Hugh was born and raised in Niagara Falls Ontario Canada at the doorstep of the Niagara Wine region. Upon completing high school he attended the University of Waterloo where he completed his BSc in Biology where he focused most of his studies on plant and wildlife ecology. In 1999 Hugh moved out to Vancouver British Columbia with his girlfriend (now wife) and attended the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) where he studied forestry and renewable resource management and obtained a diploma in Forest Technology and an advanced diploma in Land and Resource Management. Hugh joined the work force in 2001 and did field inventories and measurements up and down the BC coast. Hugh started his MSc in forest biometrics in 2004 and completed it in 2007, where he focused on resource sampling while working full-time for with a natural resource consultant.
A trip to Okanagan Lake and the surrounding region in 2004 sparked a passion for BC wines. With such easy access to these wines it is hard not to love them. Anyone who lives in Vancouver knows how hard it is not to be a Canuck’s fan, this same logic could be applied to someone who has visited this gem of a wine region and not fall in love with the unique flavours that come out of this gorgeous landscape.
Through Icon Wines I hope to explore the economics and technical aspects of wine. I hope to help promote BC and Canadian wines and get people excited in drinking them, as well as investing in them. I am confident that there is a viable secondary market for the Canadian grape and good opportunities to make some money over time through the purchase of investment grade wine. - HC
