Bottleneck Drive carved its first vineyard rows in 1968, when a handful of growers planted Riesling and Gewürztraminer on south-facing benches overlooking Lake Okanagan. The terroir — glacial till layered over ancient lake bed, 450 metres above sea level — yields concentrated fruit that ripens through long summer days and cool September nights. By the early 2000s, Summerland had become the small-scale cellar capital of British Columbia, with fifteen family-run estates producing fewer than 5,000 cases annually, most sold directly from tasting rooms perched above the vineyards. Today, Summerland BC wine tours follow a compact loop along Bottleneck Drive and adjacent farm roads, connecting boutique producers within a three-kilometre corridor. The appellation specializes in aromatic whites — Pinot Gris, Viognier, Chardonnay — alongside small-lot Pinot Noir and Syrah from the warmest slopes. Unlike the sprawling corporate estates of West Kelowna, Summerland's wineries remain owner-operated, with winemakers often pouring at the bar and vineyard dogs wandering the gravel patios. Tasting fees range from twelve to twenty dollars per flight, waived with bottle purchase. The district's architecture reflects its agricultural heritage: converted fruit-packing sheds with exposed timber frames, repurposed barns with roll-up doors opening onto deck seating, modernist glass pavilions set into hillside berms. Several estates retain heirloom orchards — apricot, peach, cherry — planted decades before the vines, their spring blossoms drawing photographers from across the valley. The Naramata Bench, fifteen minutes northeast, extends the wine corridor with another twenty cellars, creating a full-day tasting circuit that spans two distinct microclimates. Harvest begins in late August and runs through October, when crush pads hum with sorting tables and fermentation tanks release the scent of pressed Chardonnay into the valley air. The Okanagan wine trail, from Osoyoos north to Kelowna, encompasses more than two hundred licensed producers, but Summerland remains the region's intimately scaled heart, where visitors taste with the people who farmed the fruit.