Why not boost real Ontario wine in private shops?

On the recommendation of the Wine Council of Ontario the provincial government is giving serious consideration to allowing private wine stores in the province.

In principle, it's a good idea and a progressive step forward for consumers, retailers and wineries in a province where government-controlled alcohol sales have been rabidly protected.

But for it to be effective, it has to be done properly; that means these stores have to be established with the intent of boosting the market share of real Ontario wines.

As the wine council makes its pitch on this proposal to the government, it's incumbent on the government to reach out and get some thoughts and ideas directly from some smaller wineries and the grape growers. There are concerns that this good idea will go badly awry.

The major wine producers carry a lot of sway with the wine council, and those smaller producers and growers fear private wine stores will become overwhelmed with blended products from the big players, and thus do nothing to increase the sales or profile of Ontario VQA wines.

This fear comes from a wine council projection that each private wine store will demand 45 additional tonnes of grapes. This may seem like a lot until you weigh that against the 4,000 tonnes of grapes grown in 2008 that ended up on the ground because there was no buyer.

For private wine stores to work in Ontario -- and they can -- there should be an emphasis on Ontario products. It is the Ontario government's job to ensure its industries are adequately protected.

Thus the government should be breaking down all barriers it can to legislate a minimum amount of Ontario product be available with each wine store licence granted.

It could also help by revising the Wine Content Act to ensure more Ontario grapes go into each bottle of wine sold and enhancing and expanding education efforts that help consumers understand the difference between VQA wines -- the only assurance wine buyers have that that bottle of wine is 100 per cent made from Ontario-grown grapes -- and blended wines cellared in Ontario, which can contain up to 70 per cent foreign juice.

One would be hard pressed to find any other wine region in the world that promotes imported competitors as much, or more, than their domestic brands.

But that is precisely what Ontario's government-run liquor distribution system does.

This would be akin to government-sponsored commercials encouraging people to buy foreign cars or imported produce. The idea is inconceivable, yet in Ontario liquor stores it's accepted as standard.

The time is well past for the government to show some long-term support for Ontario's grape and wine industry, passing the regulations and legislation that will enable it to thrive, giving it the moral support it rightly deserves as a important local industry and ensuring it is a key feature in the greenbelt passed and implemented by this government.