Rob Power
Rob cut his wine teeth early on by working for 10 years as a sommelier in Toronto's white table cloth restaurants. Following the urge to get his hands dirty and his teeth stained, Rob migrated with his wife to Niagara in order to pursue a formal education in winemaking. He graduated in the first class out of Brock University's Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute and immediately joined Creekside as assistant winemaker, becoming head winemaker shortly thereafter. Voted Winemaker of the Year in 2008, Rob continues to lead our skilled winemaking team in the creation of wines that are distinctive, adventurous, and just plain tasty. Rob's picture would never appear beside "corporate winemaker" in the dictionary; when not playing in vineyard dirt he can be found at the winery, wearing holey jeans and quoting Monty Python lines.
Yvonne Irvine
Yvonne -- better known in the industry by her nickname: "Monkey" - caught the wine bug from nearly a decade of slogging it out in restaurant trenches. After forays into biotech and HR, she decided to throw caution to the wind and follow her love of fermented grape juice, turning her considerable determination towards the goal of winemaking. Yvonne graduated from the Niagara College Winery Technician program, during which she strong-armed her way into a harvest position at Creekside for her practicum. She's been here ever since, sweet-talking the ferments, playing mad scientist, and holding an opinionated seat at the tasting table. Yvonne can generally be found obsessing over our precious Sauvignon Blanc grapes, indulging in after-hours vineyard picnics and trying to organize a Creekside glee club.
Wes Gough
Wes, aka 'Hollywood', is the fixer of all things broken at Creekside and thus a professional duct tape wrangler. Originally Wes was brought into the Creekside fold in 2007 as a harvest crew member, but now heads up all Cellar technician work. Wes has expanded his scope of winemaking to an international level, overseeing vintage stints in Australia, New Zealand and Chile during the off season. When not running hoses, topping barrels and moving bins, Wes enjoys freestyle rapping in the cellar, wearing aviator sunglasses and needlepoint crochet.
Matt Loney
Matt has devoted his efforts (and a considerable amount of his hairline) to the wine industry over his semi-illustrious career. After beginning as a winery retail clerk during high school, Matt earned his BBA at Brock University and moved on to work in marketing and hospitality at various wineries in Niagara. Today, Matt heads up the fantastic Sales and Marketing Teams of Creekside, a group of dedicated individuals who rabidly advocate Creekside's portfolio, as well as being strong supporters of the VQA wine movement in general. Matt can often be spotted around the winery trading sarcastic jabs with the production team, frowning in consternation at spreadsheets, or behind the retail tasting bar, coveting bottles of his favourite wines.
Retail & Hospitality Team
You won't find another retail team quite like the marvelous motley crew here at Creekside. If you make the pilgrimage to the winery, you're sure to be delighted by this enthusiastic, knowledgeable group of wine lovers. Headed by Retail Manager Bart Bacon and Assistant Manager Nancy Van Der Mark, the Creekside Retail Crew always ensures a comfortable, casual and informative tasting session.