86 per cent of B.C\u2019s vineyard acreage<\/a>, according to Wine Growers of BC. The industry employs more than 14,000 full-time workers and generates roughly $3.75 billion for the economy each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cFor a second year, consumers will have the opportunity to discover these wines alongside 100 per cent BC wines, continuing to support the wineries they cherish and ensuring our wine industry remains a vibrant pillar of BC\u2019s tourism, culture, and way of life,\u201d Wine Growers BC president Jeff Guignard said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wine Growers BC estimated that in 2025 the province was more than 10,000 tonnes short of the grape harvest needed to make enough wine to keep the wine industry strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis extension is a vital bridge from last year\u2019s crisis toward a sustainable future for BC wine. Without this support, we\u2019ve heard directly from wineries who were days away from having to lay off staff. That\u2019s how real the pressure is,\u201d Guignard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Guignard said that the industry is committed to making sure BC VQA wine maintains its quality and reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWine Growers BC will always promote BC grapes first, and we remain relentlessly committed to the integrity and quality of BC VQA wines\u2014now and in the future. Even with temporary supports extended, we\u2019re still working to ensure industry looks local first so that every BC grape ends up on a bottle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chair of the BC Grapegrower\u2019s Association Bobby Ercego said the industry needs another year to be back at full strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cB.C.\u2019s grape growing industry needs one more year to get back to full strength,\u201d Ercego said in the release. \u201cThis extension gives everyone\u2014growers and wineries alike\u2014a better shot at surviving this transitional period and coming out stronger on the other side.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wineries in B.C. are still recovering from the freeze in 2024 so the government is allowing them to use grapes from out of province for another year. The polar vortex in January 2024 severely damaged vines and while vineyards are replanting it takes time to rebuild. Letting wineries use out-of-province grapes to make B.C. wine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":547,"featured_media":8225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1810,706,704],"tags":[],"region":[547,548,549,550],"class_list":["post-8224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-local","category-topnews","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/inwine-hd-mediaitemid76796-7363.jpg","post_modified":"2025-09-23T11:15:00","post_modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T18:15:00","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/547"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8224"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=8224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}