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.
Special Olympics
Jan/Feb 2007 Name all the athletes who play on elite teams or compete individually at provincial, national and international levels—in more than one sport. Pretty short list? Not if you’re talking Special Olympics. These amazing athletes define the term overachiever....
Clash of the Conservationists
October 2006 The South Okanagan Similkameen park proposal has stirred up a snake pit of dissention. From the moment the idea of a national park was proposed, opinion began to polarize, not so much on the issue of conservation, but on the location and desirability of a...
Hockey Greats Fantasy Camp
Jan/Feb 2010 Kelowna was the site of an exceptional hockey camp last August that brought together many of the game’s greats and a whole bunch of recreational players for an amazing holiday. Read the original feature from...
Sandwich Generation
April 2010 Mid-lifers struggling to cope with ailing parents and growing kids can feel jammed up—emotionally and financially. Local resources help to ease the squeeze. Read the original feature from the April 2010 issue.
Chiefs of the Valley
Summer 1991 The contrast between Chiefs is interesting in itself. Among the six tribal heads interviewed was 71-year-old Barnett John Allison, a rancher who is still very much committed to an...
Theatre Kelowna presents Cinderella and the Silver Twig
Added Twist to an old Favourite Love Story Buy Tickets Months of concentrated effort will all come together next month when the magic of Cinderella opens at the Kelowna Community Theatre. Theatre Kelowna Society will present their annual Pantomime to kick off the...
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