Door still open to private wine stores

The Ontario government is keeping the door open to private wine stores or other types of retail venues to sell homegrown wines, the minister of consumer services says.

On Tuesday, the provincial government revealed plans to boost the sales of Vintners Quality Alliance wines made entirely with domestic grapes, while shrinking support for Cellared in Canada wines, which are made with up to 70 per cent foreign juice.

But the plan made no mention of creating a new chain of retail stores to sell wine, an idea that’s been pitched by the Wine Council of Ontario and others for years.

Among the more popular ideas are VQA-only stores and fine-wine stores, selling a mix of imported and domestic wines.

Consumer Services Minister Ted McMeekin said the province is still willing to consider other ways of selling Ontario wine.

“Everything’s on the table,” said McMeekin, adding the government will be continuing talks with grape growers and wineries over the next two months.

“We’re prepared to look at some additional (retail) options, and we look forward to doing it. We’re open to discussion.”

In its plan, the government has pledged to dedicate more shelf space at LCBO stores to VQA wines made of 100 per cent Ontario grapes, and to focus more marketing on them, McMeekin said.

The majority of Ontario’s more than 140 wineries can sell their products only through onsite retail stores and the LCBO, if they can squeeze their way onto packed shelves.

Meanwhile, only a handful of Ontario’s biggest wine companies — namely U.S.-owned Vincor Canada Ltd. and Andrew Peller Ltd. — have the right to operate more than 200 private wine stores.

That right was grandfathered in the 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement.

While applauding the government’s effort to champion VQA wines, Niagara craft winery owner Moray Tawse said private wine stores need to be part of the plan.

There isn’t enough shelf space at the LCBO to service all Ontario wineries and all their products, said the owner of Tawse Winery in Vineland.

“I think the industry thinks that if we had our own stores, that just sold VQA, that would be positive,” Tawse said.

While happy with the province’s VQA focus, the Grape Growers of Ontario were also hoping the government’s plans would include immediate help for more than 50 struggling growers that have yet to sell any of their fruit this fall.

More than 9,000 tonnes of grapes are unsold this harvest.

The government’s blueprint charts a long-term course for the wine industry, including raising the domestic content of Cellared in Canada wines to 40 per cent from 30 for four years.

By 2014, the domestic content requirement of Cellared in Canada wines will be eliminated, leaving the door open to wines made with 100 per cent foreign juice. The change will be coupled with heavier taxes for Cellared in Canada wines to encourage producers to make more VQA wines.

All these measures don’t help growers facing an immediate crisis, said Debbie Zimmerman, Grape Growers of Ontario CEO.

“Some of the growers have said too little, too late,” Zimmerman said.

“Even though growers may appreciate the changes that are going to be made for the future, and sets a solid foundation, we still are concerned obviously that there’s nothing that’s going to help these growers immediately.”

Donna Lailey, co-owner of Lailey Vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake, said if the province makes all the changes it promises, it should really help small wineries.

“I think it comes down to the consumer,” said Lailey, a founding member of the Vintners Quality Alliance who sits on the province’s Greenbelt Council.

“If the LCBO does what it’s supposed to do, and government follows through on what they say they’re going to do, then it’s up to the consumer whether we survive or whether we don’t.”