Nova Scotia wine program backlash baffling to company that stands to profit the most - Action News
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Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia wine program backlash baffling to company that stands to profit the most

The program would provide between $6 million and $12 million a year to companies that bottle wine in the province but can purchase their grapes from outside of Nova Scotia and Canada. The president of Peller Estates says investing in all aspects of the wine industry is good for the entire sector.

'I really don't know what they're saying,' says John Peller, president of Peller Estates

A handful of grapes.
According to information shared with CBC News, Nova Scotia's wine program would provide between $6 million and $12 million a year to companies that bottle wine in the province but can purchase their grapes from outside of Nova Scotia and Canada. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press)

The president of a company that stands to profit the most from a new provincial wine program is baffled by claims the incentive could be "catastrophic" to local wineries.

"I think that reference is hard for me to comprehend. I really don't know what they're saying," John Peller, president of Peller Estates, told CBC News.

"That would be like them saying that investment in the cider industry [is] threatening to them. In fact, I'm the living proof that investing in all aspects of the wine industry, both the value and the premium, is good for the entire industry."

Acomment about the program being catastrophic was made earlier this week by Karl Coutinho, board chair of Wine Growers Nova Scotia and president of Avondale Sky Winery in Newport, N.S.

Coutinho said he and his colleagues are concerned local wineries wouldn't be able to keep up with commercial producers that can buy cheaper grapes abroad, produce more and charge less.

Peller said the provincial program that would provide between $6 million and $12 million a year to companies that bottle wine in the province but can purchase their grapes from outside of Nova Scotia and Canada came about after the province approached his company following a deal between Canada and Australia to resolve a trade dispute.

A man sits at a desk in front of windows.
Jonh Peller is president of Peller Estates. (CBC)

He said his company suggested the program as one way to support the wine industry.

Ontario-based Peller Estates has a winery in Truro, N.S., withcapacity to produce about400,000 cases ofwine, sparkling wine and cider a year. Peller said his company uses more than 1.27 million kilograms (2.8 million pounds) of Nova Scotia apples for its cider each year.

Claudia De Fuentes, a professor who teaches innovation and entrepreneurship at the SobeySchool of Business at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, has studied Nova Scotia's wine industry. She says the changes may not benefitthe whole sector.

A woman wearing a red shirt and glasses sits next to a fireplace.
Claudia De Fuentes is a professor at the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. (CBC)

De Fuentes says the Houston government needs to consider the consequences of the incentive on local grape growers.

"They can kill orreally harm the farm wineries in Nova Scotia because they are really eroding the capacity that farm wineries have been developing over a period of 30 years, right?In terms of growing grapes, in terms of grape production or wine production, but also in terms of innovation," she said.

De Fuentes saidlocal wineries are also a boost to tourism and contribute more to rural economies.

With files from Jean Laroche and Josh Hoffman