Okanagan wine industry celebrating new regulations

Wine makers in the Okanagan and the rest of B.C. will soon be able to put more information on their bottle labels. Regulatory changes support the process of making official sub-geographical indications easier.

“Today’s announcement is a game-changer,” Minister of Agriculture Norm Letnick said at a news conference Thursday morning at Summerhill Pyramid Winery in Kelowna.

The new regulations allow wine labels to recognize wine-making sub-regions. The golden mile bench south of Oliver is an example. It’s the first and only area in B.C. that received special approval from the BC Wine Authority in March 2015 to market its distinct wine-growing region on wine bottle labels. The latest regulations make it easier for other wine-making regions to follow suit.

“Wineries in some of the areas of Okanagan Valley for instance like right here in Kelowna, if they choose to and want to work together they can now make a proposal to B.C. Wine Authority to have Kelowna recognized as sub area within Okanagan Valley,” B.C. Wine Institute CEO and President Miles Prodan said

Wine makers say because of soil, climate and topography, different regions produce different wines and distinguishing that on the labels indicates the B.C. wine industry is maturing.

“I think the significance of today’s announcement is that we are coming of age as a grape growing and wine growing region as British Columbia,” Summerhill winemaker Eric von Krosigk said. “Whether you are growing grapes on Saturna Island or Vancouver Island or here in the Okanagan Valley, Similkameen Valley, out in Kamloops, we are recognizing within ourselves and from ourselves that there are very special areas that have very special flavours that are unique.”

Stakeholders say the new labeling regulations will also be great for tourism luring more visitors to the various wine sub-regions.

“If you want to start exploring the different wine regions within B.C. you now can start checking them off and going down the list and recognizing that those grapes and that wine come from a specific area,” Prodan said. “Lets go explore it and see what is it all about.”

The labeling regulation changes follow the recommendations of the Wine Appellation Task Group, which oversaw an industry led review of the appellation system for wines produced from 100 per cent B.C. grapes.