blues came from their desire to remain winemakers, and we are all blessed for it.

When judged strictly on personality, Ruby Blues is Steve Jobs before the iPhone launch. Massive. Deserving. The ornamentation is unique if not a little confusing. Externally, Ruby Blues presents itself as trying to reach back to its hippie youth, the grounds dominated by flower-powered Volkswagen microbuses adorned like they were dropped off by Jane Fonda and Stevie Nicks. Inside, that iconography carries into the merchandise as well but is then fringed on all sides by shoes. Women’s shoes…and not casual flip flops, but expensive high heels. Weird. And obviously, that decision carries not only into the winery’s name but in the titles they bestow on their bottles as well. Their signature wines are the red and white stilettos. The building itself is rather small, obviously, when compared to the competition, but it certainly feels welcoming. The tasting is generous, and the staff is friendly. And the wine is good. I typed this while staring at my 1.5-liter Red Stiletto Magnum, numbered 95 out of 150. That’s right, limited edition, and still sealed though not for much longer. We acquired a few other bottles then, but that’s the star from both that winery and our collection entire, right alongside our 2010 Cassini Cellars Maximus Magnum and our 2013 The Prisoner.

Ruby Blues, it must be restated, is exactly why you visit Naramata. Not because of some pageantry in the construction of the winery, but in the passion of the winemaking and the intimacy of their setup. The owners obviously know their craft, and it shows. On our second trip, we took our friends with us, and Ruby Blues was one a very short list of repeated location. It’s...

We visited this winery last week on the recommendation of a friend. While we enjoyed our tasting and the woman who was serving us, we found the owner to be quite rude.

After our tasting (which was done outdoors), we were asked to proceed into the shop to leave our contact details (due to the pandemic). This is the only winery that asked us to do this, despite visiting 6 or 7 others during this trip. We didn't mind, but did find it a bit odd that we had to go inside to do this (indoors being riskier than outdoors), but we went in nevertheless.

The woman behind the counter was the owner, I believe her name is Prudence. She was busy helping someone else with their wine purchase so we waited. When she was finished, we explained that we were told to leave our contact details. She took our info and then said that the price of the tasting is a smile but we always appreciate when people purchase something. We felt a bit put on the spot in that moment and replied that we would be visiting a few other wineries that day but that we may return and pick something up. She then said "Well that means no, you won't be buying anything", and walked out the of the shop leaving us there a bit dumbfounded.

She was right, we weren't going to buy anything because the wines didn't impress us that much (they were fine, there was just nothing that stood out to us). However, we would have considered returning and buying a bottle (maybe for our friends who like this winery) if she hadn't been so rude to us. We would have probably returned to the winery on another visit because we did enjoy the tasting experience.

It's unfortunate that she treated us so rudely because the place was nice, but now we know to take our...

Came as part of a bachelorette winery tour and had a disappointing time. We were under served and rushed out. Such a shame as we did enjoy some of the wine and bought a bottle but regret spending the money as the customer service was so poor. We did notice that Melanie was texting the lady serving us and the messages were showing up on her Apple Watch. She was being very rude and judgemental. But based on the other reviews it seems like this is a trend. We will definitely not be back and will be sharing this info with our in laws who live in Naramata and Kelowna. If you don’t want a bachelorette tour booked at your winery then don’t let...