Grapes
This year marks the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of the Vintners' Quality Alliance, the British Columbia wine industry's rules of self-governance. The purpose of this article is to examine one relatively small aspect of those rules for their justice and fairness, and relevance for the future.
You can describe the history of the BC wine industry in three phases. The first phase was the production of mostly sweet port and sherry-style wines made with indigenous North American grapes. The second phase, beginning in the 1960s, focused on dry red and white table wines from grapes that were hardy enough to survive North American winters. The third phase begins pretty precisely in 1988, the beginning of the Canada-US/North American Free Trade Agreement, when many hybrid vines were pulled out and “noble” international varietals were planted to complete with the expected flood of imported wines.
The achievement of palatable table wines – without the “foxy” flavours that dominated dry wines made with North America grapes - from vines that survived the winter was accomplished with grapes from European hybrid vines. For reds these included Baco Noir, Marechal Foch, Chambourcin, Chelois, and de Chaunac. For whites there were Seyval Blanc and Vidal. In the wake of the FTA transition to the third and modern phase of the industry, some plots of hybrids remain and continue to provide distinctive wines of interest from many vineyards and wineries.
The VQA regulations, which came into force with the third phase of the industry, were designed to reassure consumers that local wines came from local vines and were similar in style and quality to the expected growth in imports. The regulations were especially firm in banning indigenous North American vitis labrusca vines from inclusion as VQA wines.
The body responsible for administering and enforcing the VQA regulation in BC is the British Columbia Wine Authority. The VQA regulations do not guarantee that BC wine is “good” or that you will enjoy your wine, and, apparently unlike the Ontario VQA assessments, they do not regulate typicity of wines (that is, that a wine labelled Gerwurztraminer will taste like “Gewurztraminer”). Tasting panels, scientific analysis, and audits simply assure clean, fault-free wine from grapes grown in BC in a GI or sub-GI zone, and wine labels that communicate this accurately. The regulations involve other factors, but they are tangential to my focus on hybrids in this article.
One of the things that the VQA regulations include is a long list of grape varieties that are eligible for VQA designation. Grapes not on the list can not make wine with a VQA certification. That does not mean that wine, including blends, made from unlisted grapes cannot be made and sold, but it cannot be VQA-certified. This matters from a commercial standpoint in that many grocery stores, especially some of those in Save-on-Foods stores, have VQA-only licences, so these wines are not available to these markets.
In Europe there is a growing interest in hybrids in response to climate change and pest and disease resistance, and in North America hybrid development is driven by a desire to grow vines that will survive the winter and produce wines absent of the “foxy” flavours associated with indigenous vine DNA.
A major developer of hybrids in Europe is Valentin Blattner, and there are substantial plantings of so-called Blattner hybrids (such as Cabernet Foch and Petite Milo) in the Lower Mainland, on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands. In North America a major developer of hybrids is the University of Minnesota, and some of these Minnesota hybrids, in particular Marquette, la Crescent, and Frontenac, are growing in the northern Okanagan and Thompson areas.
There is a long list of Blattner hybrids eligible for VQA designation in the regulations, but the Minnesota hybrids are not eligible. Why? Part of the answer is like finding criminals in your ancestry.com DNA profile! There is science and politics in the reasoning.
When I asked a BCWA staff member about this, the scientific answer was that when you look into the DNA provenance of the Minnesota hybrids there is too much North American DNA, that could introduce “foxy” flavours into the wine. However, if you look at the Minnesota hybrids in the Jancis Robinson et. al. volume on wine grapes you find that their DNA provenance is extremely complex. For example, they note that la Crescent is 45% vinifera, 28% riparia, and less than 10% each rupestris, labrusca and aestivalis.
Here is where the politics comes in. Getting on the list of VQA-approved grapes is also subject to a vote amongst BCWA membership, and so far BCWA members have voted to keep Minnesota hybrids off the list.
Tim Martinson and Bruce Reisch report that in 2009 the European Union relaxed its regulations regarding hybrids for environmental, health and cost reasons, and producers are responding with a reconsideration of hybrids. They argue that the distinction between hybrid and vinifera is becoming less useful, and that “current programs are using elite cultivars with excellent wine quality as parents along with lines carrying known disease resistance verified through DNA testing.” [Wine Business Monthly Wine Analytics 08/07/2018]
The decision to keep the Minnesota hybrids off the VQA list is unfair to those vineyards and wineries that have chosen, or may wish, to experiment with these vines. It is also unfair to consumers who may wish to purchase these wines from stores with VQA-only licences. The ban on labrusca and other North American vine varieties made sense in the transition to the modern BC wine industry in the 1990s. But the mature industry of today and tomorrow faces new challenges, and North American hybrids could make a contribution. There is no obvious reason for a simple ban. Test and taste the wines, and if they do not measure up, then reject them.
Ernie Keenes is a retired journalist and political scientist. He works in wine retail and is a partner in a (strictly amateur) vineyard and winery in West Kelowna.