However, Fipke’s hunch proved to be


spot-on, and his company, Dia Met Minerals, in which Schiller had a share, found them, sending the company soaring from a penny stock to an overnight success. This summer, Fipke sold his remaining 10 per cent in Ekati to the majority shareholder, Dominion Diamond Corporation, for $67 million U.S. to get on with his mineral exploration, saying he wanted to continue prospecting.


Schiller had sold his shares in Dia Met some 19 years earlier, moving to Kelowna from the prairies to semi- retire. There, he and his wife Shirley took just one look at the Reid House to know they had to buy it, despite the problems that a home of that age inevitably presents.


The fieldstone home is on the B list of heritage houses, and the Schillers have updated and babied the interior and the grounds, which include an ancient white pine, as well as the much-newer planting of grapes, and a guest home overlooking the canyon formed by Mission Creek on its rush from the hills into Okanagan Lake.


Born and raised in Winnipeg, Schiller played hockey—parlaying his passion into a hockey scholarship at Michigan State University, where he graduated in 1956, going on to a PhD in 1963 from the University of Utah in mineralogy. From there, he and Shirley “wandered all over the world,” while he did geologic consultations in mineral exploration, including three years in Australia, five in Brazil and two in Colombia. “The kids learned many languages,” he notes with a grin. In fact, one daughter is now a professor living in France.


They also spent time in the Northwest Territories, where he was resident geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, and it was that experience and knowledge of the NWT that appealed to Fipke.


Although Schiller still writes for trade publications on geological issues, and keeps his finger on the pulse of the industry, harvest time finds him out in the vineyard, where he fights the birds for the ripe fruit.


It’s a business where birds are only one of the challenges involved in successfully ripening the fruit that draws its flavours from deep within the soil on this bench high above the valley floor.


His interest in wine probably took root in California, he feels, and they visited wineries in Australia and Europe


20 British Columbia FRUIT GROWER • Winter 2014-15


as well, before deciding to build a vineyard. “We’ve always loved wine.” Schiller first planted the vines 16 years ago, and along with the extensive grounds, gardens and guest house, they keep him busy much of the year. They were to take a weekend off immediately following this interview to head to Calgary, he e-mailed me, “to attend a surprise birthday party for me—but do not tell Ed.” It’s a celebration with friends to mark his 80th birthday.


When he returns, most of the year’s work in the vineyard and his extensive garden is complete, with the final berries picked before he leaves on the surprise birthday trip.


Production from the vines is about three tons a year, with some of that going into wine made by a friend, while some is sold to a variety of wineries in the valley.


As well as being a member of the BCGA for the past 12-15 years, he is a member of the City of Kelowna’s agricultural advisory committee. As membership chairman of the BCGA, Schiller is particularly aware that the number has doubled in recent years, to 300 members, as more and more


people get into growing grapes. “People keep taking out apples and putting in grapes,” he notes.


The association represents all commercial growers in both the wine grape and table grape industries, representing growers in matters as diverse as federal plant import regulations and risk management programs; farm practices, rural/urban land use issues, water use and conservation and environmental farm planning.


Membership is voluntary and fees are $150 a year.


The BCGA has representatives on the B.C. Wine Grape Council, the B.C. Wine Institute and the B.C. Agriculture Council’s Interior Horticultural Sector. A significant farm program spearheaded by the BCGA is the Starling Control Program, and the association holds an annual grower day with speakers on topics of interest to grape growers.


President is Manfred Freese, who has a small vineyard in Osoyoos. For more information, go to the BCGA website at: www.grapegrowers.bc.ca


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