Business
Richmond winery making, donating sanitizer products
By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
Published 12:21 PDT, Thu May 7, 2020
Last Updated: 2:13 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021
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Richmond’s Lulu Island Winery is switching gears to help with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Struggling with the drop in tourism and retail shopping, the Lulu Island Winery team took advantage of a new liquor and cannabis regulation branch policy that allows wineries with distillery licenses to produce high-concentration sterilized alcohol.
They re-processed some of their wine, turning it into concentrated disinfectant. Although this process is costlier than the process by which regular sanitizer is manufactured, the team was driven by a desire to help.
They had their alcohol sanitizer—which has a concentration of 75 per cent—and hand sanitizer licensed by Health Canada. Richmond’s Great Little Box Company provided packaging and label printing to support the endeavour.
The first batch of products will be finished this week, and 90 per cent will be donated to Richmond front line workers from S.U.C.C.E.S.S., Safecare BC, the Richmond Food Bank, and Senior Service Society.
The winery is currently working on its second batch of sanitizer and plans to continue donating to front line workers. They are also open to members of the public who want to purchase the sanitization products.
Lulu Island Winery sits on 15 acres on Westminster Highway in east Richmond. In addition to a large tasting and production facility, it also owns 200 acres of vineyards in the Okanagan Valley.