Rowan Stewart, left, represents the second generation of his family to operate Quails’ Gate Winery in the Okanagan Valley, B.C. His father Tony Stewart was CEO until 2024 and now sits on the board.Lucas Oleniuk/The Globe and Mail
Quails’ Gate Winery, one of the Okanagan Valley’s longest-running family-owned vineyards, sits on sloping grounds at the base of Mount Boucherie, a 60-million-year-old dormant volcano that provides an ideal home to the area’s many estates.
The Stewart family that founded Quails’ Gate, situated in the part of West Kelowna known as Boucherie Bench, about 170 kilometres south of Kamloops, has worked in the unique microclimate of this mineral-rich land for three generations.
Their six decades of viticultural successes, failures, mix-ups and masterpieces lay a rich foundation of generational knowledge that, combined with necessary innovations of the modern age, has built resilience as both domestic and international winemakers face tough times.
Climate change is wreaking havoc on crops and, according to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), global wine consumption in 2024 was the lowest since 1961 while production declined 19 per cent between 2015 and 2024.
“There [are] definitely wineries that are very financially challenged at the moment in the given market,” says Geoffrey Moss, founder of Okanagan Valley boutique wine marketing agency Lithica Wine. “It probably wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that close to half the wineries [in the Okanagan] are for sale.”
Quails’ Gate has adapted in part by introducing technology such as wind machines that circulate warmer air during cold snaps and advanced irrigation systems to mitigate heat in summer.
But Rowan Stewart, Quails’ Gate’s winemaker, understands that such innovations cannot work without invaluable past knowledge. “There’s this idea that radar mapping and precision viticulture are going to solve all these issues,” says Rowan, who was born in the 1990s. “What I found is that you really have to take that data and layer it through the memory filter of my dad, my uncle, and their memories of my grandfather.”
The Stewarts’ connection to the Okanagan stretches back to 1908 when Richard Stewart Sr. first arrived from Ireland. He settled, started a family and established the successful Stewart Brothers Nursery.
His son Dick Stewart, Rowan’s grandfather, bought a separate parcel of land in 1956 and planted an orchard. Dick introduced grapevines in 1961, growing fruit for winemakers in the valley and becoming a founding member of the Association of British Columbia Grape Growers.
Ben Stewart, left, pictured in the late 1990s with his brother Tony, founded Quails’ Gate in 1989 with his wife Ruth.Supplied
Using grapes from those same vines, Dick’s son Ben opened Quails’ Gate with his wife Ruth in 1989. Rowan’s father Tony – Ben’s brother – left his job as a stockbroker in Toronto in 1992 to work at the winery, eventually becoming CEO.
“When I think about this property, we’ve been farming it for 70 years this year,” says Rowan, who grew up at the vineyard and studied viticulture in New Zealand. He held jobs at wineries in California and Ontario before returning to Quails’ Gate in 2020. “There’s a lot of knowledge and a lot of understanding of the land and how things work hidden away in people’s memory.”
The industry takes notice. Wine Growers Canada granted the Stewarts its 2026 Award of Distinction. Known for its pinot noir and chardonnay, Quails’ Gate has been producing prize-winning wine for years. In 2025, it won medals for each of the 11 wines it submitted to the National Wine Awards of Canada.
Tony transitioned out of the CEO job in 2024 when Jennifer Cudlipp was named the first non-Stewart CEO of BACAS Family Wines, the holding company for Quails’ Gate and the family’s smaller wine brands. It has 12 to 50 employees depending on the season.
“Tony’s retirement was known to the [BACAS] board for some time, so we created a transition plan and spent time together before he left,” says Ms. Cudlipp, who was a director on the board for six years before taking her new post.
Stewart family participation remains strong and structures are in place for the third generation. Ben was involved in British Columbia politics from 2009 to 2024 but still champions Quails’ Gate’s wine at events. Tony sits on the board, along with other family members interested in the business, including a nephew. “We moved to a fully fiduciary board and I chair our governance nomination committee,” explains Tony, who was born in the 1960s.
A separate family council makes decisions to bring to the board. “My niece is heavily involved with our HR team and family council and I have another nephew who’s on the board as an observer,” Tony says. “We have kind of a staging process where people can come on to learn and understand the business.”
Six decades of viticultural successes and failures lay a rich foundation of generational knowledge that, combined with innovations of the modern age, has made Quails’ Gate resilient when domestic and international winemakers alike are facing tough times.Lucas Oleniuk/The Globe and Mail
Keeping family members in the enterprise can be rare in the wine industry, especially in the current climate, Mr. Moss says. “Often there’s no exit strategy, and in a lot of cases there’s not the next generation that wants to swoop in. It can be draining to continue,” he says.
But Rowan, for one, is undeterred by the challenges.
“With a family business, it’s so easy to motivate yourself,” Rowan says. “I have two kids now and working when things are difficult, it’s really easy to not take the easy road, because I want to set it up well for them, regardless of whether they’re invested in it or not.
“If they want to work in wine, they’ll be thankful that we made the right calls and we put the work in.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correct the surname of Lithica Wine founder Geoffrey Moss.