1309 Smethurst Rd.
Naramata, BC
Holger Clausen, who was born in Peachland in 1969, developed twin passions for wine and poker when, at the age of 21, he visited both the Napa Valley and Las Vegas. Subsequently, he “invested” some of his student loans in frat house poker. Later, his professional poker winnings helped launch this winery. He has also operated a custom grape harvesting business in the Okanagan since 1999.
The strategy at Aces has been to source the costliest Okanagan grapes available and, using a custom crush winery, have winemaker Jason Parkes produce bold reds and whites. It takes an avid fan of Texas Hold’em to get the allusions on the wine labels (Pocket Aces, Pocket Kings, Pocket Queens). However, the winery is targeting that very group of high rollers, inviting the cream to join an exclusive Players’ Club for access to limited production wines that sell between $45 and $95 a bottle.