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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trudy and George Heiss started Gray Monk Estate Winery more than 50 years ago, and they just released their memoir, Decanting Memories<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Decanting Memories<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gray Monk was the first winery to plant Pinot Gris in B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The memoir details the challenges the couple faced in the early days of the wine industry in B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All proceeds from the sale of Decanting Memories<\/em> will go to the BC Hospitality Foundation to support the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are limited copies available at Gray Monk Estate Winery<\/a>, BC Wine Information Centre<\/a> and Intrigue Wines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “‘Decanting Memories’ is a testament to the days of digging trenches by hand, tractor repair through welding and long, uncertain winters.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":8563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1810,706,704],"tags":[],"region":[547,548,549,550],"class_list":["post-8562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8562\/okanagan-wine-industry-pioneers-tell-their-story-in-new-memoir\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Okanagan wine industry pioneers tell their story in new memoir","url":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8562\/okanagan-wine-industry-pioneers-tell-their-story-in-new-memoir\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/news\/8562\/okanagan-wine-industry-pioneers-tell-their-story-in-new-memoir\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-3.19.38-PM.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-3.19.38-PM.png"},"articleSection":"Featured","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jesse Tomas"}],"creator":["Jesse Tomas"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"iNwine","logo":"https:\/\/infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/06\/logo-inwine.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2026-07-20T01:00:00Z","datePublished":"2026-07-20T01:00:00Z","dateModified":"2026-07-20T01:00:20Z"},"rendered":"