Priest Creek Family Estate Winery

Priest Creek Family Estate Winery was founded through Jane and Darren’s desire to raise their four kids on a farm, bringing them back to their farming roots. Originally from Saskatchewan, the family bought a 12.5-acre farm on the rolling hills of Southeast Kelowna. The property was predominately tables grapes, with a small block of old-vine Gewurztraminer. After their first harvest farming the table grapes, they quickly realized that the wine grapes were far more profitable. There was no money in table grapes and in order to keep the property they had to change it up. They shifted their business plan and dove headfirst into learning about the wine industry.

With the mentorship of esteemed winemaker Jason Parkes, they hand-planted seven and a half acres with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Blanc vines with the help of their four children. Over the following three years, waiting for the vines to mature, Darren worked under the team at Jason Parkes Customs in West Kelowna learning the ins and outs of winemaking. While Jane put her design background to work with the tasting room and branding the business. After three years of putting everything together, the family was ready to open the doors and the final inspection came through in March 2020, the same day the pandemic was declared. The grand opening took place in May 2020 with 1200 cases. Despite numerous hurdles over the past several years, the winery production has grown to 5500 cases this year with over 750 wine club members. We remain a boutique winery, only selling our wines out of our wine shop and online. Darren now takes the lead in all the winemaking on site.