Owners of Langley’s Backyard Vineyards are raising a glass to the government’s new rules about B.C. wines being able to go into select grocery stores.
As one of the smaller B.C. wines not sold in government liquor stores, Backyard Vineyards is seeing significant sales gains after one month of sale in the new Wines of British Columbia: Save-On-Foods South Point VQA store in South Surrey.
“For smaller producers, especially new producers, you can’t always get listed by the Liquor Distribution Branch,” said Paul Martin, representing Backyard Vineyards in Langley. His wines are stocked at the Save-On-Foods South Point.
“We’ve developed award-winning wines which aren’t being picked up by government liquor stores. Any winery, large or small, needs strong distribution channels to give new wine products the momentum to succeed.
Wines of British Columbia Save-On-Foods South Point in South Surrey has given us just the outlet we need as a smaller producer, and it’s been great for business, with increased awareness of our brand and sales increasing double digit in the first month.”
South Point is one of 20 BC VQA wine stores operating in the province. Although this is a small number of stores in the liquor retail environment, they represent over seven per cent of provincial BC VQA Wine sales — with the largest selection of BC VQA Wines in one place, said Miles Prodan, president and CEO of the BC Wine Institute.
“In the first month sales have been high, as consumers embraced the convenience of grabbing a bottle of B.C.’s best wines as they pick up items for dinner or parties. Clearly, it just makes sense,” said Prodan.
B.C. WINE FACTS
The BC Wine Industry’s $2 billion economic impact is a significant driver to the BC economy.
British Columbians enjoy more than 234 million glasses or 47 million bottles of British Columbia produced wine each year.
B.C. welcomes over 800,000 visitors every year through the wine economy, which is more than the province drew for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.