by Tony Aspler
A new book published last week documents the phenomenal growth of the domestic Canadian wine industry over the past ten years. 'The Wine Atlas of
Canada' by Tony Aspler, ISBN 0-679-31334-6, profiles some 300 wineries from Vancouver to Prince Edward Island. Between 1997 and 2005 the wine industry enjoyed the 11th highest growth rate among the 215 industry groups studied by Statistics Canada. During this period, its real gross domestic product increased at an average annual rate of 7.1%, more than double the growth for the nation as a whole. The industry is, however, relatively small, accounting for only 0.03% of the nation's gross domestic product in 2005. It employs close to 2,500 people, which represents 0.14% of all manufacturing jobs.
"The day I finished the manuscript," says Aspler, "I had a call from a friend in British Columbia telling me of a new winery opening that day. When I googled it, the name came up on a page listing 25 wineries in the Okanagan Valley with licenses pending." Gone are the days when Canadian wineries opened on a shoestring. Today, there are multi-million dollar investments in infrastructure and vineyards. Canadians' taste for their own wines spurred the sales growth in this industry, as almost all of the increase has been the result of domestic sales. The latest figures show that, in addition to purchases of 204 million litres of imported wines, Canadians purchased 113 million litres of their own wine last year. Exports also increased, but remained at relatively low levels compared with domestic sales. The most important foreign markets for Canadian wines are the United States and Taiwan.
