Queen Elizabeth II tasted Canadian wine.

What's that? You didn't get an invitation to any of the official functions staged for the Queen during her nine-day visit to Canada? No worries -- you can always replicate some of those lavish banquets. Well, if not the meals, at least you can purchase the wines.

According to Walter Meyer of Penticton's Red Rooster Winery, their 2003 Pinot Noir and 2004 Pinot Gris, were among the wines served at a reception in Edmonton for the Queen, her husband, and 1,200 guests this week.

"It's a great honour, like you win an award," beamed Meyer. With both wines priced at under $20 a bottle, even non-royals can afford it.

Despite the devastating fire in Kelowna in 2003, the hot, dry summer turned out to be a good one for most wine growers.

"A banner year leading to one of the best harvests on record," is how the official wine tour handbook to the Okanagan Valley describes it.

Tony Stewart, of Quails' Gate Estate Winery in Kelowna couldn't agree more.

"We just tried the 2003 Old Vines Foch last week and it was outstanding, probably the best vintage I've seen since 1994."

On a recent tour, the first winery we visited in the Okanagan was CedarCreek Estate, one of the stops on a cycling excursion of the valley with Monashee Adventure Tours. The winery, one of three in Kelowna to have suffered some damage from the fires, lost a farm shed and a pump house, though fortunately flames did not reach the vineyard.

"Overall," says CedarCreek's Gordon Fitzpatrick, "the 2003 vintage will be very strong though we didn't make as much Pinot Noir as we would've liked."

We spent the morning cycling a route that meanders past cherry, peach and apple orchards, four wineries, an alpaca farm and many scenic vistas. Travelling on quiet streets and backroads scented by fragrant lilacs, we took a welcome rest break at a lavender farm, which offers self-guided tours.

One of Monashee's most popular cycling trips has been on the Myra Canyon portion of the Kettle Valley Railway bike trail. But when flames destroyed 12 of the 18 historic trestles on the route, business dropped. (All the damaged structures are scheduled to be rebuilt by 2006). Yet, said guide Ed Kruger, the fire affected only 2% of the entire trail.

"People don't realize there's still so much left and I can transport you around it (the burned area) in my van," he explains. "I had a couple of people there yesterday, it's still worth a trip."

During lunch at the Hotel Eldorado's lakeside dining room, Kruger told us he has created several new tours, many of them, like ours, through wine country.

Next day we swapped the bikes for a car and travelled south towards "a place to live forever" -- the moniker for the city of Penticton. With a tree-lined beach located downtown, fine restaurants and wineries, and what's reputed to be the largest used book store in western Canada, who wouldn't want to stay here.

Cyclists ride through an orchard in the scenic Kettle Valley Railway bike trail in Kelowna, B.C.

A fun thing to do in summer is to float down the 5-km-long Penticton River Channel in an inner tube. The channel connects Okanagan and Skaha Lakes and "the float" has been rated highly in Travelocity.ca's 2005 "Local Secrets, Big Finds" poll.

Another great find -- this one too big to be a local secret -- is the new two-storey B.C. Wine Information Centre, which opened this month. Centrally located on Westminster Avenue West, the $2.3-million ochre-coloured facility, has maps, brochures and tour information, as well as more than 400 B.C. wines for sale.

British Columbia has come a long way since 1988 when it had just 14 wineries. Now there are more than 70. The Wine Spectator and National Geographic Traveller magazine recently called the Okanagan "Canada's Napa," a reference to California's reputed Napa Valley wine region. And that was before its writers had a chance to sample the 2003 vintages!

For more information on Penticton, visit VacationsHappenHere.com or call 1-800-663-5052; for more on Kelowna check tourismkelowna.com or call 1-800-663-4345.

The Quails' Gate Estate Winery in Kelowna.