A Highly Unusual Wine Country Destination
Usually when we associate a place with a specific person, it’s because we recall times spent there together. That is not the case in this story. I first heard about God’s Mountain Estate from a close friend. Let’s call her the Divine Miss M. She was newly in love, and planning an Okanagan vacation with the man in her life. She came back raving about God’s Mountain, where they had stayed. But it was a silent rave; she didn’t have many words to describe the place. This was unusual for M, who was rarely at a loss for words.
She said it was tucked into a steep slope. She said it had gorgeous lake views. She said it was surrounded by vineyards. Repeatedly, she said it was “very unusual.” What stayed with me, more than those words, was the look on her face, at once dreamy and serious—searching.
I filed God’s Mountain under “curiosity.” (Yes, my mind has such a folder.) I thought, vaguely, that we might visit together one day on a girlfriends’ weekend away. Several years passed. Too many. One day I came across an online photo of a long-table dinner set in a vaguely Mediterranean-looking environment: a sun-dappled terrace under trees. A white cloth and vases of colourful flowers. This, too, was God’s Mountain. It was now filed under both “curiosity” and “want.”
A few more years passed. M was diagnosed with lung cancer. She fought a brave battle, but eventually lost it. I missed her. Still do. The fantastic cook, wine enthusiast, lover of music, and prolific reader was an almost-constant presence in my thoughts. Still is. She was very much at my side last summer when my husband and I finally stepped into the world of God’s Mountain. While booking, we had liked the website: its stunning photos, of course, but also the words that described “a place to do nothing and rest afterwards,” and promised “things delightfully imperfect.”
While giving us the introductory tour, our host, Sarah Allen, said her place is the closest thing to Fawlty Towers you’ll find in North America. That made us laugh, though in truth her estate bears little resemblance to Basil’s ramshackle establishment. Its massive drawing rooms, library nooks, music room, and museum room are indeed somewhat reminiscent of an English country house. But step out through French doors and onto the terraces, and it’s more like a Mediterranean palazzo. Fawlty Towers never had such sun, such heat, or such lake views, not to mention 115 acres of mountaintop. It certainly did not serve lavish breakfasts in a cheerful, yellow morning room, or long-table al fresco dinners on summer Sundays. It never had a pool deck where guests reconnect with friends they met a year—or five, or ten—earlier. (Many repeat visitors book the same vacation every year to foster these friendships, and sometimes they stay up late, drinking wine and singing and making music together under the stars.)
I was charmed by virtually every step of that first tour, particularly by the eccentric museum wall, the long terrace, and the small tables and benches positioned for views of Skaha Lake. By the time we reached our Penthouse room, with its generous windows, private terrace, and four-poster bed, I was completely smitten. I grew up in the Okanagan Valley. I had no idea such a place existed in my backyard—or even that it could.
God’s Mountain is not modern. It is not slick. It is quirky: rich in character and curios. Spacious, yet intimate. Full of surprises and the wonderful wabi-sabi warmth of things that are imperfect. It is, as my Divine Miss M put it, “very unusual.”
It is also an ideal location for an Okanagan wine tour, more or less in the centre of the valley, very close to the 60 or so wineries of Penticton, Naramata, Okanagan Falls, and Kaleden. It’s roughly half an hour’s drive to the 21 wineries of Summerland and about 40 minutes to 45 tasting rooms in Oliver and Osoyoos.
Do your tastings, buy your wine, stop at a farmers’ market for salad ingredients. Include some of the fantastic housemade bread from Platinum Bench Estate Winery in Oliver; I recommend the epi with sopressata and Swiss cheese, or one with Brie and pear preserve. Bring everything back to God’s Mountain. Put your dinner together in the communal kitchen and take it out to the terrace, pour the wine, and enjoy the views. If you can think of a more perfect way to spend a summer weekend, I would like to hear about it.
As well as unusual, God’s Mountain is extremely popular. Apparently, there are lots of people who love the wonderfully imperfect. If you are reading this and filing the place under “curiosity” or “want,” inquire about booking now. Be patient or flexible, or both. If you’re lucky and the stars align, you might find yourself being charmed in August. More likely, there will be a weekend for you next summer. Or perhaps in early autumn, after peak tourist season. Just don’t wait for too many years to pass.
God's Mountain
4898 Lakeside Road, Penticton. BC
godsmountain.com | 250-490-4800
