When Bob Johnson and Petra Flaa chose the slogan “The adventure continues” for their Baillie-Grohman Estate Winery, they couldn’t have foreseen how meaningful that statement would become.
Last week, the couple’s adventure continued, with the appearance on their doorstep of Guy Baillie-Grohman, great-great-grandson of the winery’s namesake.
Guy, 23, a resident of Somerset, England, knew of his great-great-grandfather’s connection to the Creston Valley. He didn’t know until last year that the historical name had been chosen for a new winery.
Although William Baillie-Grohman was a European aristocrat, he was at ease in the North American wilderness. In the summer of 1882, he entered the Creston Valley at the side of Teddy Roosevelt, a friend and future U.S. president, on a mountain goat hunting expedition.
William returned in the following years to attempt a reclamation scheme that would create a system of dikes to divert water and allow for farming on what is now the Creston flats. Those early attempts failed, but laid the foundation for future, successful efforts.
“Folklore has it that Baillie-Grohman encouraged British farmers to locate to the area in 1884 to assist with building a general store, sawmill and the dike system,” according to the winery’s website. “But these hard-working people also cleared and planted orchards on the slopes in the town of Creston and are credited as the first to see the area’s potential for tree fruits.”
Johnson and Flaa adopted the Baillie-Grohman name on the advice of consultants, Colletta and Associates, who thought the adventurer’s passion for the Kootenays and the goat-hunting legend combined to create a fascinating and marketable story.
Johnson said he first connected with descendants of William last summer, when he learned, much to his surprise, that there once was a Baillie-Grohman Vineyard in England. It was planted by William’s son, Guy’s grandfather.
With that small piece of knowledge, Johnson had some email exchanges with Guy’s father, Roddy, one of the family’s historians.
“The vineyard and winery wasn’t much of a success and grandfather eventually retired to Somerset in the 60s or 70s,” Baillie-Grohman said. “What was once the vineyard is just gardens now.”
Johnson said he has enjoyed the commonalities between the winery and Baillie-Grohman’s family.
William spent summers as a youth in the Austrian Tyrol region, where the family owned a schloss, or castle (“It’s actually more of a mansion,” Baillie-Grohman said). On the winery’s tasting room wall, a photo hangs of William inside the schloss. The same photo, probably the original, hangs in Guy’s family home in Somerset.
“We have all of my great-great-grandfather’s books,” Baillie-Grohman said. “My dad and aunt are very interested in Baillie-Grohman history. I’ve browsed through them all.”
Baillie-Grohman has visited North America only once previously, on a school field trip to Minnesota. After graduating with a degree in history this spring, he decided to do some travelling before looking for work in London. He flew to Washington, D.C., where he has friends, then moved on to Detroit, where he also met up with acquaintances.
“I hitchhiked from Detroit to Calgary,” said the 23-year-old. “It was a great way to meet people who want to talk.”
He then took the bus to Creston.
“I thought I might as well come and see where my great-great grandfather spent so much time, and the winery that bears his name. When I saw my name on the side of the winery it seemed really bizarre,” he laughed.
Baillie-Grohman enjoyed relating the story of his own visit to the former family schloss in the Tyrol to Johnson.
Pointing to the photograph of William that hangs in the winery’s tasting room, he said that little has changed in the mansion’s interior, despite the fact that it is no longer owned by the Baillie-Grohman family.
Coincidentally, Baillie-Grohman worked in a wineshop for a bit when he was attending university.
“And we have a few bottles of Baillie-Grohman wine in our wine rack at home,” he said. “They were brought over for a family wedding. The bottles are just for show, though. They are empty, though I think my parents think they might be able to fill them up again!”
Baillie-Grohman spent several days staying at the home of Johnson and Flaa, and their sons Wes and Dan, before heading west to continue his own North American adventure. He planned to visit Vancouver, Victoria and Los Angeles before heading home to find work, he hopes, in the film industry.
“The adventure continues?” Johnson smiled. “Well, doesn’t it? We named this winery without any knowledge that there was some Baillie-Grohman history to winemaking. And we certainly never expected to meet one of William’s descendants. It’s a great story.”