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George and Trudy Heiss have been at the helm of a true Okanagan family business for decades: an Estate Winery.
The couple, who celebrated 55 years of marriage this week, started growing grapes in Lake Country 45 years ago and established Gray Monk winery 35 years ago.
"George always says every ten years he does something stupid. I said, 'Thank God I was first,'" Trudy said laughing.
Today, they own and maintain over 75 acres of vineyards and their sprawls the countryside overlooking Okanagan Lake.
The Heiss family got into the wine business by growing grapes for commercial winemakers, but soon realized they were on to something.
"We sort of didn't like what they were doing with our nice grapes so I came back from a tasting in Vancouver and said, "I think we can do better than that.' And that's the sentence that got us into all the trouble we're in today,” Trudy continued.
What they wanted to do was fairly unheard of, so they had to make a request to be allowed to make and sell wine from their own grapes.
In the early 1980's, the BC provincial government defined three types of wineries that were regulated under these separate categories. An Estate Winery (originally known as a cottage winery), required 20 acres of land and had a production limit of 30,000 gallons annually.
When Gray Monk was first started, that began the Estate Winery program, which many believe was the turning point for British Columbia Wines.
"They tried every rule there was out on us, as they wrote it, and some of it really was very counterproductive,” George said. “We used to spend more time in Victoria than at our vineyard.”
At the time, the market was dominated by commercial wineries and Gray Monk was the third estate winery to open up.
"It was a totally different playing field,” George said.
Eventually, winery owners banded together to create the VQA program and the Wine Institute.
"Now look, we have over 300 wineries on the books. We believed that we can do it and we proved them wrong and ourselves right,” Trudy said. “The industry has just blossomed and it really nice to see.
“The people are enjoying the product that we grow in this valley and the province. So ya, I think it's a pretty successful story.”
After training in Germany for four years, their son George Heiss Jr. took over as lead winemaker, a position he’s held since 1984. Lets just say, wine runs in the Heiss’ blood.
According to George Sr., the wine here in the valley can easily compete with product from the greatest regions in the world.
"In some cases, we have advantages over them. First of all, we have better soil than in a lot of places,” George said. “If you take Europe for instance, there have been vineyards on the same piece of dirt for 2,000 years, so the soil is depleted. There are certain things you cannot put back in.
“Our soils are basically virgin soils. We find that compared to European grapes, we get more flavours in them.”
If you drop by the winery, there are complimentary wine tastings daily, so you can decide for yourself.
Don’t ask either of the Heiss’ to pick their favourite though. Having grown up in Vienna, George said wine has always been part of each dinner.
"It was automatic that there was either wine or beer on the table when I was a kid, depending on what my mother cooked,” he said.
"When you ask us about our favourite wine it's like asking us which one is our favourite child,” said Trudy. “You can't do that."
You may be wondering how the couple has had such a long, successful marriage, while also running a successful business. And, well, they get that question a lot.
"We've actually been working together ever since we met, so we're together 24 hours a day,” George said. “A lot of people shake their head and say, 'How do you do that?' But, it's easy. It really is."
“She has strengths which I don't have and I have strengths which she doesn't have.”
"One thing that George has always done is give me the power to do my thing and I kinda let him do his thing,” Trudy said.
While accolades have poured in throughout the years, and awards from peers line the winery walls, Trudy said the respect in the industry and the smiling faces on the people who enjoy their wines, mean the most.
"I think one of the best things about the business is to see people coming in and tasting the wine and really enjoying the product that work very hard to make,” she said. “When they go, 'Mmmm, this is good,' that's like a gold medal.
“It's been a very successful business and a pretty good life so far.”
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