Albertans can buy B.C. wines straight from producers again
Posted Jan 8, 2025 6:18 pm.
Alberta wine lovers rejoice because you can buy wines straight from B.C. once again.
The provinces have a deal in place that allows Alberta to collect taxes from B.C.‘s wineries selling directly to Alberta customers.
“It absolutely helps,” said Lauren Skinner, director of sales and marketing, Painted Rock Estate Winery. “At the end of the day, we all want to ship to Canadians.”
“It’s a move towards free trade,” she added. “That’s what we’re all looking for.”
Being able to once again deliver wine directly from B.C.’s Okanagan, to a doorstep in Alberta is good news for Painted Rock Estate Winery.
Alberta banned direct to consumer sale of B.C. wine last year, saying they were side stepping Alberta taxes.
But this new deal has some Edmonton liquor stores feeling they’re being squeezed out of the market.
“This whole section here was all B.C. wines at one time,” said Grant Schneider, owner of Aligra Wine & Spirits.
Aligra Wine & Spirt in West Edmonton Mall used to boast the biggest B.C. wine collection in Alberta.
“At one time, we had about 694 skews of bc wines,” said Schneider. “We’re now down to about 40.”
Schneider believes the growth of direct-to-consumer sales has taken a chunk of his business.
And other liquor stores CityNews spoke to off camera, say they’ve stopped stocking B.C. wine completely.
For B.C. wineries like Painted Rock, they’re hoping Alberta liquor stores will come back on board.
“We all still want to go down and have availability of our favourite wines on a moment’s notice,” said Skinner. “Shipping direct to consumers, there’s never going to be a moment’s notice.”
“You can’t remember your dinner plans and go ‘I should’ve grabbed a bottle’ and go order it online.”
The deal between B.C and Alberta for direct-to-consumer sales will last one year before undergoing a review, and only for 300 AGLC approved wineries.
