B.C. grape grower left with unsold fruit as wineries allowed to import U.S. grapes (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 4 days ago by HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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In B.C.'s south Okanagan region, some wine grape growers are struggling to find buyers for their fruit, during a year many were hoping to make a solid profit after devastating crop loss in recent years.

After two years of severe winter damage, vineyards across the region produced strong yields this season.

But some farmers say a provincial program that allows wineries to import grapes from the United States is crowding the market and leaving them with grapes they can't sell.

Despite strong quality and sugar levels, Gill said his Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes should have been picked two weeks ago. He's concerned about making his loan repayments.

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[-] Kornblumenratte@feddit.org 7 points 2 days ago

There are grape farmers who don't make wine and wineries which don't grow their own grapes? TIL

[-] BlackAura@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Had a girlfriend from decades ago where her dad started a family owned winery in the Okanagan (though they eventually sold to a larger company, I guess none of the kids wanted to take over?). They would sometimes age and bottle grapes from other vineyards (who didn't have their own equipment) for that vineyard to then sell.

For all I know there are companies that buy grapes off the market, pay a winery to process, age, and bottle them, and then sell it under a brand name that's basically just outsourcing all the work so they could exist in a small office somewhere.

Another example on a brewery tour at Big Rock brewing in Calgary, they would bottle for other companies sometimes. At the time our tour guide pointed out a bottling line that was being used for Smirnoff Ice iirc. Or maybe it was Mike's Hard Lemonade? One of those.

[-] LeFantome@programming.dev 3 points 2 days ago

Those American grapes should be rotting on the vines

[-] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 12 points 4 days ago

Ontario has the VQA program. LCBO has shelves of Ontario wines made from global grapes, but VQA designation means 100% home grown. I don't buy anything else.

[-] AGM@lemmy.ca 8 points 3 days ago

BC has VQA, and none of the wines being made using US-grown grapes should qualify.

The problem is that BC vineyards faced extreme cold that killed off huge numbers of vines a couple of years back, and if importing grapes hadn't been allowed it would have devastated a bunch of wine producers who just couldn't have made wine for years as their vineyards had to be replanted and take time to produce grapes.

The problem, as it so often is in Canada, is sensible rules on paper with absolutely shit enforcement and oversight. So, instead of ensuring that wine makers are only sourcing from the US what is not available in Canada, they have enabled them to source excess from the US and leave the BC growers stuck.

It should be great news for the BC wine industry that there is a good harvest this year after utter devastation last year, and if they make adjustments and start ensuring that only grapes to meet demand beyond local supply are purchased, it will be good news in future. It's just really dumb right now.

It takes three seasons for new vines to produce wine grapes, so there should be no need for the province's exemptions on US grapes at all after a one more season. Hopefully they deal with this properly.