F
or a while, it looked like
peace had finally settled
over B.C. wine country.
At the end of a three-day
Wine Leaders Forum last April,
set against the tranquil shores of
Naramata's Sandy Beach Lodge
and Resort and co-presented
by the
UBC-Okanagan faculty of
management and Bordeaux's
Kedge Business School, a joint
communiqué was signed. The
two warring factions—the British
Columbia Wine Institute (
BCWI),
the government-mandated voice
of the industry, and Terroir B.C., a
vocal splinter group of disenfran-
chised small wineries—agreed to
stop their public bickering and
work together toward a common
goal of international growth under
the neutral, academic, third-party
umbrella of the
UBC-Kedge wine
industry project.
Impressed, the federal govern-
ment pitched in $630,000 from
Western Economic Diversifica-
tion Canada (matched by
UBC
and industry) to help the young
industry enhance its export readi-
ness, develop a global identity
and, perhaps most pressingly,
strengthen internal cooperation.
In November, the first of several
UBC-Kedge task forces began
studying bottle labelling—a highly
contentious issue that will require
the support of B.C.'s big three win-
eries (Mission Hill, Peller Estates
and Constellation Brands).
(KIM PULLEN) COURTESY OF CHURCH & STATE WINES; (EZRA CIPES) COURTESY OF SUMMERHILL PYRAMID WINERY MARCH 2016 BCBUSINESS 13
T HE MON T HLY IN FOR MER
TMı
"There was the biggest implosion
in our industry globally in 2008.
Now we have some of the lowest
prices in a generation and crazy
interest rates, and people are
taking advantage"
–p.15
M A R C H 2 0 1 6
War of the Rosés
M a r k e t i n g
B.C.'s wine industry has grand ambitions to take on the world–
if only it could stop the internecine battle that's tearing it apart
by Alexandra Gill
INSIDE
How to flip your house ... The future of the property transfer tax ... The Port's CEO speaks out + more
WINE WARRIOR
Terroir B.C. co-chair Kim
Pullen, the proprietor of
Church & State Wines
"[Pullen] constantly
tries to undermine
the BCWI. He makes a
lot of noise, but his
arguments are almost
nonsensical. His
targets are constantly
moving."
– Ezra Cipes, a BCWI
board member and
CEO of Summerhill
Pyramid Winery
