Desert Hills Winery

Truly outstanding wine, friendly service, and the cutest winery dog on the planet.
I’ve been to Desert Hills a few times, and have seen their tasting room get some serious and fancy upgrades! There’s always a steady stream of people coming through, and now that their tasting counter is central to the room they can fit a lot more tastings at it.
Their wines are absolutely divine — definitely some of my favourites. They’ve won countless awards for them, and I’m not surprised, and the best part is they’re very reasonably priced. The viognier and the gamay are two of my favourites, and I’m definitely thinking about signing up for their wine club so I can drink more of their delicious varieties without having to hunt them down in various private liquor stores.
Special mention of Ali, who is the biggest, sweetest dog on the planet, and puts up with countless tourists (like me) every day who coo over him and want to pet him. Most of the time he’s sprawled, spread-​eagled on the tiles, staring at the world around him, but when he stands up you realise he’s actually a horse — sorry, I mean mastiff!
A great stop while wine tasting in Osoyoos — don’t miss it!

I had not been to this winery before, nor had I tasted any of their wines. They are superb and reasonably priced given the quality. Loved their Chardonnay. Even better, their risking.
Lorne Vancouver

We visited this winery last summer (2013) on our way to Walnut Beach in Osoyoos. Such a wonderful experience. their wine tasting is free and since it is a family owned winery the experience is intimate and you get a chance to chat with the owners and ask questions about the wines. They are very generous with their taste-​pours and they check in with everyone continuously to see if you have any questions or if you’d like to try something else.
They have this hilarious looking mastiff winery dog named Ali (I took some photos and will upload later) They even had one of their sons helping at the cash register — they were all friendly and patient that you actually feel like you’re home! They have this great photo album set up so you can see what the family does and their soccer team in India I believe?
We ended up buying a 2 bottles of their dessert wine (Ambassador, port style wine with hints of chocolate and coffee — my boyfriend LOVED this), 2 bottles of red (2013 Gamay they were like $ 20 a bottle), and 6 bottles of white (2013 Un Oaked Chardonnay I believe $ 20 a bottle too). Don’t quote me on prices because I’m going by memory.
The brothers that own this winery definitely keep themselves grounded in terms of how they treat guests and wine enthusiasts, I can’t get over how great they were about the tasting. They also don’t pressure you or ask you if you’re going to purchase, I had read reviews of other wineries before our trip and I saw that a few were very pushy and aggressive during people’s tasting experience.
If you are making your first trip to a winery Desert Hills is definitely a must drink ;)

Every time we’ve been by, we were greeted by a very nice dog… whether a older one, or a mastiff as last time.
Their whites are nice in general, while we prefer the Mirrage in their red line up last time. The staff is nice, and although the tasting room is small, it’s pretty cool… in more ways than one during the hot summers! Price points are decent for quality in general.
Update: The above is true, but the Mirrage had a bit too much bell pepper, and seemed a bit over acidic. The Viognier was the best currently.

What a find, so many award winning wines, both reds & whites. A definite must visit winery.

After a morning of stingy pours (really, how am I supposed to be able to tell if I want to buy your wine If you don’t even give me a full sip), Desert Hills was a refreshing relief.
Not only did the host of the small space provide proper pours along with pertinent information and a friendly face, I finally discovered a Chardonnay that I enjoyed! Their unoaked Chardonnay is amazing.
Behind the bar they have bottles of all their wines and they are just COVERED in medals. Like I said above, I loved their unoaked Chardonnay, but their reds are apparently amazing as well, their Gamay was just flying off the shelf while we were enjoying our tasting. What a great backroads Oliver find.

Brothers Randy and Jesse Toor recently founded Desert Hills Estate Winery after having planted land on the Black Sage bench with vinifera. It is a family-​run estate winery and is located in a non-​descript building dwarfed by the sizeable house adjacent to it (be sure to turn left folks!).
Desert Hills’ production, like others on the Black Sage, is primarily focused on red wines. The winery’s most popular wine among a quirky mix of varieties is Syrah.
Like all Okanagan Wineries, Desert Hills gets busy in the summer. Parking space is not overly abundant, and the driveway is narrow. Tastings are free, however ID is required for people who appear to be under 25. The tasting room is small and relatively standard, and the staff (at least when we were there) was polite, if not overly cordial. Tours are offered throughout the summer.
Last Word :
If you have extra time, make the stop. They make some fabulous wines and are an easy visit just off of Black Sage road.

The man who has always poured wine for me here is such a nice guy. He’ll smile and charmingly tell you «you can buy my wine now and save yourself time, because you’ll be back if you don’t.» It’s so true! Their wines are really easy to drink and significantly less expensive than many of their neighbours on the Black Sage Bench.
For example, you can buy their Gamay Noir for $ 20! It’s almost impossible to get a tasty red wine for that price in the Okanagan. It’s a lighter wine and has a fun kick to it.
The wine shop, property and view are not the main attractions here. Just go in to taste some great wine. Take your credit card!

These are nice and tasty reasonably priced wines– perfect to have around the house for just about any drinking or dining needs. Their winery is perhaps not as spectacular as some, but they do make a tasty wine. Of note– they also make special bottlings for weddings or other occasions (if you’re into that sort of thing), they are super nice and friendly, and they have a wonderful mastiff puppy named Tyson as their winery dog. Worth a visit.