Okanagan wine industry pioneers tell their story in new memoir

As far as renowned wine destinations go, the Okanagan is pretty young. A couple who saw the future of the valley 50 years earlier has decided to tell their story.

Trudy and George Heiss started Gray Monk Estate Winery more than 50 years ago, and they just released their memoir, Decanting Memories.

“Decanting Memories is a testament to the days of digging trenches by hand, tractor repair through welding and long, uncertain winters,” Diploma in Wines writer and educator Barb Wild said in in a media release.

George was a world champion hairdresser from Vienna who ended up in Edmonton in 1960 with wooden skis and a suitcase of smuggled salami. There he met Trudy, another hairdresser, who escaped across the Austrian-German border as a child.

Instead of cutting hair they turned to a plot of land in Lake Country and created a winery which they ran until it was sold to Andrew Peller Limited in 2017.

Gray Monk was the first winery to plant Pinot Gris in B.C.

The memoir details the challenges the couple faced in the early days of the wine industry in B.C.

All proceeds from the sale of Decanting Memories will go to the BC Hospitality Foundation to support the industry.

“It’s a story about the true value of the bottle in your hand, and the pioneers who refused to take no for an answer,” Wild said.

There are limited copies available at Gray Monk Estate Winery, BC Wine Information Centre and Intrigue Wines.