524 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 79 PART 4 JULY 2021
spaced rows with fruit trees interplanted among them. The rows needed
wide spacing, as he had only a big, older orchard tractor. Joe’s wines were
generally drinkable, but seldom shone. The vineyard itself was like a jungle.
Joe decided to sell and move to Vancouver Island, where he established a
new winery, and the new owners needed an energetic visionary to bring
order out of chaos. That was where Frank stepped in. He cleaned up the
vineyard and winery: he had rows of grapes interplanted in those wide rows
(which meant the owners had to spring for a special, Italian-made, very narrow
tractor) and he pulled the trees. It was also when I met him after I
moved to Osoyoos in 1997.
Frank was another extroverted, impulsive sort of guy. I recall stopping by
the winery one summer day and found him sitting outside the wine shop
with both arms in slings, drinking wine from a glass he could barely pick
up. I asked what had happened, and he told me he had climbed up a huge
old cherry tree, in whose shade we sat, to prune it back. He was reaching
too far with the pruning saw and fell out of the tree. I asked when this had
happened. He said a couple of hours earlier and that he was just back from
the Oliver hospital. With that, we consumed the rest of the bottle of Pinot
Blanc “painkiller” he had on the table and chatted until he said he had to go
back to check on things in the cellar. Broken bones were not going to set
him back.
While he seemed unstoppable, he was stopped just a few years later, in a
most unusual death. In November 2002, Frank and his life companion were
joining another winemaker, Victor Manolo of Silver Sage Winery, and his
wife on a weekend holiday. Before they left, Victor needed to run some tests
on his wines, and Frank assisted. While reaching a wine “thief” into a plastic
fermentation tank of icewine, Victor got stuck and could not get out. He was
asphyxiating on the pure carbon dioxide. Frank tried to pull him out but
could not, so he pushed Victor into the tank and jumped in after him to try
to pull him up and out the opening. It did not work. They both succumbed
shortly after. The two women tried to break open the plastic tank with an
axe, but were unable.
Frank died for the same thing for which he largely lived: wine. After his
death, his act of selflessness was recognized by a posthumous Medal of
Bravery awarded by the Governor General on behalf of the Queen.
Frank knew how to make lemonade from lemons. He recognized the
potential of the old vine Trebbiano and made a signature wine from it that
is now a Hester Creek cult favourite. He experimented with the Pinot Blanc
and made complex, partly oaked versions, and the Cabernet Franc rosé
remains another rightfully well-loved part of the winery’s portfolio. He