B.C. wine country to expand northwards

BC Wine Institute

Along the Thompson, Fraser and into the Kootenays, global warming has played a role in the decision to lay down vines

A bottle bearing a 2017 Kootenays vintage is a distinct possibility if a list of wine-growing regions is approved by the industry. That proposal to expand B.C.’s wine country northwards, increasing the number of wine regions from five to nine, is among several recommendations put forward by the B.C. Wine Task Group, an industry panel, in a policy paper published Thursday. The report recommends adding the Shuswap, the Fraser Canyon from Lytton to Lillooet, the Kootenays and the Thompson Valley around Kamloops to the list of VQA-approved regions—a move that will bolster their place in the market. “There are high quality, interesting wines being made in small quantities [in these new regions], and they deserve an identity in the marketplace,” says Ezra Cipes, chair of the task group and a vintner at Summerhill.

Commercial winemaking has only emerged recently in these regions, such as the stretch of the Fraser Canyon from Lytton to Lillooet, a result of a combination of ambitious vintners and a changing climate. While B.C’s other regions—the Okanagan, Similkameen and Fraser valleys, and Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands—are considered relatively new in the wine world, the proposed regions are thoroughly uncharted territory for most wine consumers. And that’s not to discount the quality of their wines. Cipes describes the physically dramatic Fraser Canyon region as “more continental than the Okanagan, with more extreme heat,” currently producing “some brilliant Rieslings.” And for regions like the Canyon with frequent fierce temperature swings, global warming has played a role in the decision to lay down vines. “It wasn’t too long ago that the winters were too cold,” says Cipes.

The report also recommends establishing so-called sub-apellations—micro-regions like the Golden Bench with more specific soil and sun conditions, than say a general Okanagan label. In his comments to the panel, wine critic Anthony Gismondi recommended that the industry “humanize” any new sub-appellations to make them more consumer-friendly, and that vintages use the name of an adjacent town or village to identify a wine region.

The remaining recommendations are more regulatory in nature, such as a call to reduce the number of audits that wineries go through and an axing of taste panels, at which an assemblage of experts test the profile and quality of new wines before they go to market. While those panels helped establish the industry and set a benchmark for quality, says Cipes, they now add months to the process of bringing a wine to market. They can also stymie creativity. “Beer-makers are kicking our butt because they are trying new funky tasted products—we’re losing consumers,” wrote one respondent.

In early 2016, B.C. winegrowers will hold a plebiscite on the report—a continuation of industry’s continual process of regulatory reform (previous regulatory milestones include the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the Farm Gate Policy and the establishment of the BC VQA appellation system). And if implemented, the new regions in particular will be a win for vintners and consumers, says Cipes.