Women in Wine: Trudy Heiss & Gray Monk Winery

Trudy Heiss - A Woman Who Defined BC Wine from the Ground Up

Would you like your own copy of "Decanting Memories"? If yes, please email me and you will be added to the waitlist. I'll provide details. Support Trudy's Legacy. Feel the energy of this tireless duo whose journey is a laugh-out-loud, rags to riches Canadiana story. Yes, I can even provide a wine recommendation - a perfect pairing, just like George and Trudy. If you are not familiar with the story, please keep reading. Your support is greatly apprecaited.

Trudy Heiss sits in a recliner, her hands quietly massaging her fingers contemplating the life these hands built. From her home in Kelowna, the floor to ceiling windows offer west and north panoramic views. Lake Okanagan reflects the sunlight off calm waters today. Looking north, Lake Country’s ordered vine rows are not visible. This modern landscape did not exist in its present form until Trudy and her husband George began to work on it. This is not a story of nostalgia. It is a record of the origins of wine country. If you don’t recognize her name, you may not be familiar with Canadian wine history. And even if you are, you may not fully understand what she set in motion. Whatever the case, we are forever grateful for her pioneering spirit and strong convictions.

Trudy Meets George

​​Trudy was born in what was then East Germany during the Second World War. Her early life began in a place defined by loss and rebuilding, a backdrop that would shape a lifelong capacity for endurance and invention. The path from post-war Europe to Edmonton, Alberta did not suggest vineyards or wine. Trudy and her husband George, whom she met in Edmonton, were hairdressers. There was no inherited land, no industry waiting for them, no established place in the story of Canadian wine. And yet in 1972, they arrived in Lake Country on the shores of Lake Okanagan and began building what would become Gray Monk Estate Winery. Not by following a business model, but by creating one.

---

Trudy & George Move to Lake Country

The early years were defined by invention rather than instruction. Her parents were neighbors and perhaps the reasons they had moved to BC. Trudy’s father played a quiet but essential role in those beginnings. He read German books regarding trellising and plant material and translated theory into practice. When equipment did not exist, he built it, often from salvaged parts and discarded machinery, welding the bits together into something useful. There was no polished system to follow, only resourcefulness and repetition. Little praise was spoken, but pride was unmistakable.

Within a decade, the vineyards begin to take shape in ways few could have predicted. At a time when British Columbia wine was still defining its identity, Trudy and George Heiss were among the first to champion Vitis vinifera, choosing to plant European varieties rather than rely on hybrids that dominated the region at the time. In fact, they introduced Pinot Gris to the Okanagan, sourcing plant material from Alsace. They invested early in the idea that this valley could produce premium wines with structure, precision, and longevity, not just glug glug wine.

Trudy Won't Take No For An Answer

​Their work also extended beyond the vineyard. From Victoria to Ottawa, they advocated for recognition, standards, and labeling systems that would eventually contribute to the development of VQA in British Columbia. It was not glamorous work. Production at Gray Monk grew from fewer than 175 cases in the early years to more than 110,000 at the time of sale, but the number alone is not the story. The story is that they helped define what BC wine could be before the industry itself fully believed it. And while history often tells these stories as partnerships, the lived reality inside them is more specific.
​
Trudy Heiss was the backbone. She raised three sons while building a vineyard from the ground up. The days were not divided neatly between roles. They overlapped constantly. Clearing land in the morning, tending to the kids, cooking meals often returning to the vineyard in the evening. There was no separation between family life and work life. It was all one continuum of responsibility. She was present in every part of the operation. In the vineyard. In the cellar. In the business decisions. In the physical labour that rarely gets tracked yet alone written into history.

Trudy Steps Into A Man's World

​She stepped into spaces that were not built for her, including sneaking into the Union Club of British Columbia where women were not allowed but her wine was. She did not do this through argument or positioning. She did it because of her refusal to be dismissed. There was no formal training path for what she was doing. No credential that could prepare her for the scope of it. She learned by doing, and she kept going by doing it again the next day. She did not speak about capacity as something to measure. She simply lived it - one day at a time. 
​
I realize, sitting with her now, how long this story of Gray Monk has already been with me. At twenty-two, I was sitting at The Boathouse at English Bay, ordering a bottle of Pinot Auxerrois Kabinett from Gray Monk and feeling something special. I did not have words. Just a feeling. I just knew it was good. Like sunshine in the glass. Perhaps it was the spark of clarity, that a place could be tasted. A few years later, I worked for Hans Moser at Canadian Mountain Holidays in the Bugaboos, and much later as the BC wine buyer at Legacy Liquor Store. Gray Monk appeared again and again in those years—reliable, premium quality, quietly present in a local wine industry.

Gray Monk Estate Winery Legacy

​I arrived at Legacy Liquor Store just after the sale of Gray Monk to Andrew Peller Limited and remember stocking the Odyssey series, the Rosé, the Pinot Gris. These wines had become the standard for provincial wine lovers. Even then, before I knew the full story, I understood this was not accidental wine. It was structured, deliberate, and in many cases age-worthy - not that consumers held onto bottles long. Almost a decade later, my summer residency in Kelowna kicked off with this incredible afternoon. It’s almost like an out of body experience. I can feel the spirit of pioneers in the room and am grateful to sit amongst legends.

Gray Monk 2015 Riesling

​Before I leave, Trudy asks me to choose a bottle of wine from the remaining few original Gray Monk Estate vintages that she still has in her wine fridge. There is a bottle of 2015 Riesling and it feels right. Plus Riesling can age. I’ll wait another decade and toast Trudy.

Looking for tasting notes I come across this: In the glass, it shows a deep gold hue. The nose is lifted with petrol notes, dried apricot, and honey. The palate still carries a precise line of acidity, softened into texture rather than sharpened by it. Preserved lemon, ginger, and a long mineral finish carry through with quiet persistence.
​
This wine, like Trudy, does not feel fragile. It feels resolved. Like something that has endured and will continue as a legacy with sassy stubbornness and an ageless spirit. Cheers to Trudy Heiss, a woman who pioneered wine in BC before anyone believed it possible. The vineyards are still out there, stretching across not only Lake Country but now the entire valley and beyond. Trudy Heiss no longer has to tend them. She already did the work.

---

Support Trudy's Legacy

Thanks for your curiosity. Would you like your own copy of "Decanting Memories"? If yes, please email me and your name will be added to the waitlist. I'll be happy to provide details on price and delivery. Copies may also be found at Gray Monk Wine Shop and more locations coming soon.

By purchasing a copy, you will support The Heiss Family Legacy. You'll also feel the energy of this tireless duo whose journey is a  laugh out loud, rags to riches Canadiana story. It's a perfect gift, worthy of sharing with your wine loving friends. Yes, I can even provide a wine recommendation - a perfect pairing, just like George and Trudy.