[Growwine] St Catherines Standard.

[Paul Troop]

The point of all the regulations and the compliance of organizations like the LCBO is to serve the needs of commodity wine producers. From the perspective of the artisan winery and those interesting in growing in a truely sustainable fashion this sounds a bit evil. On the other hand it would be a shame if the low priced commodity wines disappeared, that would definitely make things harder overall for everyone. What is needed is an understanding by both sides of each other's needs and some workable compromises acheived in the provincial legislations. Obviously Nova Scotia is on the right track but I have some concerns that with wine industry growth in that province there will be regulatory changes that don't necessarily favour the artisan wineries. 

Paul
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Paul Bulas 
  To: growwine at littlefatwino.com 
  Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 11:26 AM
  Subject: Re: [Growwine] St Catherines Standard.


  Another ironic twist to this whole thing is that I bet if the Ontario wine scene were not so dogmatically anti-labrusca and could get past the old ways of vinifying native grapes, it might be possible to create a whole new niche market for wines made from them - and call them "old vines" to boot, as many juice vineyards are in fact "old vines" - maybe older than most other varieties we have in the province today.  There are boutique wineries in New York State who are making, for example, cryogenic wines from Concord, Delaware, etc. (Lakewood in the Finger Lakes does exactly this, and look what they're charging for them - http://www.lakewoodvineyards.com/borealis-label.html)  The wines do have a following there and we have a similar climate here in Ontario.  But invariably, the uppity press apparatus will decry this, being firmly fixated on the past - which, by the way, has rightly been buried. Why not apply quality vinification to these varieties, reinvent the styles for which they are known, and add something new to our overall wine tapestry?

  If anything, the cheap plonk blends should be called into question instead, as maintaining native grape vineyards would help our local growers.

  The point is, we have the terroir in Southern Ontario to make something better from the native grapes than was ever made here before quality wines of hybrid and vinifera lineage became the norm.  Tearing them up seems hasty, and not thought-through.

   
  ----- Original Message ----
  From: Ryan Daum <ryan at darksleep.com>
  To: growwine at littlefatwino.com
  Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 2:02:34 PM
  Subject: Re: [Growwine] St Catherines Standard.

  When they say increase shelf space for cheap Ontario wine, I presume
  this basically means "Cellared in Canada" plonk, since I can't think of
  many VQA wines in this price point.

  That's not good news.

  Ryan


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