British Columbia | Wine Terms

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British Columbia

Although British Columbia can point to a wine history dating back to the 1860s, it wasn’t until the late 1980s that this western Canadian province really got serious about making quality wines. The trigger was the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which, once enacted, would mean that Canadian wineries would no longer enjoy the protection of not having to compete with imported wines. Faced with losing what wine industry there was, the British Columbia Wine Institute was created in 1990, mandating standards for British Columbia wine. These criteria followed ONTARIO’s lead in embracing the VQA program, establishing designated viticultural areas (VA), and setting standards and certification criteria for wine. British Columbia now has four VAs—Fraser Valley, Okanagan Valley, Similkameen Valley, and Vancouver Island. The Okanagan Valley VA, with over 40 wineries and 4,000 acres of vineyards, is the largest and most important—it produces about 95 percent of the province’s wines. The 120-mile-long valley is situated around the deep Okanagan Lake, which is in south central British Columbia about 200 miles east of the city of Vancouver and about 10 miles from the Canada-United States border. Unlike the far west of British Columbia, this area is arid. The valley’s southern section, which is Canada’s only classified desert area, is warmer and drier than the northern end. This range of climates allows a wide variety of grapes to be grown in the valley including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot in the south, and Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Pinot Noir in the north. The Similkameen Valley VA is a small area just west of the southern part of the Okanagan Valley. It has only a couple of wineries and less than 200 acres of vineyard. The Fraser Valley VA is another small growing area (three wineries) just outside of Vancouver—east and slightly south of the city. The Vancouver Island VA covers not only all of Vancouver Island but also the neighboring islands west of British Columbia’s mainland and south of the fiftieth parallel. Vineyards here are primarily around the city of Duncan on the eastern side of the island about 30 to 35 miles north of the city of Victoria. The climate is cool, and the focus is on early-ripening grape varieties. There are about 135 acres of vineyards and ten small wineries in the area. The most popular white variety grown in British Columbia is CHARDONNAY, followed by GEWÜRZTRAMINER, PINOT GRIS, PINOT BLANC, RIESLING, and SAUVIGNON BLANC. The reds in order of popularity are MERLOT, PINOT NOIR, CABERNET SAUVIGNON, and CABERNET FRANC. British Columbia now has over seventy wineries.

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