Save-On-Foods celebrates sale of millionth bottle of B.C. wine
The millionth bottle of B.C. wine sold by Save-On-Foods is a bursting-with-flavour, coolclimate Gewurztraminer from Kelowna’s The View Winery.
“Save-On-Foods has been much more than just a new way to sell our wines,” said The View’s president, Jennifer Turton-Molgat.
“They have become true partners and friends. Grocery store sales have exposed our wines to a whole new group of customers and have become a big part of our winery’s continued growth.”
Turton-Molgat was on hand Saturday at the Save-On-Foods in Kelowna’s Orchard Plaza to see the millionth bottle sold to Kelowna Lake Country MLA Norm Letnick.
It was apropos Letnick was the purchaser because he’s also provincial agriculture minister and supported having B.C. wines on grocery store shelves as part of his ministry’s buylocal promotion.
It’s also fitting the millionth bottle was sold in Kelowna — the centre of the Okanagan, the province’s biggest wine-producing region.
Wine in grocery stores was the biggest innovation when the B.C. government amended liquor laws in the spring of 2015.
Since then, Save-On-Foods has opened big B.C. wine departments in a dozen of its grocery stores across the province, including the Orchard Plaza and Okanagan Mission stores in Kelowna.
The one million bottles sold includes sales from all 12 SaveOn-Foods stores.
The B.C. Wine Institute helps Save-On-Foods partner with 160 wineries throughout the province to provide 100 per cent B.C. wine for sale in its grocery stores.
“Our wine and grape industry, the majority of whom are small family-owned businesses, is seeing phenomenal growth thanks in part to the provincial government’s B.C. Liquor Policy Review and subsequent recommendations, including wine on grocery shelves in select locations,” said B.C. Wine Institute CEO Miles Prodan.
“Since the implementation of the review, (100 per cent B.C. wine) market share in B.C. has grown by 355,000 cases and is a record high of 17 per cent.”
Besides allowing wine on grocery store shelves, the overhaul of liquor laws also allows B.C. wine to be sold at farmers’ markets and for restaurants and bars to have happy hours.
“We want to thank and congratulate the B.C. government for having the courage to change the liquor laws to support what the people of B.C. were asking for, and ultimately, allow for this significant growth opportunity for B.C. farmers,” said Save-On-Foods president Darrell Jones.
“Having the opportunity to showcase this fine example of the high-quality products our province has to offer has been a win-win for everyone.”
The other grocery store in Kelowna that sells B.C. wine is Peter’s Your Independent Grocer in the Capri Centre Mall.