Canada: Ontario Grape Growers Seek Market Share

Ontario grape growers want their government to follow British Columbia’s approach to boosting sales of domestic wines. Ontario is the largest wine-producing province in Canada, but wines made entirely from Ontario grapes—typically marketed under the Vintners’ Quality Alliance (VQA) seal—claim just 9.5% of the Ontario market. By contrast, British Columbia VQA wines—made solely from B.C.-grown grapes—claim 19.5% of the market in B.C. “It isn’t that consumers don’t want to buy Ontario wine; it’s access to the market,” Debbie Zimmerman, CEO of Grape Growers of Ontario, told Wines & Vines this week. Ontario wineries primarily depend on winery shops and the network of 630 stores operated by the government’s Liquor Control Board of Ontario for sales. B.C. wineries, on the other hand, sell from the cellar door, 195 government stores, 683 private retailers and 21 VQA stores with a mandate to sell wines made solely from local grapes. The latter operate under licenses the government granted to the B.C. Wine Institute in

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