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Our Team

Family owned and operated, Bench 1775 Winery is led by General Manager Henry Bian who is passionate about creating excellent wines as well as memorable customer experiences. Through his minimalist approach, Head Winemaker Richard Kanazawa aims to create unique wines that are varietally correct. Henry and Richard are supported by our dedicated team of outstanding professionals from the vineyard to the cellar to the tasting room and office, our amazing team is at the heart of Bench 1775’s success. Meet some of our key staff members below.

General Manager
Henry Bian

Henry Bian joined Bench 1775 in March 2014. He began his winery job as a cellar hand for the first year, then he moved to vineyard and took over property management as well for two years. During these three years, he also took part in bottling, warehousing management, accounting and tasting room as needed. From 2018 to 2019, he developed his main energy to the 30 acres new vineyard development. He has been involved in all aspects of the winery over the past five years. In early 2020, he returned to winery as general manager. It was a fresh start for him, but he was confident, because he is young, innovative, responsible and full of love for wines, he has devoted himself to providing more excellent wines and wonderful experience for all customers.

Henry Bian
Head Winemaker
Richard Kanazawa

Richard was born in Vancouver and raised in Langley. After travelling abroad playing rugby overseas, he was offered a summer job delivering wines for Domaine de Chaberton Winery. Instead of going back to post-secondary studies, he decided to stay on at the winery and learn everything he could from being around the vineyard and the cellar. He studied Food Technology at BCIT before heading to Australia to work multiple vintages in Mudgee, NSW and the Yarra Valley, Victoria. He continued his studies by taking courses through Charles Sturt University.

Richard Kanazawa
Sales Manager
Tina Ma

Enthusiastic Tina came all the way from China. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in international trade in China then an M.B.A. from New York State University in 2003 and finally settled down at Vancouver, Canada in 2007. With many years experience in sales, management, administration, contract negotiating, inventory controlling, logistics, communications and customer service, Tina adds incredible value to Bench 1775 and she is key to brining our wines to wine lovers globally.

Tina Ma
Wine Shop & Wine Club Manager
Joshua Kim

Josh Kim was born in South Korea and raised in the Greater New York City area, where he was first exposed to a medley of unique flavors and cuisines. He studied hospitality in San Francisco and fell in love with the art of wine during his business trips to Napa Valley. He developed a passion for wine artistry which led him to earn the WSET 2 and move to Canada to pursue his dreams (currently working on WSET 3 and Canadian wine scholar). Josh has a genuine, good business mind and with his winning attitude, he desires to deliver the most outstanding experience in hospitality. With over ten years of knowledge in hospitality and restaurant business, Josh’s vision is to bring the best quality and practice to Bench 1775, highlighting it as the Center of Okanagan Valley With Bench 1775 being Josh’s third winery at Naramata, he is excited to share his expertise and fulfill his pre-pandemic dreams of leading a world-class bistro. Josh is a people-person and enjoys making new friends. During his free time, he likes to work out at the gym and play cook-offs with his two young children.

Joshua Kim
Marketing Specialist
Lindsay Shi

Lindsay holds a BSc in Food, Nutrition and Health from the University of British Columbia. Lindsay took wine science courses during her study, which sparked her interest in wine. She joined Bench 1775 Winery in 2016 as Marketing and Social Media Coordinator to manage all the sites of social media networks and marketing. Lindsay became Senior Marketing Specialist in 2020 and is responsible for website management, social media and all the company’s digital presence. Lindsay has helped grow Bench 1775 brand and presence with her efforts.

Lindsay Shi
Bench 1775

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