Creston Al and Marleen Hoag
Marleen and Al Hoag are toasting their success with their own award-winning vintages from Skimmerhorn Winery
| Name: | Al and Marleen Hoag |
| Business: | Skimmerhorn Winery |
| Year in business: | 6 |
| Grew up in: | Creston |
| Downtime activities: | Travel |
Marleen and Al Hoag added a new crop to the fertile Creston Valley in 2003: wine grapes. When the vineyard was planted, the Hoags were farming an apple and cherry orchard, but in 2005 they sold that operation to finance the winery and wine shop as well as bring on a professional winemaker, Mark Ratray, from New Zealand. And their success since then has been one that everyone can sample.
Skimmerhorn Winery is the first winery in the Creston Valley and Hoag said the region is excellent for the types of grapes they grow.
“We did our research to ensure we chose varieties that would perform well,” said Al. “The other criteria that we used is that they would have some sort of recognition among the wine-buying public.”
The Pinot Gris, Gewürztraminer and Ortega white wines and Marechal Foch and Pinot Noir red wines are proving to be very popular with connoisseurs and judges; Skimmerhorn Winery won three first-place awards at the recent East Kootenay Wine Festival at Fairmont Hot Springs Resort.
“We’ve been quite lucky,” said Al. “And at the Canadian Wine Championships, we picked up three awards for the 2005-2006 vintages.”
Marleen said people in the community have been very supportive of the winery and bistro.
“I think the people in Creston are always saying how proud they are…to have a winery in town,” she said.
The business has provided them with new skills and an understanding of the importance of marketing, said Al.
“Anything I can do in the next year will be spent learning to further understand the marketplace,” he said, “and certainly continue to fine-tune it so that we can address the consumers in the Kootenays.”
Photo by Kris Lindblad
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