Wines of British Columbia Increase Presence in United States
Kelowna, BC – (December 3, 2013) – The Wines of British Columbia are now more accessible than ever to customers in the United States thanks to a partnership between the British Columbia Wine Institute (BCWI) and Good Company Wines.
The United States has always been one of BC’s top tourism drivers and guests who visit our wine regions continually question where they can find our wines when they return home. The US is the most important market for wine today and will continue to have enormous influence on the global wine industry in years to come. After passing the French and Italians for largest total wine consumption in 2011 (according to Impact Databank), Americans consumed 324 million cases of wine in 2012, which is a 7.7 percent increase over five years ago, and those numbers are only expected to grow in the next five years.
“With the expansion of BC grape acreage and getting our harvest back on track from previous years, we now have supply to allocate to consumers long denied BC VQA wine,” said Miles Prodan, President of the BC Wine Institute. “US consumers will now have access to premium BC VQA wines – as will influential US wine and travel writers who, until now, have been reluctant to showcase product unavailable to their readers.”
“What better postcard from BC Wine Country than a bottle of BC VQA wine?” asks Prodan. Currently, four of BC’s premium producers are listed on www.WineBCUSA.com: Black Hills Estate Winery, Laughing Stock Vineyards, Meyer Family Vineyards and Painted Rock Estate Winery.
“We are very excited to work with the Wines of British Columbia as they are in line with all of the things our company does in terms of bringing exciting wines to consumers,” said Tony Westfall CEO of Good Company Wines. “BC VQA wines are fantastic and I was truly impressed by the quality across the board.”
For more information about the program and to view the current listings, visit www.WineBCUSA.com.
About British Columbia Wine Institute
Since 1990, the BCWI has played a pivotal role in taking BC’s wine industry from a vision to an internationally recognized niche region producing premium wines and providing quality wine tourism experiences.
Representing 137 member wineries throughout the province, the BCWI supports and markets the Wines of British Columbia (BC VQA), which gives consumers assurance they are buying a wine that is made from 100% BC grapes. The BCWI also markets the Wine Regions of British Columbia; delivers quality trade, media and consumer tastings; and acts as the voice of BC’s wine industry by advocating to government on behalf of its members. Learn more at www.winebc.com.
About Good Company Wines
Based in the heart of California’s wine country, Good Company Wines is the parent company for Invino.com, the original private sale site for wine as well as inclub, a completely user driven wine club experience. Under the Good Company Wines umbrella is GCW distribution and GCW importing. The company currently imports and distributes over 100 unique brands mostly from France and Italy.