I don’t usually write about local provincial issues unless I get really upset. So something has really upset me and I, as a citizen of Canada and Ontario am trying to do something about it.
Dear Premier McGuinty,
I was shocked to learn something today that troubles me as a Canadian and
Ontarian. What I learned was this – I think I am being duped by the LCBO when
I try to support Ontario by buying Ontario wine.
I found out that”Cellared in
Canada ” wines are really basically IMPORTED WINES!! – and that 70% of the grapes used to make them are grown outside of our province. That’s really unacceptable, not to mention that it’s deceptive on the part of LCBO to lead us to believe these are really Canadian wines.
Surely this is totally wrong and represents a form of “cheating”. Ontarians through deceptive displays in our local LCBO’s. Most of us don’t know a whole lot about the background on the wines we buy…but we do expect that when we buy a domestic product – it IS domestic and not foreign.
As an Ontarian who voted for you, I would hope that you will take immediate steps to correct this situation.
Yours sincerely,Jim Reed
I was shocked to learn something today that troubles me as a Canadian and
Ontarian. What I learned was this – I think I am being duped by the LCBO when
I try to support Ontario by buying Ontario wine.
I found out that”Cellared in
Canada ” wines are really basically IMPORTED WINES!! – and that 70% of the grapes used to make them are grown outside of our province. That’s really unacceptable, not to mention that it’s deceptive on the part of LCBO to lead us to believe these are really Canadian wines.
Surely this is totally wrong and represents a form of “cheating”. Ontarians through deceptive displays in our local LCBO’s. Most of us don’t know a whole lot about the background on the wines we buy…but we do expect that when we buy a domestic product – it IS domestic and not foreign.
As an Ontarian who voted for you, I would hope that you will take immediate steps to correct this situation.
Yours sincerely,Jim Reed
I really do hope that our government will take the right steps to correct this situation.
I think that the ‘big’ winemakers – Brights and Andres are the names that pop into my head – started doing this at least 30 years ago when Ontario wine was still really crap.
They wanted consumers to buy Ontario but really, who could drink that swill. So they imported wine, a lot from France, and blended it with the minimum they could get away with and produced half drinkable wines.
There are a couple of interesting wikipedia entries about Canadian wine and wineries – Don Ziraldo was a pioneer. Wonder what he’s doing now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_wine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inniskillin
Cheers! LOL
it means that thousands of tons of Ontario/Canadian grapes will be left to rot on the ground. Disgraceful.
the question is… are they good wine grapes? If they are then wineries should make good wine with them. If they aren’t then they should pull them out.
And if they can’t make a cheap drinkable wine that competes with the Chilean or Argentinian wines they shouldn’t bother.
I just want the LCBO to be honest
McGuinty was recently described as “an affable incrementalist”….. someone who can manage changes politically as long as they’re small enough.
He’s a small-change politician.
No doubt this rubs off on his senior bureaucrats who allow the kind of thing you describe.
It’s like stealing a penny at a time. Who’s going to notice, other than ink-stained cranks like us?
This guy doesn’t bark with the big dogs but somehow has the knack of staying on the porch.
geez L.A. that’s so incisive!!
now…what can be done about it