JUNE 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


Rising wine sales boost demand


for red grapes Growers expanding into new, higher elevation sites


by MYRNA STARK LEADER SUMMERLAND – Growth of


BC’s wine industry has led to tighter supplies of red grapes. “There’s definitely been


increasing demand for the last few years,” says Mason Spink, president of the BC Grape Growers’ Association and winemaker at Dirty Laundry Vineyards in Summerland. “We’ve had lighter crops in reds, too. Last year, quality was up but volumes down, which was a bit of an issue.” Part of the challenge is that BC is a cool-climate region, which tends to favour white wine grapes. Red varieties prefer warmer conditions so there is a finite amount of suitable land. “There’s less and less space


for vineyards”, says Spink. “Our valley is getting quite full with cherries and other crops so there’s not a lot of space.” Spink says recent price


increases for grapes are fairly significant. “Two or three years ago,


you were probably paying about $2,500 a tonne for reds and now I have seen it as high as $3,200 or $3,300 a tonne for some reds.” Manfred Freese, a grape


grower since 2000 near Osoyoos, has five acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. “The vineyard I have is very


warm. It’s probably one of the warmest sites here,” he says. Freese has a three-year contract to produce grapes


and while he’s not unhappy with his contracted price, he’s aware it could have been higher given the recent price increases. He says predicting the market for red grapes is tricky because red wine usually ages two years in oak barrels before it’s sold. Freese sees a few reasons


for price increases in addition to rising sales. One is the expansion of sales channels to include grocery stores. Another is over-production a few years ago that resulted in no price increases for grapes between 2010 and 2015. “Growers pulled out some of their vines and went back to cherries. Now things have reversed a little bit and some new plantings have gone in but the fact is that compared to cherries, grapes are less attractive economically though less risky to grow than cherries,” he says. Amos Rossworm, a senior


relationship manager with Farm Credit Canada specializing in the wine industry, confirms an increased demand for red varieties. “We have been seeing ... an uptick in the number of wineries looking for grapes,” he says. FCC finances nearly 45 wineries in BC. Rossworm says the number they’ve worked with in the past year has increased significantly. Clients tend to be start-ups or smaller operations looking to expand. He says wineries typically grow enough grapes


11


Barbara and Manfred Freese inspect some Merlot grapes in their vineyard. LEMBI BUCHANAN PHOTO


to yield 4,000 to 5,000 cases of wine annually and then find they need to expand to make the numbers work. Rossworm says wineries


have also become fairly aggressive in purchasing land to meet their own demand and gain greater control over fruit. While financing used to be for buildings and premises, the last year has seen demand for land purchases. “The price for grape land still swings but it definitely higher than it was a couple [of] years ago,” Rossworm explains. Wineries that grow their


own grapes are also becoming more creative. “We’ve seen growers put a


lot more work into coming up with a very comprehensive plan to grow grapes on one piece of property and looking for property that hasn’t been thought of as grape growing areas in the past.”


Spink agrees. Dirty Laundry


recently purchased a 16-acre apple orchard site in the hills above Summerland for conversion to vineyard. It’s a higher elevation site but also commanded a high price. “It’s some of the highest land prices we’ve seen,” he says. “If you are buying an established vineyard, it’s a tough go because you can be paying as much as $200,000 an acre and you’re only getting $2,500 a tonne. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to


be a grape grower. That’s why we’ve seen, in the last two years, a lot of small independent growers either get into the winery game and started their own labels or they’ve sold to bigger companies or sold their vineyards.” He says higher grape prices


aren’t necessarily a bad deal for anyone. Growers deserve it, and the economy is strong enough that consumers can absorb the higher wine prices.


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