The Women Behind the Wine

Bree McKeage (Mick-egg)

Bree has been the Assistant Winemaker at DLV for the past year. She just recently became the Technical Vineyard Coordinator and is applying her knowledge of viticulture from our vineyards, straight to the bottle. 

Bree has been the Assistant Winemaker at DLV for the past year. She just recently became the Technical Vineyard Coordinator and is applying her knowledge of viticulture from our vineyards, straight to the bottle. 

She is a student of UC Davis, is WSET 3 Certified, and will be pursuing her Masters in Environmental Practice in the next few years. 

She loves making the “aromatic whites” here in Summerland, our Riesling and Pinot Gris are her favourite to work with and she’s excited for this season as it will be her second time making vintage wine at DLV. But she can’t do this alone.

When Bree was asked, how she will help forge a gender equal world? She said,

"Choosing to Challenge is the theme of International Women’s Day this year - what a loaded and powerful theme.  I’m happy that we’re recognizing that there is a choice to be made when we are dealing with breaking down biases towards women - however, many are still choosing not to, unfortunately.  Choosing to challenge means actively changing embedded societal norms about gender and capability.  For me, forging a gender equal world takes a deep effort by everyone.  This requires our counterparts to actively support us, and for women to not be afraid.  Let’s not be afraid to be the loud one, the one that pushes back on misogyny, and the one who doesn’t care about being “nice.” 

We are taught these things repeatedly—to be nice, accommodating, quiet, lest we upset the patriarchal ego. These behaviors lead to biases towards women that are self perpetuating. When we silence ourselves, we allow ourselves to be exploited. There needs to be a shift in our world that breaks away from normalizing bullying, sexualizing women, doubting their intelligence, violence towards them—because we have so much to offer as leaders and our societies shouldn’t be afraid of that.

I’ve had countless experiences of these moments of challenge throughout my life as a woman, particularly in my working life. It’s been a learning curve to discover how to play the game, to learn how to push back when comments are made, to question motives of male superiors, and when to frankly just shut up.  It’s social navigation at its finest, and to be honest, it’s been exhausting. Despite these challenges, there have recently been huge wins for me that were only possible because I have had incredible bosses, who are male, and who believe in me and count on my success. That has been such a validating and rewarding experience, and leaders like that need to be supported and learned from. 

Experiencing both of these things motivates me to be a better leader, to speak up, and to be that person that somebody needs. I’m proud to say I’m not afraid to speak up, to seek justice for those that are wronged, and to not be afraid to push back on ideology that sometimes wants me to just go away. 

I think we have a long way to go down a very uncomfortable road to see a gender equal world. There are a LOT of things we can be proud of in terms of progress, but it’s naive to think that we have achieved an equal world at this point. There is so much that still needs to change, and forging a gender equal world is going to take some grit, some risks, and raising our voices fearlessly, disregarding the consequences of upset chauvinism.

We have all seen how much the world can change this year—unimaginably at times—so I truly believe a gender equal world can exist one day. I realize that not everybody is in a position to truly enact change, but a small step everybody can take is to practice SUPPORT.  Supporting a woman, especially one that takes risks and blazes trails for others, needs to be practiced and ingrained into our societal make up. 

We need to discontinue overly criticizing women, and to show them support in their endeavors, rather than revel in their struggle.  Choosing to Challenge is going to be a real choice, and I’m proud to say it’s one I’ve already made."

Stephanie Berube

Stephanie graduated with the Winery Assistant certificate at Okanagan College in 2016. Her first real cellar experience was working at DLV for harvest 2016, and again for the 2017 harvest season. 

For nearly 3 years, she worked in the wine industry in McLaren Vale, South Australia, until her return to Canada last March. An opportunity that she could not pass presented itself to come back and work full-time at DLV as Cellar Master. She happily took on this new role in June 2020. 

She is currently taking her WSET Level 2 course as she wishes to pursue her education and discover more interesting wines.

One of her favourite wines to take part in making at DLV is the Kay's Syrah, which is co-fermented with Viognier. She gets to participate in all aspects and logistics of winemaking. From crushing the grapes and combining the two varietals, up until its barrel stage. and the eventual bottling. 

She says it's fascinating to witness the wine's evolution through time, and to see the final result when it's ready to be poured. She says it's both exciting and fulfilling to be a part of DLV as she gets to work and learn with an excellent winemaking team in a company with a thriving future!