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English
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- Chris Boiling
- 2023-08-22
From their extensive research in California and other major wine regions of the world, authors Lucia and John Gilbert have learned that newer wine regions may offer greater opportunities for qualified women wanting to break into the traditionally male-dominated field of winemaking. The recent attention given to the Okanagan Valley, in Canada’s westernmost province, inspired them to travel there from California to meet with leading women winemakers and uncover the career pathways that led them to “the Okanagan”, one of nine distinct wine regions in British Columbia.
The women interviewed spanned the period from 1980 to the present, from the appointment of the region’s first lead woman winemaker, Lynn Bremmer, at Brights Winery in Oliver in 1980 at the age of 31, to the Okanagan’s youngest lead women winemakers, who are currently in their early 30s. They are Keira LeFranc at Stag’s Hollow Winery in Okanagan Falls and Jen Oishi at Gray Monk Estate Winery in Lake Country.
In the interviews, the professors first asked about each woman’s career pathway to winemaking and how she came to love wine. They described the four pathways identified in their book, Women Winemakers: Personal Odysseys, and asked which, if any, these women had followed.
They also asked about the challenges the women faced.
The authors concluded: “Our interviews and research provide an important snapshot of the Okanagan Valley today. Although the valley’s wine industry remains male-dominated, it is reassuring to find that its women winemakers are holding their own – some 20% of the wineries have a lead woman winemaker today, similar to three decades ago. That senior male winemakers have successfully mentored women for these important roles is also noteworthy.”
The interviews took place before the recent wildfires which shut many tasting rooms and destroyed many homes and businesses.
Okanagan’s first lead woman winemaker, Lynn Bremmer (above), also an accomplished weaver, was born in the Kootenay region of BC and followed the Sensory Pathway to wine.
She attended the BC Institute of Technology in 1972 to study biological sciences and food processing and said she regretted that no winemaking courses were available in BC at the time. She worked for a year in the dairy industry and then held a lab position at Andrés Wines in Port Moody, where she was mentored by its winemaker. She left in 1980 to take on the lead winemaking position with Brights Wines in Oliver, a winery established by Lynn and her husband John, a viticulturist whom she had met while working at Andrés Wines.
Brights Winery was instrumental in developing premium BC-grown vinifera varietals imported from Europe. They evaluated over 50 varietals known to be sources of high-quality wines.
Lynn and John later established Mount Kobau Wine Services in Oliver, through which they continue to serve others in the industry. For example, they developed curricula for, and later taught, enology and viticulture courses at Okanagan College – now the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBC Okanagan).
They also were involved in overseas projects for the Canadian government designed to bring modern winemaking techniques to eastern Europe and the Caribbean, served on the Research and Development committee of the BCWI and were instrumental in the development of the VQA regulations for BC.
Lynn, a past chair of the BC Wine Grape Council, continues to assist the local wine industry in myriad ways, and is a mentor for many in the industry.
Winemaker and general manager at Gold Hill Winery in Oliver and co-owner of 2house Winery, Val (above) Tait is known for crafting a wide range of white and red wines. She completed her undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and plant biochemistry at Simon Fraser University, and went on to study enology and viticulture at the University of California, Davis, in 1995.
She learned early on that she did not like working in a lab and sought out vineyard and consulting work instead, as she “loves the challenges they invariably bring with them”. Her life partner Ian Sutherland, also a winemaker, founded Poplar Grove Winery in 1993, where she was a consulting viticulturist for many years. The winery was sold to another family in 2007, but Val continued as its consultant before moving to Bench 1775 in 2013, as its general manager and winemaker. In 2020, she accepted the lead winemaking position at Gold Hill Winery, where she was “attracted to the exceptional growers who are the owners and their focus on Cab Franc”.
2house, founded in 2020, is a collaborative venture for Val and Ian, and a return to their first love of growing grapes and making small lots of wine distinctive of place, namely South Okanagan. The fruit is sourced from single vineyards that are part of Gold Hill Winery.
A person who loves new challenges, Karen Gillis (above) is now vineyard operations manager BC for Andrew Peller Limited, having previously held lead winemaking positions with Andrew Peller. She is very positive about Andrew Peller as an employer and appreciates the opportunity it provides to learn and develop as a wine professional.
Born and raised in Vancouver by parents who had immigrated from Hong Kong, Karen was encouraged to consider culinary school, but instead completed a Diploma in Food Technology from the BC Institute of Technology in 1996. She then worked several years in the food and beverage industry before accepting a position with Andrés Wines in Port Moody as its assistant winemaker.
She continued her career in the Okanagan after Andrew Peller purchased wineries there. First transferring to Kelowna, where she was responsible for Calona Vineyards, she then moved to Red Rooster in Penticton as head winemaker in 2006. The senior winemaker for Andrew Peller was an important mentor during her time there. In 2019, Karen accepted her current position with Peller, working with growers and becoming more directly involved in grape growing and managing vineyards.
Proprietor/winemaker for Roche Wines, Pénélope Roche (above) grew up in France, steeped in the French tradition of winemaking, and describes herself as a “vine whisperer”. Her first loves are cooking and gardening.
She studied oenology in Bordeaux, graduating in 2004, and made wine in Spain and then New Zealand, where she met her future husband, who was from Vancouver. He had moved to Beaune to complete a diploma in viticulture and winemaking and then relocated to Bordeaux.
When her family sold the family château and vineyard property in 2010, Pénélope and her spouse decided to move to the “beautiful Okanagan region where the wine industry was growing”, a decision supported by her parents, and where friends interested in winemaking had relocated. They have no regrets about their decision, and have found that the quality of life is different from that in France: “There is a sense of freedom here. The Okanagan Valley is welcoming for women, and not judgmental.”
The winemaker at Terravista Vineyards in Penticton is Nadine Kinvig (above). A petite person, she grew up doing lots of physical labour at her parents’ equestrian centre in North Vancouver. Her plan was to pursue her interest in science through the field of medicine, but working a part-time job during college at a wine store piqued her interest in wine.
She discovered that she had a “super palate” and decided to explore winemaking as a career path. She moved to the Okanagan in 2004 to enroll in the assistant winemaker program at Okanagan College and worked a harvest.
Knowing she would need more credentials to pursue a career in winemaking, on the recommendations of colleagues, she moved to New Zealand and obtained a Bachelors Degree of Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University in 2007. There were very few women in her class. She then returned to the Okanagan and married a fellow winemaker.
Finding a full-time position in the wine industry turned out to be challenging. She persisted at various part-time positions and became the assistant winemaker at Poplar Grove Winery in 2010 before moving to a winemaking position at Time Winery. In 2019, she joined Terravista Vineyards as its winemaker, where she crafts small-lot specialty white wines, including Spanish varieties.
Her advice to younger women is: Do more harvests and get your hands dirty. “Earning a degree in a wine-related field is especially important today when the field is very competitive.”
Amber Pratt (above), the winemaker for Moraine Estate Winery, grew up on Vancouver Island in a family with a passion for gardening. She found herself loving horticulture while still in high school. After studying horticulture and working in the landscape and nursery industry for a number of years, her background and curious nature led to enrolling in Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses at the Art Institute of Vancouver in 2008. “Literally, a new world opened to me,” she says.
Amber moved to Penticton in 2009 to enroll in the viticulture and enology courses being offered at Okanagan College, and took positions in a tasting room and then in the cellars at Road 13 and Black Hills wineries in the South Okanagan. She accepted the winemaker position at C.C. Jentsch Cellars in 2013, where she garnered several prestigious awards for her work with Syrah, Malbec, and Bordeaux varietals.
Joining Moraine Estate Winery in 2019, Amber continues crafting award-winning wines, including the 2021 Malbec, 2020 Syrah and 2021 Pinot Noir.
Born and raised in Penticton, Keira LeFranc (above) is winemaker and director of operations for Stag’s Hollow Winery. Keira always pursued science and earned a degree in biological sciences with a physical sciences minor at the University of Alberta in 2013.
While still in college, she worked in the tasting room of Stag’s Hollow Winery in the summer of 2012, and the next year worked in the lab and participated in harvest. “I loved the work but was overwhelmed by the responsibilities involved and decided to move to the restaurant side of things,” she says.
Keira relocated to Australia in 2014 and worked in restaurants and presented programs focused on wine education. Finding that she missed pursuing science, she went back to school and completed her Postgraduate Diploma of Wine Science at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. After graduating, she first worked as a harvest cellarhand at Babich Winery’s Auckland facility for their 2017 harvest and then returned home to Stag’s Hollow as a cellarhand for the 2017 harvest there. When harvest was completed, the then winemaker gave the winery a nine-month notice, and he subsequently recommended Keira for the lead winemaking position. She accepted, overlapped with him for those nine months, and took over as winemaker in July 2018.
The fantastic harvest that year provided Keira with what she described as a career highlight: “Six wines in the 2018 Renaissance Series,” a designation that is possible only when the wine is crafted from outstanding grapes.
Since her appointment, the winery has been named one of Canada’s Top 10 Small Wineries.
Kathy Malone (above), winemaker at Hillside Winery in Penticton, was raised in the mountains of Vermont but moved with her parents to Victoria, BC, in 1973.
She started university there as an English honors major, then traveled for two years. Upon returning, she focused on the sciences as part of a co-op program. The winemaker who interviewed her for a work term within this program, and who later became her first mentor, provided an introduction to wine appreciation and fine wine.
Using her science background, Kathy accepted a position as a lab technician at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna in 1985. She continued working there in various winemaking-related positions until 2008, when she was appointed to the lead winemaking post at Hillside Winery.
Kathy said: “I had total confidence in the winemaking part of the position. The chief winemaker during most of my time at Mission Hill had been a terrific boss and good mentor.” Kathy is very active in the BC wine industry, having served on the BC Wine Grape Council, among other roles. She uses her Winemaker’s Blog Series to share information she gathers on such topics as sustainability and resilience.
Hillside has been designed to allow the wine to ferment and age in many small batches. Kathy’s 2021 Heritage Viognier and 2022 Gewürztraminer have been highly praised.
Hillside is also noted for Mosaic, its signature red, a classic blend of Bordeaux varieties sourced from prime vineyard blocks along the Naramata Bench.
A highly respected and well-known winemaker in the Okanagan Valley, the French-born and educated Severine Pinte (above) told us that relocating to the Okanagan was a great move for her and allowed her to blossom as a winemaker.
Severine is now the executive winemaker/viticulturist and managing partner for Enotecca Winery and Resorts.
Severine’s father was quite interested in wine and often took the family out for barrel tastings, but it was at school that she discovered viticulture and enology and changed her plans of becoming a pilot. She attended ENSAM (Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Montpellier) and completed her Masters in Viticulture and Oenology as well as her National Enology Diploma there in 1998.
She worked for a number of years in the wine industry, “learning from the bottom up” about every task in a winery, from winemaking to vineyard management, which has proved to be very useful. She also learned how male-dominated the industry was at that time. “Compared to France, it is so much easier here,” she says.
In 2010, Severine and her family moved to the South Okanagan area where she accepted the lead winemaking position at Enotecca, a parent company that owns two sister wineries, LaStella in Osoyoos and Le Vieux Pin in Oliver. She became managing partner in 2015, and executive winemaker/viticulturist in 2023.
The grapes for her wines are sourced from nine properties spread throughout the valley, with those for Le Vieux Pin tending to be from the more northerly and cooler region and those for La Stella from further south. All nine vineyards are quite different, making the role of winemaker both interesting and challenging.
Severine has a stellar record of crafting notable wines at both wineries and is also active in the BC wine community as a mentor and educator. She has chaired the Sustainable Winegrowing Group for BC since her election to that position in 2020 and also serves on the BC Wine Grape Council Board of Directors. LaStella winery, Le Vieux Pin winery, and all nine vineyards earned sustainable certification in 2021.
Among her many recognitions is a 2023 award from the French government, which named Severine to one of its highest honours in the field of agriculture, the French Knight Medal Order of Agricultural Merit.
Stephanie Stanley (above) is the winemaker at Peak Cellars in Lake Country. Born and raised in the Okanagan to parents of German heritage, she had the good fortune to travel to Germany after her second year at Okanagan University College to take a job with friends of her parents.
This was just before her third year in university when she needed to decide how to focus her science interests. After she returned from Germany that summer, “a lightbulb went off” as she remembered the wine festivals she had attended and now missed. “I knew that I wanted to be a winemaker,” she recalls.
Okanagan University College had just started a joint program with Brock University in Ontario, and she was able to complete her BSc with Honors from Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture program in 2003.
Stephanie held several cellar, harvest, and research positions during the course of her studies. From these experiences, she learned that despite her strong interest in science, research was not the direction she wanted to go for a career. After graduating, she took a one-year position at Sandhill Wines in 2003, an Andrew Peller winery, filling in for a person on maternity leave. She then was offered a full-time position as a winemaker, a role that she held there for over 10 years.
“Still feeling a deep-seated desire to travel the world to make wine and learn more,” Stephanie and her spouse moved to New Zealand in 2015. For the next four years she travelled back and forth working vintages in New Zealand’s Marlborough region and in the Okanagan. Stephanie accepted an assistant winemaker position at Peak Cellars during this period and subsequently was named its lead winemaker, a position she has held since 2019.
When asked about her career highlights, Stephanie talked about her passion for working with Riesling and other aromatic whites.
The winemaker at Gray Monk Estate in Lake County, Jen Oishi (above) started her career at Gray Monk Estate and is still there. She applied for an interim lab position at Gray Monk in 2012, immediately after completing her degree in microbiology from the University of British Columbia, and “never left.”
She was promoted to assistant winemaker in 2015. Continuing to work closely with Gray Monk’s previous winemaker, who was an excellent mentor, she was appointed lead winemaker in 2020.
Jen mentioned that one of her goals as winemaker is to “keep the previous owners’ traditions alive”. The previous owners, George and Trudy Heiss, were the first to plant Pinot Gris in Canada with Gray Monk Estate subsequently becoming known for producing fruit-forward white wines.
When we asked Jen if she had had time as winemaker for any career highlights, the normally understated Jen lit up, saying she “hit a home run” with a new wine, the Gray Monk Odyssey Chardonnay.
The chief winemaker at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna, Corrie Krehbiel (above), always loved agriculture. Her parents were a third-generation fruit-growing family. She also loved science.
While still in high school, she was offered a job on the bottling line of a winery, and this led to a series of jobs at Cedar Creek Estate Winery that she greatly enjoyed. Ann Sperling was the winemaker at Cedar Creek and seeing a successful woman in this role altered Corrie’s mindset about a future career.
There were no enology programs in the Okanagan at the time, and, after initially considering medicine, Corrie decided to complete the Food Science Bachelor of Science Honors program at the UBC. To further her background in winemaking, she opted for the viticulture and enology program at Lincoln University in New Zealand, choosing it over UC Davis because of the more practical orientation of its curriculum. She graduated in 1998.
As Corrie noted during our conversation, “it is all about loving what you do”. She worked as an assistant winemaker, associate winemaker, and winemaker at well-known wineries for the next several years after graduating, completed her MBA, and then held a winemaker position at Cellar Tek Supplies, where she provided technical support for BC winemakers and consulted worldwide.
In 2015, Corrie accepted a winemaker position at Mission Hill Family Estate, where she worked with the then chief winemaker who became an important mentor. She was promoted to chief winemaker in 2020, and is the first Canadian and first woman to hold this position.
Mission Hill is known for quality wines.
Corrie introduced us to several wines in its Legacy Series: the 2020 Perpetua, a single vineyard Chardonnay, and the 2017 Compendium, a dense red blend crafted from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Also in this series is the highly regarded Oculus, a Bordeaux-style blend made from South Okanagan fruit.
Several women noted needing “to work twice as hard as male colleagues to prove themselves,” especially early in their careers, and walking a fine line so as not to threaten others with their competence. Others mentioned that there is still a perception that men are the winemakers, especially among those not in the wine industry, and this perception can make it harder for women to picture themselves as having a legitimate place as they pursue this role.
The availability of good childcare, especially during harvest, and achieving a satisfactory work and family balance are well-known challenges in the industry. Nadine Kinvig and Jen Oishi both spoke of the importance of having supportive family living nearby. Amber Pratt further noted the importance of having a partner who shares in the day-to-day household and parenting responsibilities and tasks.
Finally, the challenges associated with Mother Nature and climate change came up in all our conversations. Most recently, extremely cold weather shortly after completion of the 2022 harvest severely damaged the vines, resulting in what is likely to be a significantly diminished harvest for the 2023 vintage, with an estimated replanting of as much as 29% of the province’s vineyards. The extent of the damage from the ongoing wildfires is still unknown.
Grape Collective published a longer version of this article here.
The women interviewed spanned the period from 1980 to the present, from the appointment of the region’s first lead woman winemaker, Lynn Bremmer, at Brights Winery in Oliver in 1980 at the age of 31, to the Okanagan’s youngest lead women winemakers, who are currently in their early 30s. They are Keira LeFranc at Stag’s Hollow Winery in Okanagan Falls and Jen Oishi at Gray Monk Estate Winery in Lake Country.
In the interviews, the professors first asked about each woman’s career pathway to winemaking and how she came to love wine. They described the four pathways identified in their book, Women Winemakers: Personal Odysseys, and asked which, if any, these women had followed.
- Sensory Pathway: Coming to love wine from aromas or from tasting wines.
- Enology Pathway: Coming to love wine while studying the science of winemaking.
- Science/Agronomy Pathway: Coming to love wine from a grounding either in science or agronomy, and
- Family Pathway: Coming to love wine while growing up in a winery family.
They also asked about the challenges the women faced.
The authors concluded: “Our interviews and research provide an important snapshot of the Okanagan Valley today. Although the valley’s wine industry remains male-dominated, it is reassuring to find that its women winemakers are holding their own – some 20% of the wineries have a lead woman winemaker today, similar to three decades ago. That senior male winemakers have successfully mentored women for these important roles is also noteworthy.”
The interviews took place before the recent wildfires which shut many tasting rooms and destroyed many homes and businesses.
Sensory Pathway: Coming to love wine from aromas or from tasting wine
Lynn Bremmer
“I was always interested in aromas and had a fascination for food and cooking.”Okanagan’s first lead woman winemaker, Lynn Bremmer (above), also an accomplished weaver, was born in the Kootenay region of BC and followed the Sensory Pathway to wine.
She attended the BC Institute of Technology in 1972 to study biological sciences and food processing and said she regretted that no winemaking courses were available in BC at the time. She worked for a year in the dairy industry and then held a lab position at Andrés Wines in Port Moody, where she was mentored by its winemaker. She left in 1980 to take on the lead winemaking position with Brights Wines in Oliver, a winery established by Lynn and her husband John, a viticulturist whom she had met while working at Andrés Wines.
Brights Winery was instrumental in developing premium BC-grown vinifera varietals imported from Europe. They evaluated over 50 varietals known to be sources of high-quality wines.
Lynn and John later established Mount Kobau Wine Services in Oliver, through which they continue to serve others in the industry. For example, they developed curricula for, and later taught, enology and viticulture courses at Okanagan College – now the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBC Okanagan).
They also were involved in overseas projects for the Canadian government designed to bring modern winemaking techniques to eastern Europe and the Caribbean, served on the Research and Development committee of the BCWI and were instrumental in the development of the VQA regulations for BC.
Lynn, a past chair of the BC Wine Grape Council, continues to assist the local wine industry in myriad ways, and is a mentor for many in the industry.
Valeria (Val) Tait
Viticulture is Val’s passion but she followed the Sensory Pathway to wine. “It is here that one can feel an authentic process.”Winemaker and general manager at Gold Hill Winery in Oliver and co-owner of 2house Winery, Val (above) Tait is known for crafting a wide range of white and red wines. She completed her undergraduate degree in molecular genetics and plant biochemistry at Simon Fraser University, and went on to study enology and viticulture at the University of California, Davis, in 1995.
She learned early on that she did not like working in a lab and sought out vineyard and consulting work instead, as she “loves the challenges they invariably bring with them”. Her life partner Ian Sutherland, also a winemaker, founded Poplar Grove Winery in 1993, where she was a consulting viticulturist for many years. The winery was sold to another family in 2007, but Val continued as its consultant before moving to Bench 1775 in 2013, as its general manager and winemaker. In 2020, she accepted the lead winemaking position at Gold Hill Winery, where she was “attracted to the exceptional growers who are the owners and their focus on Cab Franc”.
2house, founded in 2020, is a collaborative venture for Val and Ian, and a return to their first love of growing grapes and making small lots of wine distinctive of place, namely South Okanagan. The fruit is sourced from single vineyards that are part of Gold Hill Winery.
Karen Gillis née Yeung
“I have a passion for sensory science, and embrace the opportunity to travel the world through my taste buds and the lens of wine.”A person who loves new challenges, Karen Gillis (above) is now vineyard operations manager BC for Andrew Peller Limited, having previously held lead winemaking positions with Andrew Peller. She is very positive about Andrew Peller as an employer and appreciates the opportunity it provides to learn and develop as a wine professional.
Born and raised in Vancouver by parents who had immigrated from Hong Kong, Karen was encouraged to consider culinary school, but instead completed a Diploma in Food Technology from the BC Institute of Technology in 1996. She then worked several years in the food and beverage industry before accepting a position with Andrés Wines in Port Moody as its assistant winemaker.
She continued her career in the Okanagan after Andrew Peller purchased wineries there. First transferring to Kelowna, where she was responsible for Calona Vineyards, she then moved to Red Rooster in Penticton as head winemaker in 2006. The senior winemaker for Andrew Peller was an important mentor during her time there. In 2019, Karen accepted her current position with Peller, working with growers and becoming more directly involved in grape growing and managing vineyards.
Pénélope Roche
“Passion for the sensory brought me to winemaking. We never do any analyses. We taste the grapes to decide on picking.”Proprietor/winemaker for Roche Wines, Pénélope Roche (above) grew up in France, steeped in the French tradition of winemaking, and describes herself as a “vine whisperer”. Her first loves are cooking and gardening.
She studied oenology in Bordeaux, graduating in 2004, and made wine in Spain and then New Zealand, where she met her future husband, who was from Vancouver. He had moved to Beaune to complete a diploma in viticulture and winemaking and then relocated to Bordeaux.
When her family sold the family château and vineyard property in 2010, Pénélope and her spouse decided to move to the “beautiful Okanagan region where the wine industry was growing”, a decision supported by her parents, and where friends interested in winemaking had relocated. They have no regrets about their decision, and have found that the quality of life is different from that in France: “There is a sense of freedom here. The Okanagan Valley is welcoming for women, and not judgmental.”
Nadine Kinvig
“I go on flavour, creating the aromatics and flavours.”The winemaker at Terravista Vineyards in Penticton is Nadine Kinvig (above). A petite person, she grew up doing lots of physical labour at her parents’ equestrian centre in North Vancouver. Her plan was to pursue her interest in science through the field of medicine, but working a part-time job during college at a wine store piqued her interest in wine.
She discovered that she had a “super palate” and decided to explore winemaking as a career path. She moved to the Okanagan in 2004 to enroll in the assistant winemaker program at Okanagan College and worked a harvest.
Knowing she would need more credentials to pursue a career in winemaking, on the recommendations of colleagues, she moved to New Zealand and obtained a Bachelors Degree of Viticulture and Oenology from Lincoln University in 2007. There were very few women in her class. She then returned to the Okanagan and married a fellow winemaker.
Finding a full-time position in the wine industry turned out to be challenging. She persisted at various part-time positions and became the assistant winemaker at Poplar Grove Winery in 2010 before moving to a winemaking position at Time Winery. In 2019, she joined Terravista Vineyards as its winemaker, where she crafts small-lot specialty white wines, including Spanish varieties.
Her advice to younger women is: Do more harvests and get your hands dirty. “Earning a degree in a wine-related field is especially important today when the field is very competitive.”
Amber Pratt
“Sensory brought me to love wine, agronomy told me that I was capable.”Amber Pratt (above), the winemaker for Moraine Estate Winery, grew up on Vancouver Island in a family with a passion for gardening. She found herself loving horticulture while still in high school. After studying horticulture and working in the landscape and nursery industry for a number of years, her background and curious nature led to enrolling in Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) courses at the Art Institute of Vancouver in 2008. “Literally, a new world opened to me,” she says.
Amber moved to Penticton in 2009 to enroll in the viticulture and enology courses being offered at Okanagan College, and took positions in a tasting room and then in the cellars at Road 13 and Black Hills wineries in the South Okanagan. She accepted the winemaker position at C.C. Jentsch Cellars in 2013, where she garnered several prestigious awards for her work with Syrah, Malbec, and Bordeaux varietals.
Joining Moraine Estate Winery in 2019, Amber continues crafting award-winning wines, including the 2021 Malbec, 2020 Syrah and 2021 Pinot Noir.
Keira LeFranc
“My pathway was Sensory. I started in restaurants and in the sommelier world, particularly the pairings of wine and food.”Born and raised in Penticton, Keira LeFranc (above) is winemaker and director of operations for Stag’s Hollow Winery. Keira always pursued science and earned a degree in biological sciences with a physical sciences minor at the University of Alberta in 2013.
While still in college, she worked in the tasting room of Stag’s Hollow Winery in the summer of 2012, and the next year worked in the lab and participated in harvest. “I loved the work but was overwhelmed by the responsibilities involved and decided to move to the restaurant side of things,” she says.
Keira relocated to Australia in 2014 and worked in restaurants and presented programs focused on wine education. Finding that she missed pursuing science, she went back to school and completed her Postgraduate Diploma of Wine Science at the University of Auckland, in New Zealand. After graduating, she first worked as a harvest cellarhand at Babich Winery’s Auckland facility for their 2017 harvest and then returned home to Stag’s Hollow as a cellarhand for the 2017 harvest there. When harvest was completed, the then winemaker gave the winery a nine-month notice, and he subsequently recommended Keira for the lead winemaking position. She accepted, overlapped with him for those nine months, and took over as winemaker in July 2018.
The fantastic harvest that year provided Keira with what she described as a career highlight: “Six wines in the 2018 Renaissance Series,” a designation that is possible only when the wine is crafted from outstanding grapes.
Since her appointment, the winery has been named one of Canada’s Top 10 Small Wineries.
The Enology Pathway: Coming to love wine while studying the science of winemaking
Kathy Malone
“I love science! In high school and college, I did not know that winemaking was a scientific career.”Kathy Malone (above), winemaker at Hillside Winery in Penticton, was raised in the mountains of Vermont but moved with her parents to Victoria, BC, in 1973.
She started university there as an English honors major, then traveled for two years. Upon returning, she focused on the sciences as part of a co-op program. The winemaker who interviewed her for a work term within this program, and who later became her first mentor, provided an introduction to wine appreciation and fine wine.
Using her science background, Kathy accepted a position as a lab technician at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna in 1985. She continued working there in various winemaking-related positions until 2008, when she was appointed to the lead winemaking post at Hillside Winery.
Kathy said: “I had total confidence in the winemaking part of the position. The chief winemaker during most of my time at Mission Hill had been a terrific boss and good mentor.” Kathy is very active in the BC wine industry, having served on the BC Wine Grape Council, among other roles. She uses her Winemaker’s Blog Series to share information she gathers on such topics as sustainability and resilience.
Hillside has been designed to allow the wine to ferment and age in many small batches. Kathy’s 2021 Heritage Viognier and 2022 Gewürztraminer have been highly praised.
Hillside is also noted for Mosaic, its signature red, a classic blend of Bordeaux varieties sourced from prime vineyard blocks along the Naramata Bench.
Severine Pinte
“It was at school that I discovered viticulture and enology.”A highly respected and well-known winemaker in the Okanagan Valley, the French-born and educated Severine Pinte (above) told us that relocating to the Okanagan was a great move for her and allowed her to blossom as a winemaker.
Severine is now the executive winemaker/viticulturist and managing partner for Enotecca Winery and Resorts.
Severine’s father was quite interested in wine and often took the family out for barrel tastings, but it was at school that she discovered viticulture and enology and changed her plans of becoming a pilot. She attended ENSAM (Ecole Nationale Superieure Agronomique de Montpellier) and completed her Masters in Viticulture and Oenology as well as her National Enology Diploma there in 1998.
She worked for a number of years in the wine industry, “learning from the bottom up” about every task in a winery, from winemaking to vineyard management, which has proved to be very useful. She also learned how male-dominated the industry was at that time. “Compared to France, it is so much easier here,” she says.
In 2010, Severine and her family moved to the South Okanagan area where she accepted the lead winemaking position at Enotecca, a parent company that owns two sister wineries, LaStella in Osoyoos and Le Vieux Pin in Oliver. She became managing partner in 2015, and executive winemaker/viticulturist in 2023.
The grapes for her wines are sourced from nine properties spread throughout the valley, with those for Le Vieux Pin tending to be from the more northerly and cooler region and those for La Stella from further south. All nine vineyards are quite different, making the role of winemaker both interesting and challenging.
Severine has a stellar record of crafting notable wines at both wineries and is also active in the BC wine community as a mentor and educator. She has chaired the Sustainable Winegrowing Group for BC since her election to that position in 2020 and also serves on the BC Wine Grape Council Board of Directors. LaStella winery, Le Vieux Pin winery, and all nine vineyards earned sustainable certification in 2021.
Among her many recognitions is a 2023 award from the French government, which named Severine to one of its highest honours in the field of agriculture, the French Knight Medal Order of Agricultural Merit.
Stephanie Stanley
“At heart, I am a scientist.”Stephanie Stanley (above) is the winemaker at Peak Cellars in Lake Country. Born and raised in the Okanagan to parents of German heritage, she had the good fortune to travel to Germany after her second year at Okanagan University College to take a job with friends of her parents.
This was just before her third year in university when she needed to decide how to focus her science interests. After she returned from Germany that summer, “a lightbulb went off” as she remembered the wine festivals she had attended and now missed. “I knew that I wanted to be a winemaker,” she recalls.
Okanagan University College had just started a joint program with Brock University in Ontario, and she was able to complete her BSc with Honors from Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture program in 2003.
Stephanie held several cellar, harvest, and research positions during the course of her studies. From these experiences, she learned that despite her strong interest in science, research was not the direction she wanted to go for a career. After graduating, she took a one-year position at Sandhill Wines in 2003, an Andrew Peller winery, filling in for a person on maternity leave. She then was offered a full-time position as a winemaker, a role that she held there for over 10 years.
“Still feeling a deep-seated desire to travel the world to make wine and learn more,” Stephanie and her spouse moved to New Zealand in 2015. For the next four years she travelled back and forth working vintages in New Zealand’s Marlborough region and in the Okanagan. Stephanie accepted an assistant winemaker position at Peak Cellars during this period and subsequently was named its lead winemaker, a position she has held since 2019.
When asked about her career highlights, Stephanie talked about her passion for working with Riesling and other aromatic whites.
Jen Oishi
“Science drew me to enology.”The winemaker at Gray Monk Estate in Lake County, Jen Oishi (above) started her career at Gray Monk Estate and is still there. She applied for an interim lab position at Gray Monk in 2012, immediately after completing her degree in microbiology from the University of British Columbia, and “never left.”
She was promoted to assistant winemaker in 2015. Continuing to work closely with Gray Monk’s previous winemaker, who was an excellent mentor, she was appointed lead winemaker in 2020.
Jen mentioned that one of her goals as winemaker is to “keep the previous owners’ traditions alive”. The previous owners, George and Trudy Heiss, were the first to plant Pinot Gris in Canada with Gray Monk Estate subsequently becoming known for producing fruit-forward white wines.
When we asked Jen if she had had time as winemaker for any career highlights, the normally understated Jen lit up, saying she “hit a home run” with a new wine, the Gray Monk Odyssey Chardonnay.
The Science/Agronomy Pathway: Coming to love wine from a grounding either in science or agronomy
Corrie Krehbiel
“Five years of university for this!” her father exclaimed on seeing Corrie covered in lees.The chief winemaker at Mission Hill Family Estate in West Kelowna, Corrie Krehbiel (above), always loved agriculture. Her parents were a third-generation fruit-growing family. She also loved science.
While still in high school, she was offered a job on the bottling line of a winery, and this led to a series of jobs at Cedar Creek Estate Winery that she greatly enjoyed. Ann Sperling was the winemaker at Cedar Creek and seeing a successful woman in this role altered Corrie’s mindset about a future career.
There were no enology programs in the Okanagan at the time, and, after initially considering medicine, Corrie decided to complete the Food Science Bachelor of Science Honors program at the UBC. To further her background in winemaking, she opted for the viticulture and enology program at Lincoln University in New Zealand, choosing it over UC Davis because of the more practical orientation of its curriculum. She graduated in 1998.
As Corrie noted during our conversation, “it is all about loving what you do”. She worked as an assistant winemaker, associate winemaker, and winemaker at well-known wineries for the next several years after graduating, completed her MBA, and then held a winemaker position at Cellar Tek Supplies, where she provided technical support for BC winemakers and consulted worldwide.
In 2015, Corrie accepted a winemaker position at Mission Hill Family Estate, where she worked with the then chief winemaker who became an important mentor. She was promoted to chief winemaker in 2020, and is the first Canadian and first woman to hold this position.
Mission Hill is known for quality wines.
Corrie introduced us to several wines in its Legacy Series: the 2020 Perpetua, a single vineyard Chardonnay, and the 2017 Compendium, a dense red blend crafted from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Also in this series is the highly regarded Oculus, a Bordeaux-style blend made from South Okanagan fruit.
Ongoing challenges
All is not perfect, of course. The women we interviewed have a good understanding of the challenges associated with working in this male-dominated industry and recognise the presence of discriminatory behaviour. When asked about the biggest career obstacles they needed to overcome, a common response was, “breaking stereotypes of a woman’s capabilities in the wine industry – not just related to winemaking, but also in grape growing.”Several women noted needing “to work twice as hard as male colleagues to prove themselves,” especially early in their careers, and walking a fine line so as not to threaten others with their competence. Others mentioned that there is still a perception that men are the winemakers, especially among those not in the wine industry, and this perception can make it harder for women to picture themselves as having a legitimate place as they pursue this role.
The availability of good childcare, especially during harvest, and achieving a satisfactory work and family balance are well-known challenges in the industry. Nadine Kinvig and Jen Oishi both spoke of the importance of having supportive family living nearby. Amber Pratt further noted the importance of having a partner who shares in the day-to-day household and parenting responsibilities and tasks.
Finally, the challenges associated with Mother Nature and climate change came up in all our conversations. Most recently, extremely cold weather shortly after completion of the 2022 harvest severely damaged the vines, resulting in what is likely to be a significantly diminished harvest for the 2023 vintage, with an estimated replanting of as much as 29% of the province’s vineyards. The extent of the damage from the ongoing wildfires is still unknown.
Grape Collective published a longer version of this article here.
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