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Quality: The VQA designation (Vintners Quality Alliance) requires a professional tasting panel to approve each wine.

Acreage: British Columbia currently has an estimated 9,100 acres under vine, up from just 1,000 acres planted in 1989.

Geography: The southern Okanagan Valley in the area between Oliver and the border is classified as part of the Sonora Desert, which runs south to the Baja Peninsula in Mexico.

History: In 1931, Calona Vineyards opened as the first commercial winery in the Okanagan.

Geography: Lake Okanagan, at 144 kilometres long and 3.5 kilometres average width, is the source of much-needed water for irrigation for vines in the Okanagan Valley.

*Schreiner, John - British Columbia Wine Country, Whitecap Books Ltd., 2003

  
 
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT – BUILDING QUALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY.
 

The BCWI has coordinated research and development on behalf of members and the larger wine industry with our Research & Development Committee, throughout its 15-year history. The committee has conducted a range of research projects that raised the bar for vineyard productivity and wine quality – key to the emergence and success of the BC wine industry.

As well, our fruitful partnership with the federal government’s Pacific Agri-food Research Centre in Summerland has enabled us to pursue important enology and viticulture research.


 
© 2006 British Columbia Wine Institute.  All rights reserved.