Foxy Wines

Recently there has been a great deal of noise surrounding "cellared in Canada" wines. It is not very well known in the general public that several Canadian wineries import grapes from other countries, label their bottles Product of Canada and then sell them right next to the VQA wine section.

VQA stands for Vintners Quality Alliance and is an "apellation of origin" system that guarantees the authenticity and minimum quality standard of the wine. One of the stipulations to being a VQA wine is that 100% of the grapes used to produce the wine must have been grown in Canada (specifically in Ontario for Ontario wine, and BC for BC wine).

Unlike VQA wines, Cellared in Canada wines do not need to be comprised of 100% Canadian grapes. In Ontario only 30% of the grapes must be from Canada and in British Columbia none of the grapes need be grown locally. This means that although you may be shopping in the Canadian wine section at the store, and the bottle of wine you pick up may have the name of a Canadian winery on the label, it is quite possible that the wine wasn't even fermented in Canada at all.

As I drive through the Niagara region it is quite obvious that the local grape growers are protesting against this practice that started back in the 1980s. Placards and signs bring to the attention of passers-by that literally tons of grapes are left to rot on the vines each year as they cannot be sold to wineries who are choosing to import grapes to keep costs down.

I am a big supporter of Canadian wine and want to promote it whenever I can. However, I also think that the Canadian industry wouldn't be where it is today without having had the opportunity at the beginning to produce wine that was of decent quality and at a good price. It was the imported grapes that tied the Canadian wine industry over while the newly planted V. Vinifera vines were maturing and it provided wineries with the money to develop their businesses. Rather than criticizing wineries for selling 'cellared in Canada' wines I would like to see the government that controls the sale of wine change its regulations so that signage and wine labels are more obvious about what percentage of the grapes have been imported, and from where were they imported. In the mean time, if you are looking for a decent quality Canadian wine, stick to those with the VQA symbol.