Nk'Mip Cellars

Nk'Mip Cellars in Osoyoos holds a landmark place in wine history as the first Indigenous-owned winery in North America, owned and operated by the Osoyoos Indian Band. The winery sits on the band's lands at the edge of Osoyoos in Canada's only pocket of true desert, the hottest and driest growing region in the country, where sagebrush hills meet vineyards above the warm waters of Osoyoos Lake. The name Nk'Mip means bottomland in the Syilx language, and the winery is one of several enterprises through which the band, whose reserve was established in 1877, has built economic independence for its members while expressing Syilx culture in everything it does. For visitors, that cultural grounding makes a tasting here unlike any other in the Okanagan: the wines, which have earned international awards, are presented alongside the stories of the land and people who grow them, and the broader Nk'Mip resort area includes a desert cultural centre, accommodations and golf, making it easy to spend a full day. The winery's on-site restaurant serves cuisine rooted in regional and Indigenous traditions with patio views across the vineyards, desert and lake. The architecture and grounds echo the surrounding landscape, and the elevated site delivers some of the South Okanagan's most memorable panoramas. Osoyoos itself, minutes from the US border, is a popular summer destination for its beaches and orchards, and Nk'Mip Cellars pairs naturally with visits to the wineries of Oliver and the Black Sage Bench just to the north. Whether travellers come for the award-winning wines, the desert setting or the chance to support a groundbreaking Indigenous-owned business, Nk'Mip Cellars stands among British Columbia's essential winery visits, a place where wine, land and living culture are inseparable.