Whine about Wine

I'm a big fan of wine. It all started as a childhood curiosity at special family dinners when everyone, except me, being the youngest, had a glass of wine. My sister started getting into wine a few years ago and treated me to Zinfandel, a light, cheap "beginners" wine from California. Since dating a guy whose family are, professionally, wine connoisseurs, I learned a fair bit about wine and gained an appreciation for the unique climate and soil that allows the Niagara region to be one of the only places in Canada where grapes can be grown for wine. The world of wine in Niagara has seen some setbacks recently, however.

The Niagara Wine Festival (or commonly known as the Grape and Wine Festival) is a fantastic shit show that many people look forward to every year. However, the state of the economy has made organizers scale back the event. Corporate sponsorship is down and the festival has to rely on a $100,000 line of credit from the city to keep the gears moving. There are hopes that the festival will receive a $200,000 grant from Industry Canada to support the festival, a prospect that is still unknown.

But I wonder if any festival goes have stopped to consider those "Green Belt Disaster" signs sprinkled across the region. Driving past, it's hard to get the gist of what the signs are implying. Even a simple google search failed to come up with answers. But dig a little deeper and you will find that industry insiders and wine connoisseurs are pissed that wineries are importing grapes from international producers to mix with local wines. Wine makers only have to use 30% local grapes to be considered "cellared in Canada," a label that is misleading to shoppers at the LCBO. The result is cheaper wine, which rattles me even more because I can't comprehend how shipping wine from outside the country is cheaper than growing grapes and producing and bottling wine in our own backyards. It doesn't really make sense.
Anyway, the implication is that lots and lots of grapes are being left on the vines to rot because there is no use for them. Farmers suffer because the wineries don't want their more expensive grapes. And yet, that 30% counts for something. If people were to boycott the "Cellared in Canada" wines the economic implications would make the situation worse, suspects Rick Vansickle who suggests the region should just get serious and plant more grapes, as mass production often leads to a cheaper product. Personally, I'm going to buy more VQA wine... at least Peelee Island makes $10 bottles.

By the way, Grape and Wine starts September 18th and ends of the 27th. Details here.