Donald Triggs | Culmina Estate Winery

[downloads ids="6013" columns="1" columns="1" excerpt="no"]<!-- [et_pb_line_break_holder] -->[downloads category="current-issue" columns="1"]

20130715-201525.jpg

Retirement is not an option for Donald Triggs, a key player in the blossoming of Canada’s modern wine industry and co-owner of soon-to-be launched Culmina Family Estate Winery.

A native of rural Manitoba, representing the sixth generation on the family farm, Don left the nest to complete a degree in agriculture from the University of Manitoba and an MBA at Western. He started his career in Ontario doing sales and marketing with Colgate Palmolive. In 1972 he moved to John Labatt’s wine division where his experience ranged from fixing troubled sectors of winery operations to running large wine producers in Canada and abroad.

In the hope of staying in Canada with his family, Don joined Fisions PLC based in Vancouver, taking their troubled North American horticultural division from money loser to industry leader. With the 1989 North American Free Trade Agreement around the corner, Don risked everything. He joined forces with Alan Jackson and former Labatt colleagues who pooled their life savings to buy the brewer’s wine division.

Renamed Vincor International with Don as CEO, it grew to become the biggest wine enterprise in Canada and seventh largest in the world. When Constellation Brands US acquired Vincor in 2006, Don resigned and set out to build Culmina with wife Elaine as partner and daughter Sara as sales and marketing manager.

Don has lured Bordeaux-trained Pascal Madevon (formerly winemaker at Osoyoos Larose) to the promising scenario at Culmina.

Read more of the original stories celebrated in our 30th-anniversary issue.

Wine reviews: Valley expressions of bold red wines

Wine reviews: Valley expressions of bold red wines

As seen in [downloads ids="156027" columns="1"] Summerland Pyramid Winery 2014 OM Organic MeritageKelowna, Okanagan Valley1/2  $65 This Bordeaux blend is very new-world in style. Full-bodied and robust, it is a wonderful presentation of ripe dark fruits...

read more
Beautiful blends

Beautiful blends

Even a blend of one or two percent can make a significant difference in wine, says sommelier Mike Lee.

read more

Whites: Best of BC Wine Awards 2018

Let’s celebrate the wines from our fourth annual Okanagan Life Best of BC Wine Awards, this year held at the Delta Hotels Grand Okanagan. Our judging panel was a select group of independent, experienced wine judges from the trade, restaurant and education...

read more
In the kitchen with Kristina Klein at EATology

In the kitchen with Kristina Klein at EATology

At the bus stop Young Vernon chef serves up the science of eating fresh food It started out as a side thing, but then it just took off, says Kristina Klein, founder of EATology, an unusual bus depot diner in Vernon. It’s modern, but funky, with wooden floors instead...

read more
Wine reviews: Sperling Sparkling Brut

Wine reviews: Sperling Sparkling Brut

Sperling Vineyards 2011 Sparkling Brut Kelowna, Okanagan Valley  1/2 $40.00 Reminiscent of a fine quality Champagne, this single vineyard Pinot Blanc sparkling wine is grown organically and biodynamically, allowing it to truly represent its own unique...

read more

Garagiste winemakers

  A garage can make for a passionate first crush At 650 metres above sea level, Forgotten Hill Wine Co. is the highest-elevation vineyard in the South Okanagan — a nod to a tract of land way up the hill on a forested, gravel road past...

read more

Penny wise: Confessions of a thrift store shopper

Back in the swinging sixties, I was six and still enjoying playground swings. It was not until I was out of my brown school uniform and had started working that I realized what I’d been missing out on, fashion-wise.      My hard-earned money...

read more
Quintland: Five strong story sells

Quintland: Five strong story sells

Shelley Wood's debut historical novel tops best-seller list In the 1930s, public appetite was insatiable for news and images of the Dionne quintuplets. Before reality TV shows and viral videos, the unlikely survival of five identical babies in a small town in Northern...

read more
Tuition credits for story writers

Tuition credits for story writers

Could you write a short story in only three hours? What if you had to include a random phrase such as, “frozen fish sticks,” “dead hamster,” or “jumper cables?” That’s what students in Grade 11 and 12, and those attending Okanagan College can expect when competing in...

read more
Spot hiring for Y lifeguards

Spot hiring for Y lifeguards

The YMCA of Okanagan will host an Aquatics Day of Hiring on October 3 at the WorkBC, Capri Centre offices to recruit lifeguards and swim instructors - and offer spot hiring. For or those who are interested in becoming a lifeguard or swim instructor please attend the...

read more