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.
Kelowna’s landscape changing forever
“The landscape of Kelowna will forever change in 2018 as homeowners flock to the new downtown towers,” says local realtor and homebuilder A. J. Hazzi, author of The Vantage Report. “We’ll see a vitality on our streets and in the shops and restaurants as the...
Winner declared in Okanagan College 3-Hour Short Story contest
More than 30 budding writers from across the valley put their writing skills to the test in Okanagan College’s 8th Annual 3-Hour Short Story contest and second-year arts student Hannah Stanley has been announced as the overall winner for her original story “The Best...
Kelowna art classes: Kickoff 2018 with a commitment to your creativity
Art classes offered this winter at Kelowna Art Gallery The Kelowna Art Gallery is encouraging you to kick 2018 off with a commitment to your creativity. Registration is now underway for winter art class offerings for adults and youth. The professionally instructed...
Cops for Kids Give $100,000 to Build JoeAnna’s House
The KGH Foundation’s $8 million fundraising campaign to build JoeAnna’s House, a home away from home for families having to travel to Kelowna General Hospital for advanced medical care, received a sizable boost in December with a $100,000 gift from the Cops for Kids...
Family friendly fun for New Year’s
If you’re looking for a place to happen on New Year’s Eve, the annual bash in downtown Kelowna is running for the sixth year in a row. The free family celebration has become a community favourite, and will take place in Stuart Park and in the Kelowna Community Theatre...
As New Year draws near, paint a new you
Registration is open for winter art classes for adults and youth at the Kelowna Art Gallery.