Photo by Nic Lehoux
Martin’s Lane
Martin’s Lane Winery overlooks Okanagan Lake in Kelowna.
This has been a momentous year for BC wines, not because of the wines produced, but due to the business related developments that are shaking up the entire industry.
Big sales and new developments are seeing the BC wine industry changing rapidly from a collection of small estate wineries to being an industry in which most of the production is owned by a few large companies.
But that wasn’t the only major change. We’ve seen one of BC’s best known and most celebrated winemakers retiring, another iconic winemaker enjoying a comeback, and BC wines adapting to changing trends.
Here then is the year as we saw it in BC wine.
CONSOLIDATION
The headline that really rocked the industry was the purchase of three of BC’s best wineries in a single deal, by Andrew Peller Ltd.
The deal was announced in September, as Peller confirmed it had signed a definitive agreement to buy Black Hills Estate Winery and Gray Monk Estate Winery, and had also entered into a Letter of Intent to acquire Tinhorn Creek Vineyards. The price tag at $95 million is obviously great news for the owners who worked long and hard to build up their businesses, and also increases Peller’s growing dominance over the entire Canadian wine industry.
Peller earlier bought out Calona Vineyards and its offshoot Sandhill, the Red Rooster in Naramata, and owns three big brands in Ontario, including Trius, Thirty Bench and the Wayne Gretzy brand.
The recent acquisitions make for the largest consolidation since Don Triggs started Vincor and acquired Inniskillin, Sumac Ridge, Hawthorne and others almost 20 years ago.
Gray Monk is one of the original wineries that paved the way for others in the Okanagan, and remains one of the strongest wineries in the country. Tinhorn Creek is also a long-operating and excellent winery whose owners have become true leaders in the BC wine industry. Black Hills may be smaller, but has built up a reputation as one of the top producers of high quality wines in the country, with their Nota Bene being arguably among the top three ultra premium wines produced in Canada.
The deal means these three wineries will enjoy increased investment and spending on marketing, but not everyone is as happy.
Some, like noted wine writer Anthony Gismondi, points out that with this sale most of the wine production in BC is actually owned by interests based elsewhere.
“Do I think it’s a good deal for the culture of BC wine?” Gismondi asked in his blog Gismondi On Wine. “No, not a chance, if only because it means Ontario, via Peller and Arterra, now controls 75 per cent of the BC wine business, 5,000 kilometres from BC vineyards.”
Gismondi prefers a world where great estate wineries are passed down through the family from generation to generation, but the reality in BC right now is that the success of the wine industry has made the wineries prime acquisition targets.
In addition to this purchase in 2017, don’t forget the purchase of Cedar Creek - one of the largest wineries in Canada - to Mission Hill’s Anthony Von Mandl.
The BC entrepreneur now owns Mission Hill, Cedar Creek, the new Martin Lane Winery just behind Cedar Creek, the Checkmate Artisanal Winery, and other brands that were previously under the Artisan Wine Co. marquee.
WEIRD WEATHER
Record setting heat, the worst forest fires in history, and smoky skies for most of the summer; it’s been a year of extremes for the wine industry in British Columbia.
But despite the tales of disaster coming from many regions of the province, most producers are expecting a year of solid wines and high production.
Miles Prodan, president and CEO of the BC Wine Institute says the fire and smoke played a surprisingly positive role in this year’s vintage.
“It’s an ill wind that doesn’t blow anyone any good, and it appears the smoke that blew in this summer helped moderate what would have been a disastrously hot summer,” Prodan explains.
“The vines shut down at over 30-degrees Celsius, but that insulating blanket of smoke we had over the hottest summer months had a moderating effect.
“This let things progress, and prevented the grapes from potentially getting stunted on the vine.”
While it’s far too early to say with certainty how the vintages of 2017 will play out, Prodan says early reports from around the province shows production on par with recent years, and most winemakers are expecting the quality of this year’s wines to be as good as usual.
“It was a strange year that ended up giving us what we needed,” says Prodan. “It was incredibly warm at the beginning of the season, which was a concern, but then it cooled off, and later when it started getting very hot the smoke that was such a bother for others provided that mitigating factor.
“We took a strange route to get here, but I think we are looking at a solid year for wine in BC.”
There are some lingering concerns, however, particularly for wineries in the regions like Kamloops that were the most affected by smoke.
Prodan agrees, smoke taint could be an issue for red wines this year, but unfortunately it’s not possible yet to say how serious a problem it could be.
“With smoke taint you just can’t tell if it’s going to be an issue until it’s in the bottle, and by then it’s too late,” he says. “In the meantime, if you think smoke taint is going to be a problem there are ways to deal with it in the winemaking process, and I know a lot of winemakers are thinking in that direction.
“So, we’ll just have to see what happens when those wines get opened!”
