Remembering winemaker Ron Taylor

Photo: Ron Taylor

Ron Taylor, a major figure in British Columbia winemaking, died in Kelowna on October 22 at the age of 82. He will be remembered as one of the creators of Baby Duck in 1971, the sparkling wine that was Canada’s top selling wine in the 1970s.

Born in Vancouver, Ron had a microbiology degree from the University of British Columbia when he was hired in 1970 by Andrés Wines Ltd. (now Andrew Peller Ltd.), which then had its winery in Port Moody, a Vancouver suburb. He quickly advanced to assistant winemaker and then chief winemaker. He spent 22 years at Andrés before leaving to pursue an active career as a consulting winemaker. An off-dry carbonated wine with seven percent alcohol, Baby Duck was inspired by more alcoholic sparkling wines made by several American wineries. The lower alcohol in the Andrés product attracted less tax and sold at popular prices. Flush with the Canadian success, Andrés even tried to launch it in Britain, without success.

Ron’s talents stretched to making well-crafted Okanagan varietals at Andrés after the winery began investing in Okanagan vineyards. In 1992, the year he left Andrés, he was awarded the BC wine industry’s Founder’s Award, honouring his contributions - even though his career would extend another three decades.

One of his contributions was mentoring young winemakers. Most notably, he hired the first female winemakers in the BC wine industry – Lynn Bremmer and Ann Sperling, both of whom justified his talent-spotting by going on to distinguished careers in wine. Ron appears to have been sensitized to the absence of women winemakers while taking a white winemaking course at the University of California Davis in 1974. “Of the 181 students, there were only two women,” Ron told me once. “I sat two seats over and one row back of Zelma Long [who was then at the Robert Mondavi winery]. “Mary Ann Graf of Simi Winery was the other.” Both had significant careers in wine.

Lynn Bremmer had joined Andrés in 1973 as a laboratory technician. Ron soon made her assistant winemaker over the objections of the winery’s general manager who happened to be John Bremmer. They subsequently married and went on to have major winemaking and consulting roles in the BC wine industry. I recounted the story in my 2022 memoir:

“ ‘John decided that winemakers were traditionally male and probably should continue to be male,’ Lynn recalled in 2021. ‘He told Ron perhaps I was not suited to become a winemaker, and he should look for a replacement. Ron stood by me, and we continue as good friends to this day.’ John recalled the incident differently. He told me he was not objecting, just asking whether the candidate could handle a particular job responsibility. ‘I did not care of which gender and that was never an issue,’ John told me. Ron also hired Ann Sperling for Andrés in 1984 in spite of stiff opposition from the winery’s vice-president of production in Ontario. “I remember the phone call very well,” Ron told me. “‘What have you bleep, bleep done’?” [the vice-president snapped.] “‘You know that’s not our policy!’” Ann went on to a very successful career in Canadian winemaking.

After leaving Andrés to work with a bottled water company, Ron returned to wine, this time with an extensive list of fruit wineries throughout BC and Washington state. “Projects started falling from the sky,” he told me. He even went to China several times to consult on cider projects.

One of his more than a dozen fruit winery clients was the Westham Island Winery (now Angel Estate Winery), where a profusion of fruits and berries gave him creative scope. Ron revisited the Baby Duck idea by making a summertime rosé from the Concord and Maréchal Foch grapes. “It is called Just Ducky,” he told me. One of the more challenging clients was the Constantin & Vasilica Winery near Cultus Lake in the Fraser Valley. The owners, who spoke little English, were born in Romania. They had bought the property without any background in fruit wines. They appreciated their consulting winemaker. “Thank God for Mr. Ron,” Vasilica Nemtanu, one of the owners, told me. Because the farm included 20 acres of hazelnuts, Ron proposed making a hazelnut dessert wine – having already done for another client, Samson Estate Winery in Linden, Washington. British Columbia regulators turned Ron down, contending that nuts cannot be fermented.

When Sleeping Giant Fruit Winery opened at Summerland in 2008, Ron was engaged as the winemaker and was working there until his death. Here, he has made perhaps the most extensive portfolio of his career: 19 table wines and 12 dessert wines. On its website, Sleeping Giant has this to say about him: “Ron has infused his high standards into Sleeping Giant Fruit Winery and has brought a commitment to perfecting his trade. His efforts have won awards and acknowledgement from his peers, as well as praise from visitors to Sleeping Giant with crafted wines that draw attention to detail, resulting in a wide range of varietals that are distinctive and exemplary.”

He has had an extraordinary life in wine and he will be missed by his many friends and clients.