Carie Jones
In March, the world as we once knew it took a fearful breath and paused. Businesses closed, travel ceased and schools shut down. Suddenly, on a global scale, we were living in a new reality none of us knew how to navigate. Despite this drastic change, the BC wine industry as a whole stepped up and responded in the only way it could, with strength, determination, passion and hope.
With 929 vineyards across the province, BC’s wine industry responded quickly, coming together to do everything it could to protect the more than 12,000 jobs BC wineries support. With tasting rooms closed, wineries had to refocus their efforts on online sales and events.
On April 2, the BC government once again proclaimed April as the official province-wide wine month, this time with a twist, encouraging all British Columbians to enjoy 100 per cent BC wines at their homes. BC Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham joined a BC Wine Institute (BCWI) COVID-19 informational webinar in April to officially present the proclamation and provide an update for industry.
“Communities all around the province continue to rally together by supporting local businesses and choosing to Buy BC products,” said Popham. “Many BC winemakers depend on sales within our province to keep their businesses running, and our support for them and all BC farmers and businesses during this pandemic will help the resiliency and future of food and beverage production in British Columbia.”
Typically, BC Wine Month is supported by Wines of British Columbia events hosted across the province. With that no longer an option, more than 175 wineries, along with local retailers and restaurants, responded quickly to make it easier to enjoy BC wine from home by offering free shipping, delivery, virtual tastings, charitable donations and curbside pickup for British Columbians. The BCWI launched a dedicated webpage to highlight these promotions and provide a simple way for wine lovers to find BC wines and engage with their local wineries online. In addition, the regular BCWI event webpage on WineBC.com was updated to promote all industry virtual events encouraging visitors to discover local experiences from the comfort of home.
At the direction of the Province and Provincial Health Authority, the BCWI also postponed anticipated spring tasting events, such as BLOOM in Vancouver and Victoria and DISCOVER in Calgary. The Vancouver event also hosts the Vintage Media Preview which invites trade and media to join winemakers to taste and discuss the recent vintage. In response, the BCWI created a brand-new virtual two-part webinar preview of BC’s 2019 vintage. Participants streamed from the comfort and safety of home, while Barbara Philip MW and two panels of top BC winemakers from across the province welcomed viewers from across the country into BC’s diverse wine regions to discuss the 2019 vintage directly from the vineyards where the grapes are grown.
To replace in-store tastings and continue to promote BC wine, social media influencer campaigns provided virtual tastings with key retail partners like Save-On-Foods and BC Liquor Stores.
To further assist BC wineries in promoting their wine, a new Wines of British Columbia Explorer app launched this summer to replace the original Wines of British Columbia Trip Planner app. The new platform will help wineries connect with their ideal consumer, build their brand and get their wine into consumers’ hands. This app will be a powerful tool for wineries, both in the short-term recovery from COVID-19 and in building long-term resilience.
In response to the ever-changing pandemic information, the BCWI created a COVID-19 resource page for members and industry stakeholders to provide a simple way for industry to get up-to-date information on the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation. Regularly updated key links, messaging and industry updates offer an easy to find, one-stop location for crucial and relevant industry information. The BCWI also hosted informational webinars for its members and industry stakeholders, outlining BCWI’s response, recovery and resilience initiatives and how wineries could leverage these resources and tools to help support their business.
Working with government and industry stakeholders, the BCWI was able to implement key advocacy initiatives to help support the BC wine industry during a very uncertain time. These initiatives allowed for BC Liquor Stores to remain essential and open for business with expanded retail hours to allow early-hour shoppers access, along with an increase in BC Liquor Stores’ brand diversity and shelf space allocated to BC VQA Wine. It also helped provide temporary foreign workers support. A Wine Growers of Canada (WGC) COVID-19 task group was created along with the BC Wine Institute, the Winery & Grower Alliance of Ontario and the Winery Association of Nova Scotia to work together as an industry to stay up to date on work that is being done both on the federal and provincial levels to support the associations respected members, and share key messaging and resources to help support the industry through this global health crisis.
“We’re stronger when working together. Collaboratively, we’re responding to the situation and have been very successful in pivoting during this unpredictable time. We've embraced a new way of working to continue promoting our member wineries and the industry as a whole,” says Miles Prodan, President and CEO of the BC Wine Institute. “We’ve been working with industry on new tasting room protocols and best practices for all wineries which will help provide visitors with the confidence to visit tasting rooms again as we all continue to navigate this new landscape.”
The BCWI also conducted weekly and monthly surveys of its members to get a pulse on how the pandemic was affecting business. In April, survey results reflected that while 70% of wineries reported revenue losses of up to $100,000, nearly 70% of wineries were open for both curbside pickup and direct-to-consumer shipping with 98 per cent of wineries reporting higher online sales than the previous month.
As always, the focus continues to be on promoting BC wine as we navigate our new reality. Despite having to change the way we operate for now, in BC, grapegrowing and winemaking haven't stopped. The beauty and resilience of our incredible, breathtaking wine regions endures. The vines continue to grow, the grapes continue to ripen and winemakers continue to produce fresh and vibrant wine synonymous with BC.
Visit WineBC.com to learn more and help support your BC wine industry. Carie Jones, Communications Manager, BC Wine Institute