Tinhorn Creek Vineyards

Tinhorn Creek Vineyards BC, Canada

Wine, women and the growth of a $194-million industry

 

The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs today

celebrates the female vintners who make a

significant difference in a rapidly expanding sector

    By Brian Morton, Vancouver Sun February 21, 2011    

When Sandra Oldfield moved from California to B.C.'s Okanagan

region in the mid-1990s, she brought with her a desire to both

become a Canadian and make terrific wine.

 

Today, Oldfield is not only a proud citizen of Canada, but the

owner/operator of Tinhorn Creek, an award-winning winery in Oliver

that produces 35,000 cases of wine each year, up from 1,000 when

she started out in 1995.

 

But Tinhorn Creek -jointly owned by Oldfield, her husband Kenn

Oldfield, and Bob and Bar Shaunessy -is also among a growing

number of B.C. wineries that are owned, coowned, operated, re-

branded, or acquired and expanded by women vintners.

 

Because of that, Oldfield and other women entrepreneurs are being

celebrated later today by the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE)

in downtown Vancouver for their work in growing and innovating B.C.'s

wine industry, which had total sales of $194 million last year.

 

Today's gala, entitled All About Wine, will be attended by Premier

Gordon Campbell and 450 local business leaders.

 

"I'm from California and I was raised with wine," Oldfield said in an

interview. "I got a degree in [winemaking] at the University of

California in Davis. I had a degree in business as well."

 

Oldfield met her husband in California and moved to B.C. to build the

winery with him and their two partners. Today, she's head of

operations and oversees everything at the winery, except the financial

side.

 

"It's funny, but I really didn't have a clue what I was doing," Oldfield

recalled about first starting out. "There was a lot of learning on our

feet. When I first got here, I couldn't think of one female

viticulturalist [growers of grapes for wine]. They were all men.

 

"It was very old school, old world. Some didn't even like women

working in the vineyards."

 

She said that while the number of women in B.C. wineries has grown

since then, she'd like to see more.

 

FWE chair and founder Christina Anthony said in an interview that her

organization is focusing on the B.C. wine industry this year because of

its growing reputation.

 

"We're reaching out to this industry because we feel there's significant

innovation and drive that women entrepreneurs in the wine industry

are showing. We looked at about 100 wineries [and] formed a list of

54 women who own or co-own wineries where they're actually involved

in driving the business."

 

Anthony said there have been many industry innovations in B.C.

either introduced or expanded by women.

 

She said Tinhorn Creek, for example, was the first winery in Canada

to fully convert to stelvin screw caps and that Blue Mountain Vineyard

and Cellars in Okanagan Falls, owned by the Mavety family including

Jane and Christie Mavety, is experimenting with high-density grape

growth to enhance flavours.

 

And Judie Barta launched Kelowna's Meadow Vista Honey Wines, an

organic honey winery that produces Canada's first sparkling organic

honey wine.

 

She said women in the industry have been at the forefront of

introducing such concepts as bed and breakfast facilities, restaurants,

and entertainment at wineries.

 

She said some women are building high growth wine businesses, while

others are serial entrepreneurs, selling businesses and building new

ones.

 

She cited Prudence Mahrer, who co-founded the winery Red Rooster,

sold it to Peller Estates after growing it to over 16,000 cases a year,

and then started the already successful Ruby Tuesday winery. "She's

such an entrepreneur that she's now even selling shoes at the

winery."

 

Anthony said women are also making career changes to the wine

industry, including certified general accountant Evelyn Campbell who

rebranded Prpich Hills to become Blasted Church in Okanagan Falls,

which produces 18,000 cases annually.

 

Anthony noted Campbell's "daring and creative labels" are on display

at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

 

And Judy Kingston, who owns Serendipity Estate Winery in Naramata

with David O'Kell, is a lawyer by profession who moved from Toronto

to Naramata in 2006 to establish the winery.

 

B.C.'s wine industry also has a legacy of multi-generational wineries,

with many more women taking over the family business this way.

 

Jennifer Molgat was a teacher on maternity leave when her father

Chris Turton asked her to develop The View Winery on the family farm

in south Kelowna. The winery opened in 2006 and has produced

several award-winning wines.

 

Molgat, a certified level 2 sommelier who usually makes wine

deliveries herself, said in an interview that her boutique winery

produced 500 cases in 2007, but has grown steadily to where she

expects it to have 2,000 cases this year. "We're doing a dry Riesling

for the first time.

 

"And we're hoping to get to 5,000 cases in a few years."

 

Wine Institute of B.C. spokeswoman Lindsay Kelm said in an interview

that a lot more women are entering an industry that was previously

thought of as a male profession.

 

Kelm also said that the University of B.C.'s Okanagan campus and

Okanagan College offer winemaking and viticulture programs, "and

there's a surge of women involvement."

 

bmorton@vancouversun.com

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