BC NDP

VICTORIA – The B.C. Liberals are risking the reputation of world-class B.C. wines by allowing phony wine to be sold under the Olympic logo, New Democrat agriculture critic Lana Popham said today.

“These are not B.C. wines,” said Popham. “They are lower-grade wines being passed off as local, and they are not representative of the kind of world-class wines B.C. is truly producing.

“Instead of using the Olympics to showcase the superior wines we are really producing, the B.C. Liberal government is actually damaging the reputation B.C. wines have earned over the past decades.”

Among the wines carrying the official Olympic designation are wines imported in bulk, carrying the deceptive descriptor “cellared in Canada.”

The issue has already surfaced in the international media. Renowned wine critic Jancis Robinson called it “the Canadian Con” in the Financial Times and has written about it on her well-read blog. Robinson said the practice of labeling imported wines as “cellared in Canada” is “doing a disservice to real Canadian wine and its reputation abroad.”

“B.C. vintners are recognized internationally for their excellence,” said Popham, the MLA for Saanich South. “That’s what the government should be showing to the world, not some second-rate knockoffs pretending to be B.C. wines.”

Popham raised the issue in question period in the legislature Thursday.