Attorneys call ban on interprovincial shipments unconstitutional

Elypsis, Inc., of Napa, a leading provider of software solutions for the wine industry, announced today the establishment of a joint venture in Canada to deliver country-specific winery management software solutions.

Niagara-on-the-Lake's Ravine Estates Winery 2007 Merlot. Jordan-based Le Clos Jordanne's 2006 Le Grand Clos Pinot Noir. Beamsville's Hidden Bench 2007 Nuit Blanche. Just to name a few.

For nearly two decades, Donald Ziraldo was the face of Canadian icewine.

While the recent announcement of changes to provincial legislation is good news, MPP Kim Craitor is critical of himself and his government for not acting soon enough to help growers this year.

Critical to the success of the Ontario government's plan for the wine industry are two key factors. One is setting grape prices, and this will be a sticky issue for the government. No matter what it decides, it will leave an entire sector of the industry disgruntled as the Wine Council of Ontario is advocating for direct negotiations with growers.

This is a tough business decision, but one that will help Diageo remain highly competitive ... " stated the company's vice president of bottling in Canada, Mario Leduc.

Sure Canadian vintners bottle foreign-grown grapes. But, hey, isn't that Sicily I taste in the French 'Burgundy'?

What many see as an honest attempt last week to boost Ontario's wine and grape industry others view as an insidious attempt to block foreign competition. "This is going to be one of those x's against Canada of a protectionist measure that we have put in place in the economic times," says Cyndee Todgham Cherniak, a Lang Michener LLP international trade lawyer.

Wineries are being kept in a box that's keeping them from growing, says the chairman of the Wine Council of Ontario.

Ontario and British Columbia address Cellared in Canada designations: Consumers demand transparency

To boost the local grape content of wines made in Ontario, the provincial government issued on Tuesday new regulatory and tax change regulations.

The Ontario government is keeping the door open to private wine stores or other types of retail venues to sell homegrown wines, the minister of consumer services says.

The British Columbia wine industry has taken swift action to address confusion over the marketing of wines blended and bottled here but produced elsewhere.

All three of Canada's largest wine producers are working on new labels for some of their best-selling wines after complaints that consumers were being hoodwinked into thinking they were made from Canadian grapes.

Wines made from foreign grapes will be moved out of the B.C. products section in government-run liquor stores, Agriculture Minister Steve Thomson says.

One would think that all wineries are involved in the "deception" of importing wine and marketing it as having been produced in B.C. In fact, only a small percentage of B.C. wineries are allowed to buy imported bulk wine - those that hold a commercial winery licence, such as Mission Hill, Jackson-Triggs and Vincor.

MPs and senators intend to sidestep a law that prevents other citizens from ordering wine out of province when they sip wines from the country's top producers at a special tasting in the House of Commons dining room later this year.

Mother Nature can't deliver Canadian grape farmers from a drop in prices

Read the fine print on the labels of some of the lower-priced B.C. wines and you'll find they are "cellared" here from domestic and imported sources. In fact, a B.C. wine need not contain a single drop of Canadian wine and lower-priced products probably don't.