• Consumer
  • Industry
  • Media
Wine BC Industry
  • About WGBC
    • Organizational Structure
    • Guiding Principles
      • Wine BC 2030
      • Annual Operational Plans
      • WGBC Food & Tourism Strategy
    • BC Wine Industry Organizations
    • Contact
  • WGBC Membership
    • Become a Member
    • Members
    • Member Benefits
      • Marketing
      • Advocacy
      • Communications
  • Resources
    • Wines of BC Vintage Resources
    • April is BC Wine Month
    • Cultivating Experiences Program
    • Living The Brand
      • Brand Book
      • Wines of BC Image & Video Bank
      • Social Media Guidance for BC Wineries
    • Research & Insights
      • Member Exclusive Intelligence
      • Industry Reports
    • Industry Communications
      • Vintage 2024 Relief and Support Toolkit
      • CEO Update
      • Media Releases
      • Quarterly Report
      • Wine Jobs
    • BC Wine Industry Organizations
    • The Right Amount
  • Education
    • Wines of BC Ambassador Program
      • Level One
      • Level Two
      • Level Three
    • WGBC Webinars
    • BC Wine Region Maps
  • Events
    • Industry Events
    • Consumer Events
    • WGBC Events
      • Insight Conference
      • Industry Recognition Awards
      • Annual General Meeting
      • Winemakers & Viticulturists’ Forum
      • Swirl Around BC Wine Expo
      • Wine BC Bootcamp
      • Somm Smackdown
      • Judgment of BC
  • Awards
    • WGBC Award Consolidation Schedule
  • Log In
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Media Releases

MEDIA RELEASES HOME ARCHIVES

2014 Acreage Report Shows BC Wine Industry Maturing

October 22, 2018 / by: Darren

For Immediate Release:
October 22, 2014

BRITISH COLUMBIA – Growing quality rather than acreage is the focus in BC’s vineyards according to the 2014 Wine Grape Acreage Report.

After years of major growth in vineyard acreage throughout the province, this survey’s statistics have relatively stabilized, indicating that wineries and vineyard owners have made the decision to devote their resources to increasing the quality of wine that they are producing, rather than simply expanding their vineyard acreage to cover more land.

BC currently boasts a total plantation of 10,260 acres of wine grapes, up from a modest 4.1 per cent from 2011’s report. The previous report had shown a growth of 8.7 per cent over 2008, and double-digit growth in the preceding six years. The number of vineyards has grown to 929 in 2014, up 65 vineyards in the past three years. 67.2 per cent of the acreage is winery-owned or leased. The number of grape wineries in the province has also increased to its present count of 254 (up 21 per cent from 210 in 2011).

“Harvest tonnage continues to increase in some of BC’s earlier-established vineyards, due to the maturation of vines re-planted three to four years ago after hard frosts in 2008 and 2009. These plants are finally able to produce the normal quantities of fruit,” says Manfred Freese, President, BC Grapegrowers’ Association.

Top wine grapes planted in 2014 show only slight variance from the previous report, with Pinot Noir replacing Chardonnay as the third most planted variety and Cabernet Franc overtaking Syrah as the seventh most planted red grape, at 546 acres. In order of acreage, 2014’s top 10 most planted wine varieties are as follows:

1. Merlot (1,563 acres)
2. Pinot Gris (1,114.25 acres)
3. Pinot Noir (1,073.11 acres)
4. Chardonnay (993.8 acres)
5. Cabernet Sauvignon (755.82 acres)
6. Gewürztraminer (734.96 acres)
7. Cabernet Franc (546.13 acres)
8. Syrah (530.04 acres)
9. Riesling (510.99 acres)
10. Sauvignon Blanc (393.87 acres)

“The 2014 acreage report is a testament to the British Columbia wine industry’s commitment to producing quality wines rather than to increasing volume of wine,” says Miles Prodan, President & CEO, BC Wine Institute. “This focus on the continual improvement in the quality of the Wines of British Columbia can be measured in the record level of BC VQA market share here in BC and the overwhelming recognition in international competitions. Overall, this evidence demonstrates a definite maturity of our local industry and its evolution as a global wine producing region.”

The report in full can be viewed here.

Funding for this project was provided by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and the B.C. Ministry of Agriculture through programs delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of B.C. and in part by the BC Grapegrowers’ Association, the BC Wine Grape Council and the BC Wine Institute.

BCWI Media Releases


« BC Wineries Excited About Size and Quality of Harvest 2018
Search Near Not Far with the WINES OF BRITISH COLUMBIA this fall »

CONNECT WITH US

YoutubeFacebookTwitterInstagramYoutube

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Members of the WGBC are proud of their wines and are committed to ensuring their wines are promoted and enjoyed responsibly by those adults who choose to consume them for the continued enjoyment and prosperity of the BC wine industry.

Facebook
To explore more and access resources visit resources.therightamount.ca

WINE GROWERS BRITISH COLUMBIA

Suite 210 – 1628 Dickson Ave.
Kelowna, BC V1Y 9X1

info@winebc.com
p: 250-762-9744     f: 250-762-9788
tf: 1-800-661-2294

The WGBC is a volunteer, membership-based, not for profit society.
Wines of British Columbia logo
© Wine Growers BC   Privacy | Terms
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

OKLearn More

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies
Essential Website Cookies
Other external services
Privacy Policy
How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only