Interesting discussion on CBC’s The Current this morning. Show brought together acclaimed British wine critic Jancis Robinson for the international perspective; John Peller who is the President and CEO of Peller Estates and one of the largest Cellared In Canada producers; and Seaton McLean, proprietor of Closson Chase who represents the small wine producers of Ontario.
A couple of highlights were that this practice is very common world wide. There is nothing wrong with it. The issue is that labeling and store categorization of the wines make it very difficult for consumers to distinguish between Ontario wines and wines containing significant foreign content.
Highlights included the interviewer, Jan Wong, describing the fine print on the back of the bottle with gold print on white background, barely discernable. Another highlight was Seaton McLean, in response to a question as to whether he thought the cellared in Canada practice was sneaky answered, after a thoughtful delay, “Useful.”
Interviews with consumers and the closing music made it quite clear that the Cellared In Canada practise, at least from the CBC’s perspective, is intentionally deceptive to consumers.
The discussion runs about 15 minutes and is available at the CBC’s The Current website.
There is no excuse for marketing Cellared in Canada beverages in Canada. It’s similar to tobacco companies selling candy lookalike cigarettes – an enticement to buy one thing (in this case “Canadian”) while the bottle has unkown content from offshore. Winemaking has a history of passion and art whereas CIC is tailored for large commercial processes and limits if not voids local craft wineries share of LCBO shelf space. Given an open market CIC could be tolerated but not when the market is controlled by a profit/tax incented bureaucracy. The argument for CIC is long past being valid (if it ever was)… now it’s just a money grab, a parasite on legitimate local wine making.
In addition to mislead us consumers, these Cellared in Canada wines are just making a few, often non-Canadian shareholders, rich. This news makes me feel cheated by my own Canadian countrymen and women. I rather stick with the delicious and straightforwar Yellow tail. I love their Shiraz!