Rockway Glen Ltd. was incorporated on May 26th 1989, and later as RGEW Inc. on August 27th, 2001. The Rockway Vineyards golf course opened in 1991 after being built the year prior. The idea to merge a golf course and vineyard was created when Peter Warkentin decided to take his grape farm to a golf, as part of an initiative from the government to fund farmers to move their grapes. The course changed direction from an equity membership course to transitioning to the semi-private facility it is today.
Once the land and vineyard became available, Rockway Winery was created. Our first vintage was 2001 with wine made for us under the Rockway Vineyards label by Rief Winery. With the golf course and facility, as well as the vineyard already established, the next step in Rockway’s story was to build the winery. After purchasing farm land of approximately 50 acres for our current wine building, the Rockway Vineyards winery became real. As a relatively new winery in the mid 2000s, the idea of a Rockway wine museum was proposed. As a smaller winery, Rockway needed something to stand out, and the museum was the way to do so. Rockway reached out to Brock University, the local post-secondary education institution, to consult about the steps taken to establish a museum. Brock University had artifacts, with nowhere to display them. They kindly offered the artifacts to Rockway as a way to start our museum. A majority of the artifacts came from a small wine museum in Florida, where the owners were retiring, and willing to allow Rockway to continue to honour and display the traditions and past of winemaking.