Information Release

Despite years of promising to increase the market share of Canadian wines and to raise the profile of Ontario wines, LCBO Vintages’ own documentation has repeatedly shown that the exact opposite is true. While Vintages racks up one record year after another, the share enjoyed by Ontario wines steadily dwindles.

With NAFTA firmly entrenched in the Canadian economy and negotiations currently underway for a similar agreement with the European Union, you’d think that free trade between provinces would be a given. Canadians from all provinces can order Quebec cheese or Saskatchewan cherries or Maritime seafood for delivery to their home province. But the same freedom does not apply to another Canadian product: wine. You cannot order a bottle of wine from that nice little winery you visited in another province last summer and have it delivered to your door.

Despite the various changes underway in Ontario’s wine regions, the 2010 harvest threatens to yield an even greater grape surplus than in the two previous years combined. Unlike other wine regions, where surpluses were a result of over-enthusiastic planting, Ontario's surplus is driven to a large degree by the needs of large factory wineries. In 2009 those wineries purchased nearly 14,000 fewer tons of Ontario grapes despite strong sales of Cellared in Canada (CIC) wines.

RELEASE # 19 – April 2010

“Good Things Gro-o-ow In Ontario Vineyards, Too”

Since 1977, Foodland Ontario has been promoting consumer awareness of Ontario-grown fresh and processed agricultural products. An initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ontario, the program also includes deli, fresh meat, dairy, and baked goods. Their “Savour Ontario” program identifies local tourist and vacation areas as well as fine dining establishments. The program frequently includes images of wine in their advertising.

Foodland Ontario’s stated goals include:

RELEASE # 18 – February 2010

“From Concord to Cabernet, The Ontario Wine Industry Celebrates 200 Years”

Background

Johann Schiller is acknowledged as the “father” of the Ontario Wine industry. Schiller opened Ontario’s first wine venture in 1811 in the area of Mississauga now known as Cooksville, where he offered to the public wines made from wild labrusca grapes. From this humble beginning, the Ontario wine industry took root.

RELEASE # 15 – January 2010

Liberals say No to Win-Win Opportunity

There may be good news for Ontario's fruit wine produces in the New Year -- if MPPs vote in favour of the Liquor Licence Act amendment known as Bill 132. The bill would allow farms that produce fruit wines to display and sell their wines at farmers' markets in Ontario. OVA has supported this initiative from the beginning, but it was shelved last fall despite substantial support from MPPs.

OVA wants to state for the record that, no matter where you may stand in relation to the Ontario wine industry, we are all on the same team. We all want a healthy wine industry, an industry that can be proud of the products it produces while providing a suitable return on investment for all producers.

As Ontario vineyards head toward the 2009 harvest, it is with considerable disappointment and distress that OVA would like to bring you up to date on the state of the industry. As wine growers, as wine makers, as consumers, and as Ontarians, we at OVA regret to report that:

• Many Ontario grape growers will have no market for their grapes again this year, which for some may lead to bankruptcy;

Bill 132 (2008) is a proposed amendment to the Ontario Liquor License Act that would allow farm wineries to sell their wines at farmers markets. The bill has passed first and second readings in Parliament, yet it appears to have languished since December 2008 despite strong support from Fruit Wines of Ontario, Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), Farmers Markets of Ontario, and members of the Ontario Rural Caucus.