N.S. wine industry is ready to blossom, report finds

A new report from Wine Growers Canada says wine sales could provide a boost to the economy.

Wine Growers Nova Scotia lists 19 wineries in the province that produce almost 2 million litres of wine annually, and according to a study commissioned by Wine Growers Canada (WGC), there’s evidence there could be a lot more.

“Twenty-eight per cent market share, 29 per cent market share, which is what we have is nowhere near the 83 per cent in France. France has almost no import sold in their country, even more so in Spain and Argentina, where there’s about 99 per cent market share,” says WGC president and CEO Dan Paszkowski.

Deloitte put the report together. It shows domestic wine sales contribute $10.1 billion to the country’s GDP. If that market share were to increase to just 51 per cent, GDP would jump by more than $3.5 billion a year.

Reducing an excise tax paid by wineries as well as removing interprovincial trade barriers are other recommendations.

“The Government of Canada has removed all of our barriers to the interprovincial sale of alcohol. The Government of Canada has absolutely no restrictions on the interprovincial sale of alcohol. the provinces have a series of regimes around the sale of alcohol,” says federal Internal Trade Minister Dominic Leblanc. “We think the provinces need to do more. We’ve talked to the provinces about moving fast faster. The Government of Canada doesn’t own liquor stores, the provinces do.”

Nova Scotia is one of the provinces leading the way with direct-to-consumer sales. Wine Growers Canada would also like to see extended commitments to the industry from all levels of government

“If we’re able to put in place more long-term certainty for the industry so that investment starts to flow freely, I think that opens up opportunities for significant investment in Nova Scotia as a new and growing wine region in this country. If there is investment certainty, if there is tax certainty, if there is more research done into climate resilience, I don’t see why some of the larger wineries in this country don’t start investing in the province of Nova Scotia. Its time has come,” Paszkowski says.

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