As grape growing season gets underway in the Okanagan, small wine producers are becoming increasingly concerned about the upcoming season and their bottom lines. “Very worried about our survival,”Jayne Graydon told Global News.
Graydon and her husband Paul have owned Saxon Estate Winery in Summerland for more than eight years. The family winery is a small operation, which produces about 2,000 cases of wine per year.
Sales, though, have all but dried up due to the pandemic. “It’s quite severe,” Paul Graydon said. “We are a cash-flow winery, so we rely on sales to make our business. “So with a 90 per cent reduction in sales, it really does impact us hugely.” The huge drop in sales is attributed to the closure of Saxon’s tasting room and a big