Got young kids? Got a life? Usually it’s hard to answer both of those questions with a yes. If you are a wine enthusiast and love to tour wineries, you don’t have to give up the wine-tourist life completely. There are wineries out there that are kid-friendly and have things for them to do while you sniff-n-sip.
Children are not really on their business radar for obvious reasons and many wine shops have lots of breakable bottles, decanters and stemware that are all within reach of wee-ones. Most wine shops offer sparkling juice from Okanagan Applessence sparkling juices for the kids to drink. After a couple of stops with these sweet drinks, they’ll be more than a bit keyed up on sugar so make there is enough food around as well. Kids will get tired of beautiful scenery pretty quickly.
Some wineries out there are just plainly unsafe for children. Wineries are industrial areas and have many potential hazzards that are Work Safe compliant for big people, but not little ones. There are lots of high places and hard surfaces everywhere that make even running around a bit of a hazard sometimes. Even winery parking lots are more dangerous simply because most of the people driving in them aren’t looking out for small children.
If you can’t leave the kids with the grandparents for a while, there are some wineries that are more kid-friendly than others. Here is a short list of a few wineries I’ve noticed recently that have extra little attractions for little people;
Dunham & Froese has a small, fenced playground as well as a store and coffee shop that sells huge cookies (always a hit with kids).
8th Generation has a picnic area (shaded in the summer) with a train set made out of old barrels. My kids had a blast on it when we were there Easter weekend.
Tinhorn Creek has a self-guided tour where kids can see down into the cellars and tank rooms. There are also hiking trails that lead up the mountain from the parking lot to help burn off some of the Applessence sugar.
Road 13′s wine shop is located in a building shaped like a castle. While not really meant to be interesting to children, my son loved to run around on the terraces in the front where he would slay the dragons and rescue the princess.
Rustico Winery has a beautiful location just a little further south from Road 13 that has a great fenced-in picnic area where it’s easier to keep an eye on them.
Township 7 Winery in Langley has lots of room for kids to run around. There were also some demonstration vines next to the parkling lot where the kids could taste some of the grapes.
Are there any others that I’m forgetting? Maybe. Leave me a comment if you know of others that I haven’t listed here. I haven’t been to every single winery yet, but I’m working on it. Happy touring!
