Tribute to Tim Watts from Kettle Valley Winery

Tim Watts, co-owner of Kettle Valley Winery in Naramata, was an early mentor in my wine career. I worked at several wineries in production and I worked at Kettle Valley in 2008. Tim and Bob Ferguson were hands-on owners, working at every aspect of their business themselves, which meant that when I worked there, I got to try out all kinds of different things too. I loved that about working there because every day was different and every day meant that I could be learning something new. In addition to all of the normal cellar tasks, I also learned how to prune grapevines, shoot thin, tuck, cluster thin, cut tops, install bird netting, and drive very old pickup trucks. I also got really good at installing PVC irrigation pipe, wires, hoses, and emitters. It was all hands-on and Tim was the one that showed me how it was done. 

Before wine, Tim worked as a geologist. Our conversations about geology as we worked on the bottling line inspired me to dig deeper into the topic. Ultimately, that lead to writing a chapter about it in my first book. I also took the Wine Sales program at Okanagan College that same year and had my first experiences selling wine in their garage wine shop. Of all of the things that I've done in my wine career, the majority of it can be traced back to my experiences at Kettle Valley with Tim Watts. My heart goes out to his family. Rest in peace Tim. Cheers to you. 

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