Finance committee  Thank you, Chair Easter, and members of the committee. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here today representing my company, Devonian Coast Wineries, the largest winery in Atlantic Canada and the seventh-largest in Canada, as well as the Winery Association of Nova Scotia and its growers

Finance committee  Yes. I understand that both the EU and the U.S. in particular, along with a couple of other countries, have made that statement, but to add a little weight to my colleague's comments, we're a highly leveraged industry. I grew up on a farm myself, and this is farming at its roots.

Finance committee  I would like to comment on that as well. One of the challenges, as my colleague mentioned, is the new U.S. administration. It is focusing on tearing up NAFTA, or renegotiating it. But three industries have been singled out: dairy, softwood lumber, and wine. The United States co

Finance committee  The impact on wineries of my size and larger—certainly in the top 10 wineries in the country—would be profound. Much of it, as I mentioned earlier, relates to our overall financial structure, including our lenders. It would have a serious negative impact on our bottom line. Mine

Finance committee  No, it's for publicly traded companies. Obviously it is public. I come from 25 years of running food companies in Canada and the United States. Coming in as an investor into the wine industry, the actual financial ratios were not that different. The margins at a gross profit leve

Finance committee  Correct. It's significantly less.

Finance committee  Do you mean in revenue per acre?

Finance committee  There are differences across the country in yields per acre depending on the region, the grape variety, and the style of wines we're trying to produce. On average, across our market we would be at about three tonnes per acre. For the cost of a tonne of grapes, right now we're ave

Finance committee  Had Pete Luckett been aware—and he is today—when he started this initiative that this threat was looming, he would be having second thoughts about that investment, as he probably is today. You're quite right about the Annapolis Valley becoming a focal point for tourism. It's actu

Finance committee  An average winery in our region would be around 7,000 or 8,000 cases. You apply the math. It's 63¢ a litre; a case is nine litres. So, someone do the math.

Finance committee  Yes, it's about $40,000, which is meaningful for a—

Finance committee  For 5,000 cases, that would be 10 or a dozen people.

Finance committee  For sure.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  Innovation is the lifeblood of our industry.