The construction sector may be taking the brunt of the economic storm but another B.C. industry -- one that's made our province famous -- is also being battered. The amount of wine being consumed around the world is down, and hard times in B.C. vineyards equals a softening of prices at the liquor store.

The vines are coming to life a little later than usual in the vineyards of the Okanagan this spring, and as the vines are carefully tied back, there are hopes that a late blast of winter didn't cause too much damage.  At the same time, the industry is looking at slumping returns on sales -- at least at for the pricier vintages -- so the wineries are uncorking sales like you've never seen before.

At the Discover Wine VQA Wine store in Kelowna, there are always some B.C. wines at sale prices. But 70 brands marked down? That's something new.  "We've got $7 off, $2 off, $5... these are reds," says Suzanne Mick of Discovery Wines, pointing out the bargains.

But not all wineries are suffering. At St. Hubertus in Kelowna sales are actually up.  Co-owner Leo Gebert chalks up his wineries success in hard times to keeping production costs and their prices in the store modest from the start.  "It was a little bit of a surprise," he said. "The whole family works here, the costs aren't over exaggerated. We don't have CEOs and basically expensive staffing we can keep prices lower."