How to Save B.C.’s Wine Industry
I grew up in Alberta, but my family and I spent our summers in B.C. That was my first exposure to the rolling hills, pristine lakes and orchards of the Okanagan Valley. After a stint as a marketing student at a college in Kelowna, I found myself drawn to the region’s big gem: its wineries. The art of winemaking totally captivated me—especially at harvest time, when the fruit arrived at the crush pad, ready for workers to do their magic. Soon, I was working in on-site sales and marketing within the industry and, in 2004, my husband, Jeff, and I founded Ex Nihilo, our own winery, on 40 acres overlooking the eastern shore of Okanagan Lake.
At first, it was an entrepreneur’s dream: at its peak, Ex Nihilo expanded to 140 acres and welcomed thousands of tourists each summer. (We even partnered with the Rolling Stones on a line of ice wines named after their hit song “Sympathy for the Devil.”) But within the last decade, signs of trouble began to emerge—the first being the wildfires, which blanketed the valley with thick smoke for weeks at a time. Across the valley, wineries closed their patios and stopped farm work. By the summer of 2023, the fires were so severe that David Eby, B.C.’s premier, temporarily banned all non-essential travel—stopping the flow of tourists in an instant. This past summer, visitors largely kept their distance. Instead of welcoming hundreds of guests a day, many wineries saw only a handful.
The smoke has done more than drive away drinkers. It’s also infiltrated the wine grapes, leaving behind a smoke taint that can, in some cases, make tasting them feel like licking an ashtray. In 2022, smoke taint forced Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars, one of the valley’s most renowned wineries, to cancel the bottling of its entire 2021 vintage. Then there are the cold snaps: in January of 2024, a particularly devastating one wiped out 90 per cent of the province’s wine grape crop and killed 15 per cent of the vines, which can take years to recover. B.C.’s wine industry contributes $3.75 billion to the province every year. Any large-scale setback jeopardizes that money, plus the jobs of roughly 14,000 full-time workers.
In 2023, Jeff and I made the bittersweet decision to bid farewell to Ex Nihilo, a change that gave me the chance to focus on consulting—something I’d done on the side for years. Right now, I’m working with clients on strategy, a few of whom are established vineyards struggling to cope with the harsh new realities facing the industry. For all the challenges, there are still many solutions. Some winemakers have adopted extremely labour-intensive measures, like burying new vine shoots to protect them from frost. Bartier Bros. Vineyard and Winery had success with this technique; in fact, it ensured they had a harvest after last year’s devastating winter. New technologies have a role to play, too. New agriculturally safe antifreezes are hitting—or are just about to hit—the market. And this winter, Quail’s Gate, another prominent Okanagan winery, is running specialized vacuum-packed LED lights along the cordon wire of its vineyard rows. The lights emit infrared radiation which, in theory, increases the temperature of the vines by six degrees. If it works, this experiment could protect the buds from both cold snaps and harsh spring frosts.
Cold-resistant grapes, like frontenac or marquette, offer another path to resilience. These hybrids, commonly found in the Niagara Region and other parts of eastern Canada, are slowly gaining ground in the Okanagan. These were once considered inferior to traditional (and prestigious) varietals—like cabernet sauvignon, merlot and chardonnay—and were thought to produce lower-quality wines with rougher flavours. Not only are they capable of producing premium wines, they’re also incredibly climate-resistant. Some winemakers remain skeptical, regarding severe cold snaps as rare occurrences that don’t justify major changes in planting practices. Others, however, are more open to embracing this shift in the interest of adapting to the Okanagan’s new climate extremes.
Policy changes will help the climate-proofing effort as well. The B.C. government recently introduced several stopgap measures, including allowing land-based wineries—typically required to use only B.C. grapes to maintain their licences—to source grapes from outside the province for their 2024 vintage. They can now purchase grapes from anywhere in the world. Your next favourite Okanagan merlot may be made with grapes from Washington or California.
It’s worth saying that one of the industry’s biggest threats has nothing to do with climate change: moderation. There’s been a steady global decline in wine consumption since 2018, with Canada alone experiencing a 5.6 per cent decrease since 2022. Out west, the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch reported an 11.54 per cent drop in wine sales from April to June of 2024, compared to the same period during the previous year. Combined with rising costs of living and lower disposable incomes, like everyone else, winemakers are finding it harder to stay afloat.
To help them survive long-term, all options will have to be on the table. Smaller wineries—ones that don’t have the savings to survive surprise frosts and random wildfires—will need more targeted government support, like grants and loans that help producers capitalize on bumper crop years and provide a buffer during leaner seasons. We’ll also have to work hard to re-market the Okanagan—long known as Canada’s Napa Valley—to the world as a destination for new, possibly unconventional, climate-resilient hybrid grapes, which will serve a second purpose: reminding the country’s wine enthusiasts that we’re still here. And we’re ready to welcome them back.
