As #BCWineMonth draws to a close I hope all of you wine lovers will join me in continuing to support the BC Wine Industry.
In these uncertain times with many of us experiencing social isolation is there a way we can support our local wine industry? What may have looked like temporary measures at the onset of social distancing has it now become the new normal?
As a wine blogger I am fortunate to attend events and new release tastings that give me plenty of fodder to write encouraging things about my favourite wineries. Right now that isn’t happening so in order to keep in the loop it requires a bit of ingenuity.
I hope I’m doing that, albeit in a very small way. British Columbia has around 300 wineries, and I will be the first to admit that, not only could I not even name them all, there is no way I’ve tasted wines from more than a percentage of those wineries.
So the best I could do was go through my archives and mental list of wineries that I have tasted and enjoyed their wines, written about and promote throughout the year. Next step was to develop a quick and simple strategy that would be of interest to both my readers and followers and also benefit the wineries.
The big picture for wineries in British Columbia is obviously sales. Sales to restaurants, sales to wine shops, and sales direct to consumers. We have a fairly restrictive marketing situation that is unique to our own part of Canada. Like many provinces British Columbia relies heavily on the profits, of what is, not so affectionately, referred to as the “sin tax”. That is taxes on liquor, cigarettes, and almost anything we might categorize as a guilty pleasure which includes everything from snack foods to sugary beverages. Those revenues feed our social democracy which gives us such things as universal health care, those things we as Canadians take for granted. Consequently we put up with higher prices and the wineries put up with restricted marketing practises.
British Columbia markets most wines through government run liquor stores with strict rules that really leaves all but the large wineries off their shelves. Sales of wine is new to grocery stores and that market is limited, again, mostly stocked with wines from the large wineries leaving smaller wineries market share to specialty wine shops that have limited space and carry limited inventory.
Add into the fray the current conditions that have very swiftly hit all of the hospitality industry. Restaurants have been hit hard and in spite of their ingenuity in swiftly transitioning into take-out and home delivery, with a few of the larger and chain restaurants opening virtual grocery stores; sales, customers and profits are way down.
The profit margin for wine sales in restaurants makes up a large percentage of their revenue. Fortunately the guardians of the liquor sales were fairly quick to respond and allow restaurants to sell wine, beer, and similar beverages as long as it was included in a food order. This was a slight boost to the wineries. I say slight because most restaurants already have a supply of wines on hand and with overall sales down substantially all but possibly some very large chain restaurants are not ordering wine at this time.
Of those businesses allowed to remain open: grocery stores, drug stores, pharmacies primarily; liquor stores and wine shops are also included. Under normal circumstances the liquor and wine stores would see substantial traffic but right now many people are not venturing out and if they are it is much less frequent than normal.
On March 13 I reached out to a number of wineries that I had written about and was familiar with the wines they produce. I offered to publish a feature article on each winery that wanted to join what I penned #ShiptoSip. The idea was to encourage readers of MyVanCity.ca to support their favourite wineries by ordering wine online.
The wineries were enthusiastic about promoting their wines and by offering incentives which included, for some, reduced cost for, or free, shipping. A few wineries offered “self-isolation” wine packs with special pricing. Certainly many wineries are upping their social media presence with virtual tastings, wine chats and updates on new releases.
With over 50 wineries participating in the #ShiptoSip campaign (about all one blogger can handle) I am encouraged by the loyalty of fans of British Columbia wines. Most wineries report good traffic for their e-commerce. Most are offering “no contact” pick-up and “to your door” delivery.
As a wine consumer myself I know it can be tough to put aside the day to day tedium and stresses this situation has created but I encourage you to continue enjoying the pleasures of the mighty grape and support your favourite winery by shopping online.
Now at the end of April we have almost exhausted, quite literally, the #ShiptoSip campaign. I’m not ready to give up yet and starting on May 1st #JointheClub will launch and MyVanCity.ca will be reaching out to our readers to support their local wine industry by joining a wine club.
Here is the link to our #ShiptoSip features with all the details of incentives and innovative offerings of wineries we endorse https://myvancity.ca/2020/03/22/shiptosip-our-weekly-recap-of-bc-wineries-shipping-wine-to-your-door/
With about another week to go the list of participating wineries continues to grow. Every Sunday the recap updates, giving readers lots of options to support local wineries.
For more on the subject of how you can support BC wineries please read this article by our wine reviewer extraordinaire Sam Hauck, aka @Sam_WineTeacher
Next it’s on to #JointheClub
Let’s all continue to support our local and favourite wineries by shopping online and please stay safe!
