Winemaker

Rob is a southern Ontario native; born in Peterborough, grew up in Owen Sound and Guelph. After high school in Guelph, he went to the University of Toronto and meandered aimlessly part-time through an Arts and Science degree, graduating in 1985. This degree led to gainful employment in restaurants in order to pay off some onerous student loans.

In 1989 he was lucky to be hired as a bartender at the venerable Le Select Bistro, despite answering truthfully to an interview question about his wine knowledge with the pithy comment “white and red”.  As a result of Le Select’s comprehensive wine list, Rob’s vinous ignorance was short-lived: he was promoted to bar manager and spent the next 8 years studying and tasting wines from around the world, culminating in a diploma from the Wine and Spirit Education trust in the U.K.

In 1997, by now far more interested in great French oak than great French restaurants, Rob started looking for a place to study winemaking. Fate again intervened when Brock University opened the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute. Rob graduated at the top of the first class out of CCOVI and was hired as assistant winemaker at Creekside in late April 2000; he started the day after his graduation ceremony (sporting a monstrous hangover).

In 2002, Rob and cellarmaster Craig McDonald were asked to take over the winemaking reins at Creekside when the founding winemaker moved back to Australia.  Making wine with the Creekside team while dealing with the slings and arrows of outrageous climate and recalcitrant machinery remains one of the pleasures of his life.

Rob and his wife Ann live in Niagara near Creekside with an enthusiastic pack of quadrupeds.

VP Production & Winemaker

Craig, Australian born and raised, was drawn to Canada by the burgeoning wine industry and the most attractive lure known to man: a woman.

After completing a Bachelor of Business in Accounting he realized that travel, and not taxes, were his true passion and began to pursue winemaking out of both personal interest and as a means of international exploration. He has since done twenty-one vintages in Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.A., and Canada.

Craig first came to Creekside as Cellar Master in 2000, and in 2002 teamed up with Rob Power to take over winemaking responsibilities. Never one to shy away from added responsibility (and stress), Craig has been Vice President of the Creekside Winery Group since 2007.

When not zipping around the Niagara Peninsula on one of his three motorcycles (a Moto Guzzi California, Ducati ‘Paul Smart’ replica and Triumph Bonneville), Craig sees big things on the horizon for Creekside. creative and vineyard-driven winemaking which will lay the foundation for ‘a new Creekside’. We are returning to our roots of intimate winemaking but in true Creekside style adding an innovative twist along the way with plenty of small batch experimental bottlings never before seen in Canada.

He feels that Winemakers must learn to respect the guiding influence of the vineyard. Only when we listen and develop an intuitive relationship with each unique site can we truly explore our full potential. Once we have tuned in to these specific frequencies we can as Winemakers compose our interpretation with style, nuance but always with an open mind.

Craig is engaged to Sylvia, who he first met in Scotland whilst on the Whisky Trail many moons a go. She lives in Toronto and he lives in Niagara – an arrangement he jokingly states is the reason they’re still together.