Upper Bench Estate Winery and Creamery — Attraction in Penticton

I love wine, and I love cheese.

That is all.

…

…

Okay, I guess I should pad this out a little bit more for those wanting content. I could write a poem, but I lack the attention span to make them work.

Roses are red

Is that the door?

I’m hungry.

Girls?

Or I can talk about wine and cheese. I’m shocked we missed this place on our first run through Naramata. The previous trip involved 60 wineries over a week, so I think we can be excused for skipping the odd one. As names go, Upper Bench sounds sports related but isn’t; that would be ironically claimed by the summarily named Top Shelf Winery a few miles south, a place whose logo is a literal hockey mask. Top Shelf, Upper Bench, it’s an understandable confusion. One is hockey themed which instilled little confidence as we drove by, the other pairs wine with cheese, which you would have to fight to keep me away from.

Upper Bench was the first location we visited this day (after a failed attempt at Township7 minutes earlier). An adorable dog shied away from us, though fought through it occasionally due to an overpowering desire to play. When inside, we discovered an undersized but effective tasting room rationing nearly equal space for wine and cheese. Both are worth trying, and both are worth buying. The location is effective, though not wowing pretentious viticulture fanboys. We were in and out quickly with loaded stock. I could not recall the specific cheese procured as it was ingested not long after. As for wine, I scored the Zweigelt 2015 and a Yard Wine (a blend of Cab Franc and Merlot). My friend also picked up a Zweigelt, claiming it one of the best of that varietal he ever had.

Upper Bench is more a typical winery in Naramata. It doesn’t boast a huge lounge. It isn’t world famous, but it’s welcoming with reasonably priced wine you’ll inevitably purchase. The host is funny and generous, and I imagine most of my group would have stayed there all day to play with that dog.

I love the offerings of cheese, and this is becoming an increasing trend with wineries. I’d rather that than some pseudoscientific gimmick that does nothing to increase the quality of wine. Cheese is good. Wine is good. Upper...

Wow, I can’t say enough about a wonderful experience I had at the upper bench with my spouse. We have been looking for a place that has wine and Woodfire oven pizza and we came upon another place before we arrived at upper bench. They had turned us away because they couldn’t accommodate so we were so disappointed and went to numerous places that either didn’t serve food or didn’t serve pizza not to mention wood fired/gas oven and as we were driving back, we came upon The Upper Bench winery and Creamery for the first time. This establishment encompasses all things a restaurant Winery should have… friendly staff, wonderful wine & cheeses Pizza and ambiance. And great service… The server welcomed us with a huge smile and couldn’t do enough for us so pleasant and professional . I met the owners and they we’re absolutely lovely and welcoming. The feeling when you walk in was one of warmth & welcoming. It was a shaded area so you didn’t have to feel hot in the baking sun.. The beverages were fantastic. The Rose & Reserve Chardonnay amazing!!…. But then came the best pizza I’ve ever tasted in my life truly and I’ve tasted so many. We shared the king pizza with their lovely cheeses and prosciutto made right there it’s undeniable the difference that made in the toppings but it’s the CRUST I have not come across that crust anywhere in the Okanagan let alone any places on the mainland and travelling abroad. Crust was light, airy crispy, no soggy, and the flavour of the crust is amazing like I’ve never tasted before….. in a word PERFECTION!! I told my spouse we need to order another one as we live half an hour away, and I don’t think I could go without another one that week lol we have found our new go to place in Naramata now. So what started as a disappointing day being turned away from another restaurant turned into an AMAZING find!!.

Do yourselves a favour go check it out you will feel very welcome……wishing them all the very best now and in the future with this fantastic establishment! I miss them already! We WILL be back! Highly...

We visited this winery upon a recommendation of a colleague who had visited last year. We came in yesterday but were not able to be accommodated for a tasting so we decided to try again today. Unfortunately, we had the worst experience from all the wineries we've visited over the last few days.

We entered on a quiet, rainy day. There were two other groups on the patio. We ordered the wine+cheese tasting option. As the pizza oven was not functioning, we asked for some cheese boards and the server (older lady) told us that she could do. After we got seated, she started bringing the wines.

Two wines in, she gave us what can only be explained as a micro-portion of two different cheeses with no description of the cheese and which wines accompany them.

A younger blonde gentleman came over after seeing us look a little confused. He offered waters and apologized before bringing over more wines and going to check on the cheese board.

The older lady seemed to have forgotten about us, even though we were seated near the entrance. We had no idea what was going on and clearly neither did their team.

Kudos to the younger gentleman who did his best to make us feel welcome. He mentioned being new and we felt for him - the only saving grace for this winery.

Won't be recommending this winery as frankly it was a...