NEW DESIGNATION HERALDS NEW ERA FOR CANADIAN WINE
After decades of discontent, the wine category infamously known as the Cellared in Canada, and since renamed International Canadian Blended, is about to get a new name.
The CiC issue has pitted some of the country’s largest producers — Peller Estates, Jackson-Triggs, Magnotta and Mission Hill, to name a few — against a cadre of small, feisty, estate-based producers diametrically opposed to seeing the word Canada or Canadian placed on any bottle containing juice from outside Canada.
Cellared in Canada, as it’s best known in the west, or International Canadian Blended, as it’s referred to in the east, have been the centre of many controversies over the last quarter century. The producers claimed they needed these wines to compete against the world, but it was mostly just a gift handed to the large commercial wineries during the original free trade agreement deal with the United States.
At a time when few cared about Canadian wine, these bottles bearing pseudo-European, South African, South American and Australian names showed up in the imported section of wine stores looking like cheap imported wine. Over the decades, as Canadian wine became fashionable, the names and labelling shifted to look more domestic and the same wines started showing up among Canadian wines in retail stores.
Throughout consumers blissfully unaware, or simply disinterested in the origin of what they were drinking, gave the category life based on what they wanted to buy — drinkable wine at attractive prices. As the furor grew over labelling, the producers of these ginormous international blends found themselves in an untenable position — talking Canada in their tasting rooms and literally pumping out foreign juice, labelled Canada, on the other side of the wall.
During countrywide meetings last fall, Canadian producers agreed to do away with any mention of the word Canada on labels as they relate to any wines they make containing foreign juice.
The new label designation will be “International Blend from Imported and Domestic Wines.” They also voted to start the transition to the new label designation as soon as possible, with a goal that the new designation be incorporated into federal law through the food label modernization process.
Dropping the word Canada from the label is a game changer for critics. No “Canada” means no more image problems. It may even settle once and for all where these wines should reside on retail wine shelves — not in the Canada section.
For a lot of us who care about Canadian wine, it ends a long saga of distaste with some unattractive marketing practices. Internationally, it will be widely hailed as a victory for brand Canada.
It’s hard to know why the changes came now. It could be that with the arrival of wine sales in grocery stores in Ontario that include imported and domestic wines, these high profit, cheap wines are heading for a new home, where they will be welcomed with open arms.
What we do know is the change will make it easier to clean up the rules regarding the authenticity of Canadian-made wine, and turn the conversation back toward what really counts: Who is making great Canadian wine? You’ll find this cake on the Earls’ restaurant menu in fall and winter. They serve it with vanilla gelato, roasted apples and salted caramel sauce but I’d say, a dollop of whipped cream would do, too. From Earls The Cookbook. — Mia Stainsby 1 1/4 cups (310 mL) hot water 1 1/8 cups (280 mL) fancy molasses 2 tbsps (30 mL) finely grated ginger 5 oz (140 g) room temperature butter 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) brown sugar 2 eggs 4 cups (1 L) all-purpose flour 1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder 1 1/4 tsp (6 mL) ground cinnamon 3/4 tsp (4 mL) fine salt 1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cloves 1. Bring hot water, molasses and grated ginger to a simmer in a small saucepan. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature before proceeding. 2. Preheat the oven to 300 F. With mixer, cream the butter until fluffy and light coloured. Add the brown sugar and contin- ue creaming until the sugar has dissolved into the butter and the mixture is very soft. Scrape down the bowl several times during this step.
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition. Mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cloves. Add a quarter of the dry ingredients to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until incorporated. Add a third of the cooled ginger and molasses mixture slowly until combined in the batter. Repeat these steps, ending with the dry mixture, mixing about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes between additions and scraping down the bowl.
4. Line the base of a 9-inch (23 cm) springform pan with parchment, folding the excess paper underneath the base to form a tighter seal. Grease the base and sides well.
5. Transfer the gingerbread batter to the pan and bake at 300 F for 2 hours, turning at least once while baking. A skewer inserted, should come out clean with only a few moist crumbs.
6. Makes a 9-inch cake.