A Vernon family business that's been producing wine and liquor bottles since 1985 is shutting down later this month, and its production manager says B.C.'s devastated grape crop was "the straw that broke the camel's back."

Universal Packaging will have its last day of production Sept. 26, production manager Richard Christianson told The Morning Star. 

The company, which Christianson said will be filing for bankruptcy, has a production facility on Kosmina Road and supplies glass packaging solutions to craft brands. It primarily produces wine and liquor bottles.

Christianson said Universal Packaging's clientele is about 80 per cent American and 20 per cent Canadian. He said the business had been struggling since about six years ago, claiming tariffs on Canadian goods imposed by then U.S. President Donald Trump cut sharply into the company's profits. 

He said the company once boasted upwards of 55 employees, but dwindled in the last three years and is now down to as few as 17 employees as production nears the end of the line. 

B.C.'s wine industry was dealt a severe blow when a January cold snap wiped out the grape crop in the province almost entirely, with Wine Growers British Columbia predicting in February that 97 to 99 per cent of typical grape production would be lost. 

Christianson said he's aware of some wineries in B.C. that are importing grapes from the U.S. this year, but believes those that will produce a 2024 vintage will be producing much lower quantities than in normal years. 

The resulting contraction of the B.C. wine market proved to be a death knell for the Vernon company, Christianson said.

"You take this year with the bad crops that all the winemakers are having with the frozen vineyards, and that is enough to topple us after 39 years of business," he said.

Christianson has worked at Universal Packaging almost since its beginnings.

"I'm in year 38," he said. 

"I don't know how many employees we've gone through in that many years, but there's a lot of people who have worked there when they were in school, worked there as an adult, come and gone and come back. It's always been a stable place where if you needed a job, come down to Universal."