Wine worth $2.8 billion
Wine isn’t just a drink, it’s one heck of an economic engine. The British Columbia wine and grape industry was worth $2.8 billion 2015, according to a Canadian Vintners Association study released Tuesday. That number is expected to be even bigger today because the province has drastically modernized its liquor laws to allow B.C. wine on some grocery store shelves and to be sold at farmers’ markets. “The report didn’t break down the B.C. numbers geographically, but 80 per cent of the B.C. wine industry is in the Okanagan,” said Miles Prodan, president of the Kelowna-based B.C. Wine Institute.
“Of the 350 wineries in B.C., over 200 are in the Okanagan.” That means the Okanagan wine industry likely generates about $2.3 billion in economic activity annual. This year seems to be about industries pegging their economic prowess. A few months ago, the Okanagan high tech sector announced it’s worth $1.3 billion a year. Last week, Tourism Kelowna put the value of tourism in the Central Okanagan at $1.25 billion. It’s difficult to rank industries by annual economic impact because different matrixes seem to be used in each study. However, what can be deducted from it all is the Okanagan has a diversified and robust economy where wine, tourism and high tech are important, but so are construction-real estate, forestry, retail-wholesale-trade, health care, agriculture, education and manufacturing. The wine study valued the entire Canadian wine and grape industry at $9 billion in 2015, up 33 per cent or $2.2 billion since 2010. Ontario is the biggest generator with $4.4 billion in annual economic activity, B.C. at $2.8 billion, Quebec with $1.1 billion and Nova Scotia kicking in $218 million. The dollar count doesn’t just take into account how much wine is sold for, but the 37,000 jobs it creates nationally; its ripples into manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, transporation, research, restaurants and retail; 3.7 million wine tourists a year contributed to tourism revenues and employment; federal and provincial tax revenue and liquor board mark ups. In fact, for every $1 spent on Canadian wine sold in Canada, $3.42 in gross domestic product is generated. That shows Canadians drinking Canadian wine is good for the economy. For each dollar a Canadian spends on imported wine, the gross demestic product is boosted just $1.43. In B.C. in 2015, there were 275 wineries and 929 grapegrowers cultivating 10,260 acres of vineyards. Total output that year was 43.2 million litres of wine. “What is impressive about these numbers is that most B.C. wineries and grapegrowers are small, family-owned agri-businesses,” said Prodan. “These small businesses are creating 12,000 full-time B.C. jobs.”