MICHAEL MAGNUSSON
OKANAGAN – The Penticton & Wine Country and South Okanagan Chambers of Commerce are joining the BC Wine Industry in appealing to all levels of government for both financial assistance as well as making changes to current legislation in order to mitigate the effect of this past winter’s cold snap that devastated local vineyards.
“Crops that were destroyed will need to be replanted, and it takes up to 5 years before they are at full growing production,” states Katie O’Kell, Penticton Chamber Director and co-owner of Serendipity Winery. “Not only does that have massive financial impact between the added labour to nurture the new vines to maturity and the lost revenue in between, but wineries who saw a third or more of their crops destroyed may not be able to ferment enough grapes to keep their wine manufacturing license while waiting for their crops to grow back.”
Current provincial regulations mandate that wineries produce 4,500 litres of wine each year and use at least 25 per cent of the grapes from their own acreage.
“The majority of wineries in the South Okanagan are classified as land based, meaning that on top of using 25 per cent of grapes from your own vineyard, you must supplement the rest of your order with other BC grown grapes.” said Chamber President Nicole Clark. “Before this cold snap, BC grapes were already 10 times more expensive than grapes produced in places like Chile. Now with 2023’s supply significantly impacted; we are seeing that cost increase up to 15 times higher than out-of-country grapes.”
The BC wine industry is worth an estimated $3.75 billion annually with approximately 90 per cent of vineyards being located in the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys.
Given how important our wineries are to our region from an economic, agricultural and tourism perspective, both Chambers are urging government to temporarily modify regulations to help those wineries who were significantly affected by the cold snap.
“Two immediate changes by our provincial government that would bring immediate peace of mind would be to reduce minimum production to zero litres over the next 3 to 5 years for all of those wineries who are now in the process of regrowing a third or more of their crops, as well as suspending the requirement for affected wineries to use 25 per cent of their own grapes in production, so long as their production level does not exceed previous years,” suggests Michael Magnusson, Penticton Chamber’s Executive Director. “It is going to be hard enough for these wineries to bounce back, and the last thing they should have to worry about is the threat of losing their license because they can’t temporarily meet minimum thresholds.”
The Chambers are also urging the Federal Government to make available no-to-low interest loans, much like the CEBA loan program, to help wineries finance the costs of replanting and operate with decreased revenues during these difficult times.
“Some of our wineries have been hurt to the point where 2023 will be a complete loss for them,” reports Denise Blashko of the South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce. “They’re at risk of losing their license based on current legislation, and they won’t have the revenues to cover their costs during the years it will take them to regrow their crops.”
In addition to financial assistance, the Chambers are asking the Feds to expand the AgriRecovery program so that it supports wineries in addition to grape growers, and to repeal, or at the very least, suspend the excise tax at a time when vineyards are being destroyed and winemakers forced to rapidly adapt to climate change.
MLA Roly Russell’s office says that he and the Honourable Pam Alexis, Minister of Agriculture, recently visited several wineries in our region, and will be holding a series of meetings in August with local wineries as well as BC’s Solicitor General, Mike Farnworth, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism, MLA Brittny Anderson.
Michael Magnusson is Executive Director of the Penticton & Wine Country Chamber of Commerce