By Don Urquhart, Times Chronicle

The BC government has announced it will support wineries who wish to import non-BC grapes to make a “replacement” 2024 vintage after overall crop losses this year reached 97 per cent following the January freeze event. 

Announced by Roly Russell, Parliamentary Secretary for Rural Development the province will offer one year of targeted support to provide wineries the option to offset costs associated with importing grapes and grape juice in relation to producing wine. 

This one year temporary relief period will begin April 1, 2025, and end March 31, 2026, and “will ensure BC’s wine industry remains viable until BC grapes are once again available to produce our amazing award-winning BC wine,” Russell said.

“This will allow our BC wineries for the production of a 2024 replacement vintage to retain jobs and to continue to contribute to the province’s tourism sector. This commitment provides one year of flexible release equal to the support that they would receive had they been able to make a 2024 vintage using exclusively BC grapes.” 

Tony Holler, co-owner of the family run Poplar Grove Winery in Penticton which has 170 acres of grapes under cultivation expressed his appreciation for the announcement saying: “We have got a business next year!” 

Describing this year’s vintage (2023) as “fantastic” he expressed his hope that “everybody tells a story that there’s lots of wine in BC this year and come up and enjoy all the wines. 

“But this really gives us the opportunity to have a business next year. And the other thing I would say is almost every business in the Okanagan depends on our business – the winery business – whether it’s electricians, whether it’s hotels, whether it’s restaurants, every business has a connection to our industry.

“And so I thank the BC government for what they’re doing. They’re saving jobs. They’re saving livelihoods,” Holler said.

The move by the province is in part financial support to cover the extra costs of importing the grapes, but also policy tweaks to make it easier to bring them into BC.

This includes what Russell said will be “temporary policy adjustments” to allow BC wineries to produce a replacement 2024 vintage using non-BC grapes and grape juice. 

The issue of using grapes imported from Washington or Ontario for instance, also weighs heavily on the BC VQA criteria which requires grapes to be grown in BC. 

“This will not affect BC VQA,” says Miles Prodan, President and CEO of Wine Growers BC. “BC VQA will continue to be a guarantee of 100 per cent BC authenticity.”

​​BC VQA stands for “British Columbia Vintners Quality Alliance” and is an appellation of origin system, similar to the AOC and DOC systems utilized in France and Italy respectively.

“Truth in labelling” is important for any of the replacement products said Prodan, adding that there’s “a commitment from every winery to continue that because we are looking forward to the day to getting back to 100 per cent BC VQA.”

Holler put the issue plainly: “We’ve spend all these years on branding BC VQA as 100 per cent BC grapes and the last thing we want to do is confuse consumers on Washington grapes being made into wine here in BC.” 

He added, “We got rid of the, you know, ‘Made in Canada, Bottled in BC,’ all that nonsense, and we want to make sure that consumers aren’t confused.”

Saying the labelling is going to be ”super important”, Holler adds the issue is being worked on currently and “we’re hoping that the wine authority will help us in monitoring that.” The BC Wine Authority is the designated body in the province that has the responsibility of managing and enforcing the system of wine standards.

Russell also reiterated that the rationale for this support is about supporting the BC wine sector. “There is zero interest in doing anything that is going to erode the quality of that brand that’s been developed over years.”

He added that some of the details are still being worked out, “but I want to give people absolute assurance that there will be no ambiguity in terms of how these wines are labelled.”

He went on to say that in discussions with those in the wine industry about the challenges they are facing, “they’re struggling to make difficult decisions about what their 2024 vintage looks like because of this devastating grape shortage.” He added that time was of the essence in terms of securing contracts for grapes and grape juice from this year’s harvest.

Today’s announcement, he said, “will give impacted wineries financial certainty and if they choose to enter into contracts sourcing inputs they are able to do so, in order to retain those local jobs, maintain the skilled resources that they’re dependent on, and keep this brilliant talent that we have in BC.”

He added that it’s not yet clear how many wineries will choose to source non-BC grapes or grape juice for the 2024 vintage,  reiterating that the aim is to provide flexibility in order to maximize the production of 2024 replacement wine within BC. This he notes, aligns with the government’s policy intent of securing and retaining jobs.

Noting the two consecutive years of devastating freeze events, an appreciative Prodan said “Climate change is real and it’s affecting our industry and these kinds of announcements of support are critical to the success of our industry.”

He added it has only been 100 days since the industry was able to substantiate the extent of the damage this year and how it’s going to affect the crop for the 2014 vintage. “So over that short period of time, to get these measures put into place is no small feat.”

“Every wine is unique, and every winery is unique,” and with this announcement, each will be able to take advantage of the options available, “whether it’s bringing grapes in from Ontario or wine, or unfinished wine from Washington State it’s all about choice, and that’s really what this is offering us,” Prodan said.

“I’ve spoken to a couple of winemakers already who are encouraged because it’s not really a matter of just replacement wine, it’s really about exploring and co-ventures and working with other winemakers, and really coming with a product that’s going to be unique.”

Prodan also highlighted the support the BC industry was given by Washington State grape growers who stepped forward early on this year with offers to help supply grapes. The US growers have an oversupply of grapes he says, meaning supply will not be an issue. 

The wine association has in fact already signed contracts back in March “because the growers in Washington State need certainty as well,” he says. 

“So yeah, we’ve secured a supply, and we’re also working with a lot of small wineries, because it’s very difficult for them, as a small winery, to bring grape juice up in a small quantity it becomes so expensive and so onerous.” This aspect is still a work in progress he said.

“I can tell you the growers down in Washington State, they’re just a fantastic group of people. They’ve got all the infrastructure to help us, and they are being very, very helpful,” Prodan added.

This latest move by the province to shore up the economically vital industry follows an earlier announced $70 million replant program covering both the grape sector as well as the soft fruit industry, and an estimated $90 million in insurance industry payments.