Plenty of excitement surrounds the remarkable success of today’s British Columbia Wine Industry—and rightly so. With at last count some 284 licensed grape wineries across the province, the BC industry continues to grow beyond all expectations.

Yet it’s easy to overlook the formidable contribution of the original, relatively small number of determined visionaries who made it all happen. Included in that illustrious group are Quails’ Gate founders the Stewart family. While Quails’ Gate was established in 1989, the family’s history in the Okanagan Valley dates from much earlier in the 20th century.

Early farming days

Tony Stewart recalls that his grandfather immigrated from Ireland in 1908, travelling across Canada by rail to Coldstream in Vernon. “He was looking for his brother who had come here earlier and landed at what is now the Gellatly Nut Farm Regional Park, just south of present-day Quails’ Gate. The story goes that, as he carried his steamer trunk up from below, Dr. Gellatly was so impressed that he hired him on the spot.”

In 1911, three years after the brothers met up, they started Stewart Brothers Nursery, which in time became the largest nursery in Western Canada.

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