Wine lovers and makers rejoice.
Imagine, you travel from Alberta to have a nice summer holiday in Salmon Arm. You decide to pick up a few bottles of wine to enjoy on your trip. When it is time to return home, you realize you still have a couple of bottles left, so you throw them in the back of your car and return to your Alberta home.
Until July 12, this would have been illegal.
A number of months ago, wine-lovers and wine-makers got together to make some noise about British Columbia’s outdated wine laws.
Now, British Columbians can officially order their wine of choice from any recognized winery from any other province that produces 100 per cent Canadian wine.
Not only can they bring some wine home after taking a wine tour firsthand, but they can order it online and have it shipped directly to their door.
“British Columbia is prepared to take the lead on opening up the Canadian marketplace for our world-renowned B.C. wineries,” said Rich Coleman, Minister responsible for liquor, in a press release July 12.
“Wine directly shipped from a winery in another Canadian jurisdiction to B.C. residents will be exempt from provincial mark-ups,” stated a press release from the Ministry of Energy and Mines’ Liquor Distribution Branch. “To be eligible for direct shipping, the wine ingredients must be 100 per cent grown and produced in the province it is being shipped from, and the wine must be for personal consumption only.”
There is no limit on how much wine can be shipped across provincial borders, as long as it is not used for profit.
This is not the only accomplishment achieved by wine activists.
On July 19, Coleman announced that British Columbians can now bring their own bottle of wine into participating restaurants and enjoy it with their meals.
“We want to provide our restaurant industry with greater flexibility in terms of the services it can offer to its customers,” said Coleman. “Today’s change does just that – it allows customers to pair their favorite wine with their favorite restaurant.”
Not all restaurants will be adopting this option, and those who do, reserve the right to limit the amount consumed, as well as charge a corkage fee.
Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the British Columbia Restaurant and Food Service Association believes this move may help restaurants from an economic perspective.
“More business will result in positive economic impacts such as increased employment and downstream benefits to suppliers of the industry. This is very innovative, flexible and common-sense policy,” says Tostenson.
Mark con Schellwitz, vice president of Western Canada for the Canadian Restaurant and Association, says “restaurateurs, especially those with limited wine inventories, welcome the option of allowing their guests to bring their own wine. This liquor policy change allows those restaurants’ guests who want to celebrate a special event by bringing a vintage bottle of wine from their own cellar to their favorite restaurant to do so.”
