YUMMY YUCATAN DIP
Pair it with a sparkling rose wine
Regular readers of this space will have read several columns over the last 30 years lamenting the use of the word Canada on wine bottles containing foreign juice.
My discontent was always about the wording and the positioning of these wines in wine stores. Labelling them as “Cellared in Canada” (CiC), allowed them to bask unfairly in the growing interest in Canadian wine and, more often than not, they were allowed to reside in the Canadian section of wine shops — or, at worst, inches away from popular, authentic local wines.
To the unsuspecting consumer they were all but Canadian. The large commercial producers used similar — and in some cases the same — branding and labels as on their well-known Canadian estate wines, allowing them to effectively to play on both sides of the fence while at the same time further confusing the lessthan-knowledgeable wine buyer about the origin of these wines. Finally, the deception is over. Last week the federal government announced stricter labelling guidelines to rein in the use of the word Canada on wine labels. To be clear, no one in the wine community ever had a problem with the blended wine category, or the thousands of consumers who enjoy drinking them; it was all about the word Canada, and the positioning of those wines in stores.
On April 1, producers will be prohibited from using the word Canada on their labels.
New regulations for blended wines bottled in Canada, from both domestic and international grapes, will require the use of one of two statements on the label: if the wine contains predominately imported juice it must be labelled “International blend from imported and domestic wines.”
If domestic grapes lead the blend, the label must read “International blend from domestic and imported wines.”
It may not sound like much, but getting Canada off the label makes a world of difference to outsiders looking in on Canadian wine, and respects the time and effort made by thousands of Canadians who worked tirelessly for three decades to build a homegrown wine identity that respects our land and its terroir. I have little doubt the damage to the latter was totally lost on CiC producers.
Let’s hope there is no need to shame wine retailers to take up the challenge to rebrand the section and move it away from the Canadian wines to avoid any further confusion. It may turn out to be an opportunity to
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It’s going to take a lot of leadership and gumption to get it done — or perhaps a trip to the recently held ProWein, the world’s largest and most important wine show. Wandering the endless aisles and buildings housing today’s international wine world for three days is as inspiring as it is daunting. The competition is organized, and it is endless. And it’s not waiting for Canada to get into the game — in fact they would be happy if we stayed home.
The end of CiC allows Canadian wine producers to focus on new horizons and where they want to go moving forward. To borrow some ideas from the highly successful Own the Podium program launched to make Canada a world leader in high-performance sport, we need visionary and collaborative leadership. We need to be innovative, to be nimble and flexible, and to be solutions-focused.
If you want a culture of excellence you must work at it. We can start April 1, no fooling.