California Wine Industry Questions B.C.'s New Wine Regulations

There has been some debate around whether or not B.C.'s new wine legislation will affect international trade regulations. The recent announcement that wine can soon be sold in B.C. supermarkets prompted the California Wine industry to address potential gaps in trade regulations, however; the province of B.C. is in full compliance with international trade regulations regarding the sale of B.C. wine, said Tracy Clark, Communications Manager for WineBC.

"California wine industry representatives are misinformed if they believe BC is working outside trade regulations," said Josie Tyabji, chair of the BC Wine Institute in response to a letter sent to Premier Christy Clark by the California Wine Institute challenging the BC government's announcement that it would release a limited number of new licences to sell 100 per cent BC wine in-aisle in grocery.

In addition, the store-within-store grocery model will provide all liquor retailers the opportunity to move into grocery stores, not just BC VQA Wine stores.

"Government has done a good job of reviewing the best options for meeting the needs of consumers and the existing liquor industry and continues to make sound decisions to remove red tape as we move forward with regulatory reforms," said Tyabji.

B.C. Wine Institute CEO Mile Prodan said both new grocery models are about meeting consumer needs, along with social responsibility.

"BC wine on qualified grocery shelves, along with the earlier announced store-within-store model for other liquor and spirits, gives industry the flexibility to provide consumers the accessibility they'd asked for," said Prodan "We heard similar trade concerns this summer when government announced BC liquor would be available for sale at farmers' markets - I'm not convinced increased consumer convenience for BC wine in grocery stores is as much a trade agreement issue as it is about others wanting to protect their market share.”

According to the BCLDB, last year BC VQA Wine made up nearly 15 per cent of the wine volume sold in the province. A total of 48 per cent of import wine was sold, of which 11 per cent was from the United States.