It begins with three acres.

In 1783, Christian Schales planted vines on three acres outside Dalsheim, a village in Rheinhessen. He was twenty-six. He could not have known he was starting something that would outlast kingdoms, borders, and two hundred-odd vintages. He was just a farmer who believed in a piece of ground.

His son Konrad was conscripted into Napoleon’s army. He survived, came home, and went back to the vines. His grandson Philipp made wine the family’s sole living. The generations after that fought off phylloxera—the vine plague that nearly ended European wine—floated barrels down the Rhine to England on barges, studied at Germany’s great wine schools, and built the family estate into one of the region’s respected names. The Schales winery still operates in Flörsheim-Dalsheim today, run by Bernd’s cousins.

Oma Hildegard (the 6th generation) created a photo book for each of her son's.

Newly build Schales Estate at the outskirts of town with direct access to fields and vineyard. Around 1940.

Gottlieb Daniel Frank, and Heinrich Gottlieb Frank.

Philipp Schales III at wine school. 1896 -1897.

Then, in 2003, the eighth generation did something no generation had done before: they left.

Bernd Schales had the classical training: five years of viticulture, oenology and business at university in Germany, and the itinerant education too, with cellar work in Germany, New Zealand and South Africa. Stefanie came from the Frank family, grape growers for ten documented generations, back to Hans Jacob Frank, born around 1691. Between the two of them: eighteen generations of accumulated stubbornness about how grapes should be grown and wine should be made.

The New World pulled harder than the Old World held. They looked at wine regions in Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, the eastern United States and Niagara. Then they visited the Okanagan Valley in 2002… and stopped looking further. Cool nights, generous light, soil with a story, and a farming community that waved back. In May 2003, Bernd, Stefanie and baby Johanna landed in Canada with their belongings and one non-negotiable heirloom: Bernd’s grandfather’s winepress. Three weeks later they owned an 11-acre vineyard in Okanagan Falls.

Karl & Inge Frank 1971

Heinrich & Hildegard Schales. 6th Generation

Philipp III and Barbara Schales. 4th Generation

We didn’t make a drop of wine for four years. On purpose.

This approach may feel strange, but honestly, we did not think that there was another way. Before asking anyone to drink our wine, we wanted proof the ground deserved it. So from 2003 to 2007 we only grew, selling our grapes to other Okanagan Wineries. We were learning about the valley’s hot summers, cold snaps and moods, and confirming what we suspected: this place can grow world-class fruit.

In the words of one neighbour, that’s when “these crazy kids” got a bit bored and started a winery. In 2007, we bought the current home farm in Summerland’s Trout Creek – seven acres of established vines and a winery building- and crushed our first Canadian vintage 18 days later. Yes. 18 days! Crazy indeed.

Bernd & Stefanie Schales with kids. 2011

Since then, a short version with a few dates.

2009: First winery in Canada to make frizzante-style wine, with equipment shipped from Germany because none existed here. 2015: The original farmhouse on the property became the tasting room where you’ll stand today. 2018: The apple orchard next door joined the farm, and the family moved in beside the vines. 2021: The Okanagan Falls vineyard was sold, and the family focused on the Summerland Estate. The result: two properties, two people, and seasonal help. Small on purpose. January 2024: The test. A cold snap hits the valley hard. Our vines survived. We credit the lake, 350 metres away, for the crucial degrees of warmth, but apart from a small lot of Riesling, there was no grape harvest that year. Plenty of wineries trucked in juice from outside British Columbia. We didn’t. We looked at the orchard, which had endured just fine, and made cider from our own apples instead. We named it Tenacious. You’ll taste why. 2025: The vines answered back with an abundant harvest, and the vintage is now arriving in bottles.

Why “8th generation”?

Because that’s what Bernd is, and it’s not a marketing angle. And when you taste with us and meet Johanna, Philipp or Helena helping out in the vineyard or wine shop, you’re meeting the ninth. The name isn’t about the past. It’s a promise about who’s next.