April 1 marked the date of new releases from B.C. wineries this year — but with a notable twist. Following historic crop losses, wineries turned to out-of-province grapes to keep bottles on shelves and tasting rooms open.
“We’re sincerely excited to get out in the marketplace with the release of these new wines — the flavours are spot on,” says Charlie Baessler, viticulturist, GM and proprietor of Corcelettes Estate Winery.
It’s a bold move for the Similkameen-based winery known for crafting premium wines that showcase the stony, windswept terroir of its estate vineyards. Early in 2024, Baessler and winemaker Brett Meier crossed the border into Washington State in search of fruit.
“We’ve learned a lot, visiting dozens of vineyards through several appellations and meeting many different growers. All in all, we’ve made the best of what was a challenging situation — and what continues to be.”
In letters to their wine club members, the winery describes their goal as “not to simply acquire grapes, but to find romance as we recover our own prized Similkameen vineyards.” They found love in the Wahluke Slopes AVA (American Viticultural Area), one of Washington’s warmest growing regions, known for bold red varieties. The name Wahluke comes from a Native American word meaning “watering place,” and the Corcelettes team found echoes of their own terroir in the soils, slopes and climate.
It wasn’t their first foray off the estate. “It started for us in ‘23,” says Baessler. “We lost so much crop — almost entirely.”
So began Phoenix, an exploratory new label.
“Our brand at Corcelettes is so much about 100 percent Similkameen, 100 percent estate grown. The story got really muddy as we started bringing in product from the Okanagan, so we started Phoenix to produce exciting wines from non-estate grown origin.”
This spring, the winery releases two whites under the new label, 2024 Sauvignon Blanc and 2024 Chardonnay and a Syrah Rosé called 2024 Afterglow — all sourced from Washington grapes.
And the choice of Phoenix? For Charlie, the name and visual imagery were a natural fit —symbolizing resilience and rising from adversity.
“It’s a very powerful name and a very powerful brand,” he says. “But it definitely came out of those moments of thinking, ‘Holy —what a challenging time. What are we going to do? Nothing? Or are we going to act?’”
Celebrating Cascadia
At Fort Berens Estate Winery in Lillooet, the 2024 vintage is shaped by duality — crafted both at home and across the border. With estate fruit still ripening in the Fraser Canyon, winemaker Alex Nel stayed behind to oversee harvest while assistant winemaker Seth Jex travelled south to Washington.
“We wanted to make sure that the winemaking team was involved with the process right from the vine all the way to the bottle,” says Jex.
That commitment meant travelling south in early spring to visit vineyards and build relationships.
“It was important for me to go down and interview vineyards and source grapes from a specific single AVA rather than trying to do a bulk juice or bulk grape market,” says Jex.
The team returned at harvest, renting space at a local cellar to craft the wines on-site before transporting them back to BC for finishing and bottling.
“We focused on trying to provide people familiar with the brand with the quality and the style they expect.”
First printed on harvest T-shirts, the phrase “Here and There” became the emblem of the cross-border vintage — one winemaking philosophy, two places.
“Our team was half here, half there, and our vines, our wines and our grapes were half here, half there,” says Jex.
They found continuity not just in winemaking but in the land itself.
“The Cascade Range stretches from where we are at in Lillooet in the Fraser Canyon all the way through to the Columbia Valley and into Walla Walla,” he says.
“For this custom crush, we were focusing on the continuation of Mother Nature’s terroir and Mother Nature’s region, not where people just drew boundaries eons ago. The wines and the vineyards were an extension of what the terroir is — the soil profile, the climate —rather than some borderline.”
That cross-border mindset also resonated further south at Poplar Grove Winery in Penticton, where the team leaned into the shared identity of the West Coast wine-growing region. The new Cascadia Series highlights the shared geology of the Pacific Northwest, extending from British Columbia through Washington, Oregon and Northern California.
“We decided to identify to consumers ‘Cascadia’ because they’ll know what Cascadia means. And we want to make sure we were completely transparent about how this wine was made,” says Poplar Grove owner Tony Holler.
That commitment to transparency extended to the label itself. Instead of burying sourcing information on the back, the team put it front and centre.
“Nobody reads the back label — I don’t read the back label, and I’m in the wine business!” says Holler.
To distinguish the new wines further from their core portfolio, the team swapped their signature white labels for a darker hue. “We wanted people to stop and say, ‘Why is this one different?’” says Holler.
A thin golden line runs across the bottle, representing the border that separates the north-south grape-growing region.
For Poplar Grove, the shift in origin didn’t mean a shift in style.
“The Washington State grapes we purchased taste just like Okanagan fruit —virtually identical,” says Holler. “We were very confident this wine would taste just like our regular Poplar Grove Pinot Gris.”
For winemaker Stefan Arnason, the experience of working with Washington fruit exceeded expectations. “It was excellent,” he says. “We were super impressed with the growers down there —we found the profiles we were after.”
The team chose to process the grapes on-site in Washington before transporting the juice north.
“It was a lot safer for many reasons, but it brought us cold, clean juice,” he says. “From there, we could ferment it exactly the way we wanted in our facility.” The goal, he says, was clear: to craft something that tasted like Poplar Grove Pinot Gris. “Obviously, we were flying a bit in the dark down there,” he adds, “but I think when you taste it, it really does taste like the Poplar Grove universe.”
Grown in Washington
In British Columbia, wine labels serve as a map, guiding consumers to the valleys, benches and vineyards that give each wine its sense of place. Historically, the province established Geographical Indications (GIs) to denote the grape-growing regions of the Okanagan Valley, Fraser Valley and Similkameen Valley. The later introduction of sub-geographical indications (sub-GIs) provided a finer lens, highlighting distinct areas within these regions — such as Naramata Bench or Golden Mile Bench —each celebrated for unique terroirs and flavour profiles.
That strong connection between label and land influenced the design decisions of Baillie-Groham and Bartier Bros. wineries. In place of the “Okanagan Valley” on the front, the winery opted for a clear and candid update: “Grown in Washington.”
“We’ve identified it with Bartier Bros. at the start,” says owner and winemaker Michael Bartier. “People are looking for Bartier Bros. wines. They know our brand.”
For Bartier, the cactus icon is gone, replaced with a compass face — a subtle nod to direction and discovery. The sentiment is echoed in the new label, “The Adventure Series” at Baillie-Groham.
Bartier Bros. new label name, Pristine, was inspired by Michael’s time in the Cascade Mountains, where he’s spent years climbing.
“Pristine is the word that comes to mind immediately,” he says.
“I was down there hunting for grapes — and there are some very good grapes to be had — in one of the vineyards in Rattlesnake Hills, where we were getting a few different varieties from, Riesling and Pinot Gris. There is Mount Rainier off in the distance. You can see it clear as a bell on a beautiful clear day. Yep. Pristine.”
Seven wines have been released under the Pristine name, including blends and a Vin Gris —a nod to the delicate hue of the Pinot Gris grape. All are made in Oliver, B.C., using fruit grown in Washington’s Rattlesnake Hills AVA.
For Bartier, the decision to produce these wines wasn’t about chasing style —it was about survival. “We had no harvest last year,” he says. “I did all the math. I had a look at the cash flow projections. We will go bankrupt. We needed wine.”
It wasn’t just about keeping the tanks full. “We have staff,” he adds. “We have 30 people; a payroll that we need to support, that we need to pay.”
The approach remained simple: source good fruit, treat it with respect and stay out of the way. “Winemaking happens in the vineyard… all we ever want to do is have good grapes and respect them. You know, not screw them up.”
In Okanagan Falls, Blasted Church Winery took a playful, on-brand approach to their Washington-sourced releases. While the label artwork remains largely unchanged at first glance, a closer look reveals subtle clues tucked into the design —visual nods to the origin of the grapes, the Horse Heaven Hills AVA.
“There are some little Easter eggs in the design for consumers to find,” says marketer Leeann Froese of Town Hall Brands. “It’s right on brand for who they’re marketing their wines to.”
Look closely; you might spot horses or a hill with crosses — clever references woven into the art, inviting fans to look twice.
Crafted in BC
As bottles from the 2024 vintage roll out, B.C. wine drinkers may notice something new on the shelves. Positioned alongside familiar VQA releases, a new sign to support the vintage rollout: “Crafted in BC.”
The message, developed by Wine Growers British Columbia (WGBC), isn’t a certification or designation. It’s a way to support wineries, and consumers.
“This measure has allowed wineries to not only keep their doors open and staff employed,” says Paul Sawler, WGBC board chair, “but also the opportunity to challenge our talented B.C. winemaking teams to think outside their own vineyards.”
Crafted in BC signage will start appearing on shelves and wine lists. WGBC recommends that these wines be displayed as a distinct category, close to 100% B.C. wines —not mixed with imports —to maintain clarity and preserve shelf space for local producers. As more VQA wines return in future vintages, they’ll gradually reclaim that space.
“These wines are made by the same skilled hands as BC VQA wines,” says Sawler. “Crafted in BC reflects the resilience and adaptability of B.C. wineries in the face of unprecedented challenges.”
Consumers are not going to have to search for the 2024 wines, “they’re going to find them right next to where the VQA wines are in the same section.”