A glass of wine played a pivotal role in Val Tait’s route to becoming winemaker and general manager of Bench 1775.
When she had the glass of wine that was the tipping point for her, she admitted that she was drinking really cheap, super-sweet German wines. She came to realize that the wine she had been drinking and the one Nichol introduced her to could very well have been the same kind of grapes from the same part of the world. The difference was how the grapes were grown and how the wine was made.
When she returned to B.C. in the early 1990s, there were about 21 licensed grape wineries in the province. Now there are 280.“I came back with technical knowledge at a time when a lot of people were developing projects,” she said. She’s such a big believer in that idea that’s she’s pushing it even further. She said she lets the fruit tell her “what wine is going to be made” from it.
During that fast expansion, Bench 1775 has grown to include a team of women in several senior positions in the company including sales, marketing and export sales.