Sunset Drive outdoor wine tasting a first for fall wine festival

When reimagining the Fall Okanagan Wine Festival, organizers wanted to create a hyper-urban, outdoor wine-and-food darty.

Darty, by the way, comes from smashing together 'day' and 'party', a party during the day.

The result is the Sunset Drive Fall Outdoor Wine Tasting, a marquee fall fest event Saturday, Oct. 11, 2:30 pm to 5 pm.

Wine pouring and food stations will be set up in Rhapsody Plaza around the Dolphins fountain with all of Sunset Drive's condominium highrises and the twin towers of the Delta Grand hotel in view.

DJ Kris Falco will spin the tunes.

Thus the hyper-urban setting and vibe, yet in a park.

"This will be a first-of-its-kind in Kelowna," said Christina Ferreira of Impact Events, who is helping put together the afternoon.

"It's outdoors, it's the Thanksgiving weekend when the weather is still good and it's in the afternoon, so people can come and enjoy themselves with their family and friends."

The Rhapsody Plaza location was also picked to spotlight the Sunset Drive section of north downtown, which has never before hosted an outdoor wine event.

The 5 pm finish means people can still get home for Thanksgiving dinner, if they're having it on Saturday, or wander to a downtown restaurant for dinner.

While the outdoor wine tasting isn't until Oct. 11, Okanagan Wine Festivals released details this week to create hype for the event and the fall fest, which runs Oct. 3-12.

There's also early-bird pricing until the end of Sunday -- $75 a ticket at https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/sunset-drive-fall-outdoor-wine-tasting.

Your ticket includes all wine samples from 20 wineries and food from five restaurants, including downtown eateries Erica Jane, The Train Station and Cake for Breakfast.

After Sunday, the ticket price goes up to $80.

The other marquee event of the fall fest is the British Columbia Wine Awards & Reception on Friday, Oct. 3, 7 pm to 9:30 pm at the Penticton campus of Okanagan College.

The top 50 wines in the province will be announced, including the coveted 'wine of the year' and then party goers will have a chance to try the winning wines.

Tickets are $55 at https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/british-columbia-wine-awards-celebration.

The rest of the events during the 10-day fall fest will be put on by wineries or restaurants.

The https://www.thewinefestivals.com/ website will be updated with events as they are organized and tickets go on sale.

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