The Vancouver Sun is reporting that Richmond’s little-known (around these parts, at least) LuLu Island Winery, about to host China House during the 2010 Olympics, might not be as BC-farm-based as they purport to be.
Seems at least some of the winery’s product, which is mostly exported to Asia, comes from Washington State’s Kendall Farms, even though their status stipulates that most of their product should be composed of BC products (although there is a tiny bit of wiggle room in there).
Much ado about nothing, or blatant misdirection to cash in on a lucrative export market?
Read the whole story here…
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2 Responses:
January 25th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I almost got caught in wine tasting passing off Wild Horse Wines as a BC product. I only wanted to serve BC wines - fortunately I caught the “co-operative” effort of Calif, Wash, and BC in time.
Is it common for BC wineries to use west coast grapes from south of the 49th parallel?
January 27th, 2010 at 10:24 am
It’s common for the larger wineries to use unfermented juice and finished wines from the United States and other countries to build their Cellared In Canada products. Smaller wineries jeopardize their status if they use product not grown in accordance to their license and taxation requirements. On rare occasion, fresh grapes are brought in as well. The temptation to use fruit, juice and wine from other locations builds when local prices rise, contracts fail and mother nature doesn’t co-operate.
I personally see no problem if a BC winemaker wants to use Washington grapes to make wine as long as it’s clearly identified as such. It’s important to maintain a presence in the marketplace even if the usual supply lines are hindered.
However, at no time should the consumer be under the impression they have been duped.