WORLD WALKS INTO A DIFFERENT VANCOUVER
The world of wine arrives this week to a very different Vancouver wine market from even a year ago.
For most of its life the Vancouver International Wine Festival has been a highly energetic, receptive market that seems to know that building a strong wine culture based on education and wide ranging selection would benefit all. Inclusive was the watchword, and whether it was import wineries, agent/distributors, retailers or local wine producers, there was a sense that our wine market was among one of the brightest in North America.
From screw caps to white wines, organic wines, biodynamic wines, wines of place, rosés and more, the wine trends and developments that have become a way of life in North America almost always grabbed a foothold in British Columbia first. The festival has been copied by many, but few if any can replicate it because it takes a city of volunteers to make it happen — most of whom have sprung from the wine culture the festival has helped to create and sustain.
This year I believe there will be a different dynamic in the tasting room, and a lot of it will have to do with an ill-fated strategy designed to modernize the wine laws in B.C. and stupidly protect local producers. I say stupidly because our producers don’t need the kind of protection that is being offered.
No one is happy with the grocery store model that has led to windfall licence profits for government and left us with less than 10 stores open to the public. None have opened in Vancouver, and none have chosen to sell imported wine under the controversial store-within-in-a-store model.
What we do have is higher prices for most wines via the new monopoly wholesale division and its unfettered power to adjust its margin to control the price of every wine in the system, includ- ing listings they do not offer in their stores. Hiding the cost of the GST and PST has allowed even the bestsellers to pack on a 15 per cent increase that goes unnoticed until you get to the till. Nearly two years down the road we are paying a lot more for a lot less.
It’s made for a lot of unhappy shoppers, distributors, and producers ( both local and imported) not to mention confused grocers, fighting mad founding private wine shop owners and, saddest of all, bewildered restaurants and private wine shops who believe the only real change required was the ability for restaurants to be able to buy their liquor at a true wholesale price from any store they wanted. Instead, we have an ongoing trade dispute with several countries and a government whose actions make it look as if B.C. wines can’t compete on the global stage.
How does all this relate to the festival? It’s a rare event where producers actually meet their customers as opposed to agents, retailers, restaurants, sommeliers or the media. It would be a good idea for producers to know exactly how much their wine sells for at the till. They might be surprised to learn the wine they think sells for $15.99 a bottle is actually selling for $17.20 plus 15 per cent tax, so $19.78. Should it only be available in the private sector, that final number could be another 30 per cent higher.
As consumers, don’t be mesmerized by “wholesale” or “hospitality” price stickers that will surely be bandied about the tasting room: they mean nothing. What you want to know is the cost of the wine at the till, all taxes included (or delivered to your doorstep, if it is being sent by a winery). Only then will the true cost of your wine be apparent.
There will be one saving grace inside the tasting room. Each booth contains a six-foot table, tablecloth, a winery sign and four different bottles of wine. It’s what we call a level playing field, a place where what’s in the glass is the only thing that counts.
See you in the room.