It is an area of low, rolling mountains, patched together from red-brown rock and scrubby evergreen trees. Orchards and vineyards rise up the slopes in even rows. The newly-ignited Kelowna fires leave an acrid smoke clinging to the breeze.

There are dozens of wineries in the Osoyoos-Oliver area, located at the far southern end of the Okanagan Valley, and yet so many of them are very young, as baby vines still encased in their protective white cylinders stretch out across the landscape. Zipping along the Black Sage Bench, which rises through the hills and gives a stunning view of the entire area, I can’t help but think that this is what the Napa Valley must have looked like 40 years ago.

The British Columbia government has recently begun paying a lot of attention to its wine industry; the highways are dotted with wine route signs directing traffic to the many local wineries. Wine tourism brochures litter the counters of local shops and cafés. Yet the Black Sage Bench, for all its fame as one of B.C.’s prime growing areas, is still little more than a gravel back road. The town of Oliver may be the self-styled “Wine Capital of Canada,” yet I can’t shake the impression that it’s kind of like a big fruit stand.

I started my tour of a few B.C. wineries at the sleek and modern Jackson-Triggs Okanagan estate, just north of Oliver. Though Jackson-Triggs is much more famous for its Niagara wines, it has made great inroads on this side of the country, especially with the wines from the SunRock Vineyard. I did a comparison of several SunRock wines with their Grand Reserve counterparts (just beneath them on the totem pole), and I was quite impressed — although, truth be told, I almost preferred the Grand Reserve wines. The SunRock wines are almost a bit too overblown.

Our next stop was just south of Oliver along the Black Sage Bench at Le Vieux Pin, an elegant building among the hills. The immaculately manicured rock garden in front of the winery bespeaks an attention to detail that I hoped would show through in the wines, and I wasn’t disappointed.

I’ve often thought that the Okanagan just isn’t a great place for Pinot Noir, since the valley just gets too damn hot for this cool-weather grape. Le Vieux Pin almost has me convinced, however, that the Okanagan just might be able to do some good things with this grape. Their Pinot is reminiscent of a French Burgundy, with less emphasis on ripe fruit and more secondary characteristics of earth and mineral. While it certainly isn’t identical to a true Burgundy, it’s noticeably different from the average Okanagan Pinot.

Though I am loath to play favourites, our last stop of the day was truly amazing. I’ve written about the Nk’Mip winery in a previous column; it is a joint venture between the Osoyoos Indian Band and Vincor, and is one of the Band’s several business ventures. The winery has been very successful since its inception, a testament to the hard work and dedication that the band has shown from the outset of its first business, Inkameep Vineyards, in 1968.

We arrived in the late afternoon to a bustling winery, where we were able to pause for a few minutes and take in the modern, open tasting room while we waited for our guide. After touring through the state-of-the-art winemaking facilities, we settled down in a private room to sample Nk’Mip’s reserve series, QwAM QwMT (pronounced “kwem kwempt,” which means “achieving excellence” in the Osoyoos Indian language, Nsyilxcen). I particularly enjoyed the QwAM QwMT Shiraz, as it constantly evolved in aroma and flavour throughout the tasting. Based on my (admittedly limited) experience, I think that Shiraz may just be the next great Okanagan grape.

After this tasting, we headed out to the patio, with its a gorgeous view of Lake Osoyoos, water misters working hard to stave off the desert heat. While gazing out at the dazzling scenery we enjoyed a fabulous platter of Okanagan-inspired food, complete with roasted venison and poached pears, candied salmon, local organic vegetables, and several other scrumptious tidbits.

As we said our farewells and headed back out into the desert heat, I mused that though the Okanagan may have the appearance of a neophyte wine industry, there are plenty of examples proving that it is already well on its way to achieving oenological excellence.