Rocky Creek parents nurture a winemaker

Photo: Rocky Creek's Mark Holford

Perhaps nothing gives parents more pride than to have an offspring follow in their footsteps. That happened to Mark and Linda Holford, the operators of Rocky Creek Winery in the Cowichan Valley, where Mark is the winemaker. Their daughter, Robin, has also become a winemaker and, after getting a degree from Brock University in Ontario, was able to work with her father in making wines in 2019. She now plans to travel and polish her winemaking skills elsewhere in the world. No doubt, her parents hope she brings her experience back to the Cowichan Valley one day. I profiled Mark and Linda in the BC Coastal Wine Tour Guide, published in 2011 and no longer in print. Let me repeat an excerpt because the history is interesting.

Mark, the third generation in his family to make wine at home, realized a long-held dream when he turned winemaking into his profession in 2005. “Ever since I was in my early teens, I helped my dad make wine,” Mark recounts. “He did a lot of amateur winemaking and my grandfather in England did a lot.” That skill made him popular at university when he agreed to make wine and beer for his friends as well. It dawned on his that this “could be something I could do as an occupation.” Born in Deep River, Ontario, in 1968, Mark is a chemical engineer with a master’s degree in environmental engineering. He met Linda in Calgary, her hometown, when he was completing a co-operative studies assignment with an oil company. She is an engineering technologist with management skills gained in the oil industry. They spent two and a half years in Sarnia where Mark worked in the Shell petrochemical plant. “But we always wanted to come to Vancouver Island,” says Linda. “When we were in Calgary, we wanted to get a job [here] and an opportunity happened first in Sarnia.” In the fall of 2001 Mark and Linda were vacationing in Victoria, where Linda’s retired parents lived, when he found a position at the pulp mill at Crofton. They bought a home nearby in Ladysmith. Plans for a winery were put on hold because there was no room for a vineyard on their suburban street. Then they discovered they could get a commercial license and make wine with purchased grapes. Rocky Creek opened in 2005, making 600 cases with grapes from a vineyard at Chemainus and with purchased wild blackberries. Their first release was a port-style blackberry wine – which also won the winery its first medal. Linda and Mark soon figured out that small wineries are more profitable with a land-based license (because government takes much less in taxes and charges). In the winter of 2008 they moved to a three-hectare (7½-acre) farm in the Cowichan Valley, on a property almost back to back with Venturi-Schulze Vineyards. They now manage the Chemainus vineyard, growing Ortega, Siegerrebe, Bacchus, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir. They also manage a small Cowichan Valley vineyard planted to Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and several other white varieties. They buy grapes from another nearby vineyard which grows, among other varieties, some Tempranillo grapes. In their own Cowichan Valley vineyard, they have planted Maréchal Foch, some of Valentin Blattner’s Swiss hybrids, and almost a hectare (2½ acres) of blackberries.

In Linda’s recent notes accompanying Rocky Creek samples, there is biographical detail on Robin Holford and her journey into winemaking. “Robin developed a keen interesting in winemaking after years of watching her father work his craft,” Linda wrote. “When she entered high school, Robin began to consider winemaking as a potential career option.” After researching university options, she went to Brock University in St. Catherines, Canada’s leading wine school. “After five years of study, she came home to Rocky Creek and was given two wines to make completely solo as well as helping her father with the harvest of in 2019,” Linda continues. Her solo wines in that vintage were Robin’s Rosé (named after her some years before) and Pinot Gris. “After the harvest was finished,” Linda writes, “she participated in a harvest in New Zealand as part of her dream to travel and learn winemaking from different world regions.”

Here are notes on current releases from Rocky Creek.

Rocky Creek Sirius White 2020 ($27.50). This is a complex blend made from estate-grown varietals: Viognier, Siegerrebe, Albariño, Ortega and Blattner whites. The wine presents with a light golden hue. It begins with aromas reminiscent of marmalade and vanilla. There are savoury flavours mingled with apple and pear. 89.

Rocky Creek TLC White Blend NV ($15.50). This is a field blend of Viognier, Albariño, Madeleine Sylvaner, Pinot Gris, Siegerrebe and Ortega. Understandably, it is hard to nail down descriptors for all of the tropical and orchard fruits in the aroma and honeyed flavours (the wine is dry, however). 90.

Rocky Creek Pinot Gris 2021 ($16.25). Overnight skin contact has imparted a salmon colour to the wine, setting it apart from most (but not all) British Columbia Pinot Gris wines. The skin contact also imported lush flavours of ripe pear and stone fruits, with citrus notes on the finish. 90.

Rocky Creek Robin’s Rosé 2021 ($18.40). This wine presents with a cherry hue that brings cheer to those of us who are not enamoured with the current fashion for anaemic-looking rosé wine. The wine is a blend of Tempranillo, Gamay Noir and Pinot Noir. The aromas of cherry and strawberry lead to tart cherry flavours. 89.

Rocky Creek Sirius Red 2018 ($40). This wine, aged in French oak barrels, is made with the Cabernet Foch grape, one of the red varietals developed by Swiss plant breeder Valentin Blattner. The wine is dark, with aromas of black currant and blackberry that are echoed on the palate, mingled with black pepper. Bright acidity gives the wine an edge on the finish, suggesting the wine could be cellared a few more years. 90.

Rocky Creek Wild Blackberry NV ($22.50 for 500 ml). Wild blackberry wines have long been Vancouver Island’s answer to Port, even if some wineries have stopped making it (try hiring blackberry pickers!). This 16% wine is dark, with full-on aromas and flavours of the berries. The residual sweetness lifts the aromas and flavours. This is an after-dinner wine with blue cheese. 91.