Alberta Bans BC Wine. Here’s the Pushback!
THE SHOW
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BC/ Alberta showdown
Nobody saw it coming.
We all woke up on a recent Monday morning to the news that the Alberta Government in retaliation to the BC Government’s environmental concerns about the interprovincial pipeline took the highly unusual step of banning BC Wines from sale in Alberta.
That’s 30% of BC’s wine sales.
That’s just as many tourism visits every year from our neighbour.
At first I could definitely hear the voice of Albertans. They were pissed and mad as hell!
BC was messing with their livelihood. After all the highs and lows what they really didn’t need in Alberta was a neighbour creating more hurdles to jump.
BC responded that they were protecting their invaluable coastline but in the middle of all of this were the farmers, growers, small businesses and stores of the BC wine industry and Alberta partners.
BC Wine Country
So I went to talk to the winemakers and stores. . I sought out people who had a sense of the battle ahead and why they were having a battle at all.
Some remarkable comments here:
Guests include:
Christine Coletta – Okanagan Crush Pad/Haywire https://okanagancrushpad.com
John Skinner – Painted Rock Winery www.paintedrock.ca
John Clerides – Marquis Wine Cellar https://www.marquis-wines.com
Michael Bartier – Bartier Bros. (his brother/partner lives in Calgary) www.bartierbros.com
Bob Shaunessy – Former Albertan and former owner of Tinhorn Creek. (currently in NZ)
Bruce Ewert – L’Acadie Vineyards Nova Scotia. Removed from the fray but former BC winemaker www.lacadievineyards.ca
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- Bartier Bros
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- Bob Shaunessy
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- John Clerides
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- John Skinner
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- Christine Coletta
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- Bruce Ewart
Roberto Roberti – Beverage Manager Fountana Group Canada (Canadian Rockies Whisky)
This interview with Roberto was supposed to be included in our coverage of the Victoria Whisky Festival but we ran out of time in the show.
Roberto Roberti
The interview is timely because their feature whisky Canadian Rockies is made from Alberta grain and corn. It’s welcomed and sold in BC.
Lots of great whisky information included.
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STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON:
Francesco Ricasoli – Oldest winery in Italy
Alex Chen – Gold Medal Plates wins Gold in Canada. This is how he did it.
2018 Van Wine Fest