Niagara can reinvent itself and take its rightful place in the global economy. Thankfully, a significant consequence of the seismic global economic restructuring over the past two decades has been a growing recognition of cities and regions as the main centres of economic development and job creation.

The ice-wine grape harvest has begun in Ontario's Niagara Region. The Niagara Falls Review reports that temperatures dropped below minus-10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this week, which is the point at which the harvest can start.

The union representing more than 7,000 LCBO workers has endorsed the Crown agency's decision to open 'Express' stores in several large grocery stores and to inaugurate boutique outlets for the sale of Ontario quality wines.

For three weekends, from January 11th through the 27th, the annual culinary event will showcase Niagara's finest wineries and the talents of its best chefs. Attend tastings and pairings near this Niagara Falls hotel, and learn from the experts at seminars including All You Need is Cheese, where Deborah Levy from Dairy Farmers of Canada will show you how to pair your favorite cheese with wines and Icewines.

One of the region's staunchest defenders of agriculture has taken issue with a South Okanagan winery's bid to expand its drink menu. The owners of Tinhorn Creek Vineyards near Oliver are seeking a new food-primary liquor licence for their Miradoro Restaurant that would allow them to serve alcoholic beverages other than B.C. wine.

One among the new store formats is LCBO Express stores, which will be smaller in size and will allow LCBO to meet consumer demand for products like Ontario wine, spirits and beer, whereas, the LCBO VQA Destination Boutiques, a full-size LCBO store, will offer consumers an expanded range of Ontrario's VQA wines.

A small winery on the northeast coast of Newfoundland is about to expand its production to ship thousands of cases of its products to China. "We've just signed a deal and we're pretty excited," confirmed Grant Young, the owner of Auk Island Winery in Twillingate.

Ontario will launch 10 pilot "LCBO Express" kiosks within grocery stores to make wine, beer and liquor purchases more convenient to customers,

June saw the passage of Bill C-311, an amendment to the 1928 Importation of Intoxicating Liquors Act that decriminalized interprovincial wine sales.

"We've just signed a deal and we're pretty excited," confirmed Grant Young, the owner of Auk Island Winery in Twillingate.

"MacLean feels comments about her posted to a U.S. website in December were so nasty that they have damaged her reputation and presented unnecessarily harsh personal descriptions of her. She is considering launching a lawsuit against some of her fellow wine writers in response."

An Ottawa wine writer used reviews from other writers on her website without properly crediting them. And as if that's not ripe enough, a U.S. online wine magazine says she requires some wineries to buy a subscription to her website before she'll review their wines.

Every wine lover across the world, for at least once, wants to visit the beautiful city of Niagara in order to taste one of the most delicious Ontario Ice Wine. Ice wine is brewed from the frozen grapes thus named as Ice Wine. To pamper the taste buds of wine lovers came here, proper Ice Wine Festival in Niagara is celebrated every year in the month of January.

Canadian wine critic Natalie MacLean has denied offering wine reviews in return for website subscriptions, but has promised to fully reference third-party reviews amid growing scrutiny of her practices.

Blue Moon Estate Winery has created a Comox Valley first: ice apple cider. Similar to ice wine, a sweet after-supper treat made from grapes frozen on the vine, ice cider is made from frozen freshly pressed apples. The result is a golden, sweet, spiced dessert wine that tastes intensely of apples.

The group has recently launched a fun education website on this topic, www.mywineshop.ca, where any interested adults can design their own wine retail space; from theme to name -- even the location where they'd open it -- the website gives John or Jane Q. Public the virtual power to make it happen.

It's meant to be an inviting way to uncork your dream wine store - while making a point the time has come for independent wine stores. In an innovative campaign that started mid-November, the Wine Council of Ontario is asking visitors to www.mywineshop.ca to create their own shops that sell domestic and import vintages.

The number of wineries planning to make ice wine in British Columbia this winter is up, but odds are in favor of lower overall production. British Columbia Wine Authority general manager Steve Berney told Wines & Vines this week that 30 wineries registered by the end of October to pick grapes for ice wine production, up slightly from 27 last year.

A Montreal wine collector is suing the Societe des Alcools du Quebec for nearly CA$1m after his collection was allegedly exposed to harmful bacteria. Robert Chiraz had been storing his 3,000-plus bottles since 2009 at a Quebec storage facility operated by Société des Alcools du Québec (SAQ).

Saskatchewan is in the process of getting three new, private, liquor stores, and a new ad from the SGEU says that's going to take money away from the government. The Saskatchewan Party government argues that this is not the case.