{"id":2596,"date":"2011-02-22T15:19:44","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T15:19:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2011-02-28T19:41:39","modified_gmt":"2011-02-28T19:41:39","slug":"ontario%e2%80%99s-wines-toast-better-days-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/?p=2596","title":{"rendered":"Ontario\u2019s wines toast better days ahead?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I never thought drinking on the job would be acceptable…until this occasion of the<\/em> most-looked-forward-to drinking event in Ottawa. From the moment one enters Lansdowne Stadium, the notion that ours is the city that fun forgot becomes a distant and misinformed mockery of this very enthusiastic (and, at the moment, red-faced) crowd. Immediately approaching me are my 20-something-year-old friends, tongues as purple as the grapes I saw in Hartman\u2019s for $3.29 a pound earlier today.<\/p>\n

\u201cOHMYGOD! Have you seen <\/em>the <\/em>guys in here?\u201d they ask me, with more than just excitement adding to their drawl.<\/p>\n

They were absolutely right. On this Friday night, quarter after six, the very crowded stadium field brims with sleek, male government workers in handsome suits (Government of Canada tags strategically half-hanging from their pockets). Groups of women, coddling their male colleagues, are in their winter best. All are dressed to impress at this year\u2019s 25th<\/sup> annual Ottawa Wine and Food Show.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nBartender Tiffany Gagn\u00e9 at the booth of the Ottawa restaurant Steak. Only 10 percent of Steak\u2019s wine list is Canadian.<\/p>\n

For its first 22 years, the show was owned and operated by Halina and Robert Player, under the corporate banner Player Expositions.\u00a0 The Players built the show with little support from Ottawa\u2019s foodies\u2014it was even suggested by one food writer, said Mr. Player in an interview years ago, that Ottawa \u201cwasn\u2019t ready for that kind of show.\u201d Yet, not long after the show\u2019s humble beginnings, it gained momentum, and has for many attracted more than 26,000 people annually. In 2008, Ottawa businesswoman Joan Culliton became sole owner of the show. Averaging over 200 exhibitors and featuring over 1,400 wines, spirits and beers, in addition to foods from across the world, the show claims to mirror Canada\u2019s\u2014specifically Ottawa\u2019s\u2014\u201cvibrant culinary scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

I attempt to explore and get my tasting on, which I soon realize will not be easy for someone barely 5-feet-3-inches short. I shuffle through a towering herd all heading the same way as I, toward the ticket-sale booth. One sheet of 50 tickets costs $20, with each \u201csample\u201d glass of wine, pint of beer or shot of vodka or Patr\u00f3n (a luxury tequila) ranging between three and eight tickets (eight was unusual: vintage wine). Put into perspective, that\u2019s a lot<\/em> of booze for a little pocket-change. I notice the man in front of me proudly showcasing his cufflinks, shaped like wine bottles and purchased specifically for the occasion. From the way he\u2019s bragging to the woman on his left arm, I guess that they\u2019re on a return <\/em>trip to the ticket booth.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe reporter (left<\/em>), with a friend and fellow wine enthusiast, takes a breather amid an arduous evening of sampling.<\/p>\n

The rows of booths are crowded with people busy with their hand-to-stem, nose-to-glass, sniff-swirl-sip routine. Servers hired by the Wine and Food Show run around tirelessly with large bins in an effort to clear the miniature wine glasses from the tables…and benches… and garbage-can lids… and floors…<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, chefs from Le Cordon Bleu hurriedly prep their food, with the smell of garlic, cheese and fish harmonizing into one surprisingly tantalizing scent. The wine and food reps bustle (each with company dog tags hanging from his or her neck), trying to barter the coveted lobster poutine in exchange for glasses of Chardonnay.<\/p>\n

And while the guests are drunk with happiness, the chefs thrilled to be cooking their best and the wine reps keen on hawking their products, a lonesome booth in a dark corner\u2014near the inside of the truck-unloading bay, at the building\u2019s far end\u2014is being outshone (literally) by other, better lit booths.<\/p>\n

Welcome to \u201cWine Country Ontario,\u201d featuring a string of 20 Niagara wineries. Despite its chipper reps behind the counter, the booth is egregiously overshadowed by Wolfblass, LCBO and the like. How could this happen?<\/p>\n

\u201cBooths take bucks,\u201d explains Ken Burton, President of the Ontario Wine Society. \u201cYou spend more, you have your choice of prime space.\u201d<\/p>\n

To me, the Ontario wine booth\u2019s forlorn situation symbolizes Ontario\u2019s wine problem generally: Across the world and especially in Canada, we\u2019re underperforming; we\u2019re under-appreciated. Ontario delivers some fine wines, but even Canadian consumers look elsewhere. I decide to ask why.<\/p>\n

The LCBO: Friend or Foe to Ontario Wine?<\/p>\n

Rod Phillips\u2014wine author, Ottawa Citizen<\/em> wine columnist and Carleton University professor of the History of Alcohol\u2014co-chaired the show\u2019s wine competition, having drawn up new protocols for 2010. He says that Ontario wineries have been internationally recognized for exactly one product: icewine. Yet it too remains on the shelves.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be iconic,\u201d says Phillips. \u201cNo one buys it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nOttawa wine pundit Rod Phillips
\nco-chaired the 2010 competition.<\/p>\n

He says, \u201cThe problem with Ontario wine production is that Ontario has yet to find its niche: something other than icewine. They\u2019re trying to grow everything, and people are just not tuned in enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just uninvolved consumers and a fuzzy focus on product that are to blame. Endemic problems in retailing also play a role, according to Phillips: \u201cThere aren\u2019t many channels [in Ontario] for wine to be sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

On this economic question, I maintain that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a foe to the wine community. Due in part to its structural problems, or perhaps because it is a Crown corporation whose goal it is to generate profit for the government, it has reportedly posed difficulties to small wineries in putting their wines on its shelves, thus limiting the wineries\u2019 sales outlets to restaurants and the wineries\u2019 own stores. The reality is that for the LCBO, it is cheaper to purchase a mass-market wine from California than it is to stock a Riesling from the Niagara region. As our once Prime Minister Mulroney said to former American President Reagan, \u201cYou drink our beer, and we\u2019ll drink your wine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Ontario wineries face legal impediments in getting their wine to the public, according to Shirley-Anne George, founder of the Alliance of Canadian Wine Consumers. That\u2019s why since November 2010 George has spearheaded \u201cFree My Grapes,\u201d an Ottawa-based movement.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nA bronze medal at the show went to Ontario\u2019s Vineland Estate Chardonnay, available for sample for a meagre three tickets.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree My Grapes\u201d is a group of concerned wine consumers who will challenge a Canadian law, the Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act (last revisited in 1928), which prohibits the sale of wine directly from wineries to consumers across provincial borders. To put it into context, George explains, \u201cI can bring home two bottles of wine from Argentina, but can go to jail for bringing home a bottle from British Columbia or Quebec.\u201d<\/p>\n

George says the group is working toward personal exemptions for individuals looking to buy wine cross-provincially. She says the dismissal of this archaic law would not only provide another avenue for sales, but \u201cwould encourage people to visit wineries within the country,\u201d instead of travelling outside of Canada to wineries in California, for example.<\/p>\n

Wine and Food Show owner and producer Joan Culliton wrote that she is pleased to announce that, for autumn 2011, \u201cthe Show will become the Ottawa Wine and Food Festival\u2014an extended five full days of tasting and celebrating local, national and international wines, beers, spirits and cuisine.\u201d Maybe by then, through continual efforts by united winos throughout Ontario, that lonesome corner booth\u2014perched sadly in the corner like a forgotten party guest\u2014will shine a little brighter. Cheers to hoping, for next year\u2019s Ottawa Wine and Food Festival<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Related Links<\/p>\n

“What you’ll be pouring in your glass in 2011”- Globe and Mail<\/a><\/p>\n

Wines of Ontario<\/a><\/p>\n

Free My Grapes<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ottawa\u2019s annual Wine and Food Show spotlights the world\u2019s best in wine. But while\u00a0European and U.S. wines regularly take centre stage in the show\u2019s competitions,\u00a0Ontario wines remain far from the limelight. Is there a good reason why?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[98,136,95,96,97],"class_list":["post-2596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all","tag-free-my-grapes","tag-lcbo","tag-ontario-wine-industry","tag-ottawa-wine-and-food-show","tag-rod-phillips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":148,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4420,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions\/4420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/capitalarts\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}