Changes to wine industry step in right direction but too late for this year

While the recent announcement of changes to provincial legislation is good news, MPP Kim Craitor is critical of himself and his government for not acting soon enough to help growers this year.

His government has released a five year strategy to promote VQA wines and increase local content of Cellared in Canada wine.

More shelf space will be made available for wines made from 100 per cent Ontario grapes, said Craitor, with more up-front promotion at the LCBO for local products.

His government will also implement legislation that calls for clear signage and labeling to eliminate confusion and ensure consumers know what they’re buying, he said.

“I’ve had a really positive response from growers who are pleased with the recommendations to help make the industry successful for the long term,” said Craitor.

But as growers are rushing to pick the grapes that are sold, about 10,000 tonnes will likely remain unharvested, with no buyers in sight.

It’s the growers without contracts that Craitor has concern for this year, he said.

“The issue still remains of what to do in the way of compensation for those growers who don’t have contracts.”

He will be asking for transition funding to get those growers through this year, he said.

“It’s not like I haven’t asked for it before, I have,” said Craitor.

His government said last year’s funding was one-time only assistance, with a promise for supporting legislation, but that didn’t happen, said Craitor.

“We should have had a plan in place last year to implement this year.”

He’s worried about at least “20 local growers who say this is a crisis situation—that if their grapes don’t get sold they won’t be around next year,” said Craitor.

Grower John Thwaites expects he will be shaking some of his grapes to the ground, left to rot, although he is still finding buyers.

He said he appreciates all the work Craitor has done on behalf on the growers, and the five-year plan is good news and definitely on the right track.

“I’m not sure what exactly went on in the back-room discussions, but I’m sure Kim had a lot to do with the recommendations,” said Thwaites.

“I'm quite happy with what I’ve heard, although there are still some details to be worked out. It should have a positive effect down the road.”

But he admits to being “a little self-centered” in wishing there was something on the table to help growers with unsold grapes—grapes growers continued to invest in their crop during the summer while they waited to hear the government’s plan.

“My ongoing concern is the unsold grapes this year, and next year if there are any,” said Thwaites.

“The government helped us last year (with a $4-million buy-out) but they’ve said they wouldn’t do that again this year. They also said they would have a new plan in place by February, but they didn’t have an agreement between the grape growers and the wine council, so the government didn’t do anything until now.”

If they had had their plan in place in February as promised, growers might have done things differently this season, and wineries might have bought more grapes, he said.

“Instead of coming through as promised they left us on our own.”

If anything more is going to be done to salvage this year’s unsold crop, “it will have to be done quickly.”