For the greatest selection of Mission Hill Family Estate wines, visit us in the Okanagan Valley or go to one of the Artisan Wine Shop locations. North Vancouver, British Columbia #119 - 123 Carrie Cates In Canada, Mission Hill Family Estate wines are available coast to coast in specialty wine shops, restaurants and bars. You can also purchase our wines at your local liquor store. To learn more about purchasing our wines in Canada, please consult the following. Prince Edward Island | *Alberta has a privatized liquor industry. We invite you to visit your local retailerThe United States government has officially lodged its concerns with Canada over British Columbia’s policy of restricting wine sales on grocery store shelves to B.C. wines exclusively. A United States Trade Representative (USTR) official confirmed that the B.C.-only policy for grocery shelf wine sales is now on its radar screen after the California wine industry submitted a brief to the USTR claiming the Canadian scheme is a foreign trade barrier.

The U.S. wine industry claims B.C. is violating Canada’s obligations as a member of the World Trade Organization [WTO] to treat imports no less fairly than it treats domestic products. The involvement of the USTR in the wine dispute does not necessarily mean it will escalate to the point that the U.S. seeks retaliatory tariffs through the WTO, said Vancouver wine lawyer Mark Hicken. However, that the U.S. government is now openly paying attention shows the issue is “no longer just sabre-rattling,” he said. The election of Donald Trump adds another element of risk. “I think you will now have an administration that is going to be either anti-trade or is going to bear down on what it views as any violations of trade obligations,” Hicken said. “It could be problematic for both softwood lumber and the wine issue.” The USTR is the U.S. agency that handles trade disputes. Its highest-profile issue with Canada is negotiations for a new softwood lumber agreement, but B.C.’s wine policy is of sufficient concern that the U.S. has already raised it with both the Canadian and B.C. governments, the USTR official said.

The issue for the Americans is that such a model excludes them from grocery store sales, which have grown to form a significant part of the total market in other jurisdictions where they are permitted. The California-based Wine Institute pegs the cost of trade barriers raised by Canadian provinces at $500 million. The B.C. law, it says, is the most problematic trade barrier it faces in Canada, as it opens up a broad array of opportunities to domestic producers that are not available to U.S. exporters. “Canadian provincial rules violate Canada’s commitments as a member of the World Trade Organization – particularly its national treatment obligations under Article III:4 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,” Wine Institute vice-president Tom LaFaille said in an email to Business in Vancouver. “We believe your provincial government needs to modify its regulations to allow imported wines to be sold on grocery shelves, a privilege only granted to 100% B.C. wines.”

Teresa Wat, B.C. minister of international trade, said in an emailed statement that B.C. is “mindful” of its international trade obligations but is confident of the approach it has taken.•The number of grocery stores that sell B.C. wine on shelves is rapidly expanding across the province, despite a City of Vancouver moratorium on such sales and increasing diplomatic angst from Canadian trade partners.buy and send wine online Overwaitea Food Group (OFG) launched wine sales at its eighth Save-On-Foods grocery store in Parksville, on July 15, and OFG president Darrell Jones told Business in Vancouver that he expects to have wine sales at a ninth store, in White Rock, in early August.beer and wine near me hours “A wine section will also open in our Prince George store later this year,” Jones said.sweet dry wine white

Jim Pattison Group-owned OFG had previously launched wine sales at two Save-On-Foods stores in Surrey, two in Kelowna and one each in Tsawwassen, Langley and Maple Ridge. All of those stores operate under operating agreements that OFG has with the British Columbia Wine Institute to use its licences.best wines under 15 bc OFG bid to buy all six wine-sale licences that the B.C. government put up for auction in late April and early May. best dessert wine under 30In each case, however, it was outbid by Toronto-based rival Loblaw Companies Ltd. (TSX:L), Jones said.best wine towns in france “They were very expensive,” he said of the licences, which required a minimum bid of $125,000 each, plus a $25,000 refundable deposit.the great wines of new zealand

“At some point it gets beyond being a good business decision for us although that’s not to say that it wouldn’t be good for somebody else.” Neither he nor the B.C. government would say how much the winning bids were.wine in france bar None of the wine-sale licences have yet transferred to Loblaw because the winning bidder only wins the right to go through the application process.best hot wine recipe Only when the government approves a location for a new wine store, or section of a grocery store, is the licence transferred. The government then will reveal the winning bid price and the winner will pay the money to government, explained Ministry of Small Business director of communications Bill Anderson. If the winning bidder is unable to have a location approved, the second-highest bidder will get the chance to do so.

Anderson said that the government will auction up to 12 more wine-sale licences, although he would not provide a timeline. To participate in the BC Auction auctions, bidders must be pre-screened grocery store owners who have, or will have, a minimum 10,000-square-foot store that primarily sells food. The store may be located anywhere in the province – even if there is a liquor store next door. The issue of wine on grocery store shelves has been controversial with municipal governments, domestic winemakers, consultants and international trading partners. The City of Vancouver voted last year to conduct a comprehensive review of wine in grocery stores before it approves any stores to conduct those sales. That decision followed OFG-owned Urban Fare applying to have a wine section at its store on Alberni Street and Non Partisan Association councillor George Affleck lobbying  for the city to have a lenient approach to approving wine sections for grocery stores.

(Image: Rising Tide Consultants principal Bert Hick is concerned about the impact of wine sales in grocery stores on the B.C. wine industry) Church and State Wines owner Kim Pullen, who is part of a coalition called the B.C. Alliance for Smart Liquor Retail Choices, told BIV that he fears that allowing wine sales in grocery stores will be bad for small and medium-sized B.C. wineries because the grocers will want to carry larger-volume, more affordable wines for reliable sales. Rising Tide Consultants principal Bert Hick, meanwhile, is concerned that owners of smaller grocery chains will not have deep enough pockets to buy the new provincial licences. “Small and independent grocery stores are frozen out, they can’t compete,” Hick said. Then there’s the April 29 letter to Premier Christy Clark signed by representatives to Canada from the European Union and six countries: the U.S., Argentina, Australia, Chile, Mexico and New Zealand. “B.C. implemented new wine-sale regulations that only allow sales of B.C. wine on grocery store shelves,” the signatories say in the letter.