George Greenwood is the new CEO of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce

KELOWNA – Almost a year after the 2024 chapter in the Alberta-BC wine wars got underway, the battle is over. Direct to consumers wine sales resumed last week, nearly six months after an MOU was signed between the two provinces allowing those sales to resume.

The Kelowna Chamber saw its policy: “Grapes of Wrath” which called for open sales across provincial borders get overwhelmingly adopted at the June 2024 BC Chamber Policy Conference.

“It absolutely helps,” said Lauren Skinner, director of sales and marketing, Painted Rock Estate Winery. “At the end of the day, we all want to ship to Canadians. It’s a move towards free trade,” she added.
“That’s what we’re all looking for.” Meaningful words, as Canada moves into the looming tariff wars of 2025 with the U.S.

In July, Alberta and B.C. said their MOU would make it easier for Albertans to buy B.C. wine, while also making sure that B.C. wineries pay their “fair share” from liquor sales (tax) in Alberta to that province. 300 wineries in B.C. are approved for direct sales.

As of last June, there were 327 licensed grape wineries in B.C. And, B.C. residents can directly order from Alberta’s 16 wineries, which make 26 products.

While some Alberta liquor stores have de-listed B.C. products as a result of the MOU, they are only impacting last minute wine sales with that move. Overall, the market is likely to balance out, and has twelve months to do so, before a review of the 2025 agreement is conducted.

Is the Kelowna Chamber happy with its policy win? The Vice-Chair of the Chamber, and Chair of the Policy Advisory Committee, Derek Gratz, says yes. “We spend a fair bit of time digging into issues of importance to both our members, and our collegial chambers up and down the valley, in this case, Penticton & Wine Country Chamber. This is a good move, and we believe our policy, which was taken to government in June of 2024, helped move the dial on getting the new agreement in place.”

“And, we also got the unofficial ‘best policy title’ at the BC Chamber Conference for “Grapes of Wrath.”

George Greenwood is the new CEO of the Kelowna Chamber of Commerce and can be reached at george@kelownachamber.org