As B.C. wine industry faces ‘catastrophic’ loss, producers split on next steps
Global News
After two consecutive winters with widespread crop losses due to cold weather, B.C. wine producers are having to rebuild and reimagine the future.
The wine industry in British Columbia’s Interior is reeling from the devastating impact of two consecutive winters with severe cold snaps. Grape growers are grappling with major losses that threaten not just their yields but also their livelihoods.
“It’s been catastrophic. There’s been a lot of concern and angst in the community. We are really trying to determine what’s the best way forward,” Wine Growers British Columbia president and CEO Miles Prodan said.
Wineries in the heart of the Interior are bracing themselves for enormous losses in their upcoming vintages. Prodan said the latest cold snap was in January, when temperatures plunged to -30 C, after a similar cold event in 2022, compounding the losses this season.
“We are expecting to have lost 99 per cent of the grapes for this 2024 harvest, ’25 vintage. It’s real, it’s climate change and it’s a culmination of extreme heat and now extreme cold as well,” Prodan said.
With producers having to rebuild and reimagine the future, there are high hopes for a thriving and sustainable wine industry for generations to come — and calls for change.
The owner of Vanessa Vineyard in Cawston, B.C., says while the full extent of the damage won’t be confirmed until the spring, he’s predicting more than 90 per cent crop losses at his operation.
“We are going to replant our whole vineyard, 100 acres over the next three years. So impact-wise, it’s going to be very significant because in two years’ time, we aren’t going to have any wine to sell,” Suki Sekhon said.
Sekhon said the outlook is grim for many in the industry, with smaller, family-run businesses at particular risk of not surviving.
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