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.
Dense and Intriguing Paintings Comprise New Solo Show at Gallery
Visitors to a new solo show by BC artist Jeroen Witvliet at the Kelowna Art Gallery may feel as though they’ve stumbled onto a set for a post-apocalyptic movie. Many of Witvliet’s paintings have a dark, brooding, nightmarish quality. The exhibition’s title is taken...
BC Wine Institute Welcomes New Board of Directors
Nine voting directors represent British Columbia wineries of all sizes will form the new Board of the BC Wine Institute. The Board of Directors represent large wineries (selling more than 700,000 litres annually), medium wineries (selling more than 60,000 litres...
Pour and pair Okanagan wine and win
BC's best restaurants are rallying together to celebrate the bounty that is BC VQA wine. Participating restaurants in Greater Vancouver, the Okanagan Valley and Victoria are serving a minimum of three BC VQA wines by the glass during a month-long promotion of BC VQA...
Sept Preview
The next issue of Okanagan Life Magazine is in production. Don't miss out. Your ad message will reach over 490,000 exposures over three months. Email: paul@okanaganlife.com Ad space deadline: Aug 10 See our Media Kit.
Golf Tech: Its all about the clubs
Technology plays a vital role in the ongoing development of golf equipment—of which clubs are the most critical. Most golfers don’t upgrade their clubs every year, but after several years, there are sufficient changes to warrant a new driver or set of irons. Taylor...
The Next Generation of Aces
While Canadian tennis stars are making a mark on the World Tour, other nations’ top rising stars are traveling to Kelowna to showcase their play. It’s all thanks in part to the leadership of Joachim Nierfeld and a small committee behind Tennis Futures Kelowna. “The...
