It’s no better time to sip a glass of Ontario vino and support the province’s wine industry.
Ontario is noted for its award-winning wines and icewines, which come from wineries in the Niagara area, Prince Edward County, Lake Erie’s north shore and other emerging regions across the province.
But with U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canadian goods since returning to office last month, it has resulted in anger and outrage north of the border.
In response, the brewing trade war has sprung an organic but widespread movement among Canadian consumers to buy local and support products grown, crafted and made in Canada.
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“One way we can stand up for ourselves and our country is to buy from our neighbours, buy from our nation, and provide that through buy local,” said Doug Whitty, president of 13th Street Winery and Whitty Farms in St. Catharines.
“It’s really important. Throughout Canada, we have a lot of great products and services that we create and provide for other Canadians to enjoy. So we hope this is an opportunity to just bring that to the forefront in people’s minds and hearts. We have to support each other in the face of an existential threat.”
Whitty, the third generation of his family who has tended the soil over the last century in the Niagara area, said the winery would be somewhat affected if tariffs are imposed as the company has some inputs from the U.S.
But exporting his product is a relatively minor part of the business and it would have a minimal effect on overall sales from retaliatory measures by the Canadian government.
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However, his focus is on growth across the province, especially the Greater Toronto Area.
“There’s still a lot of people in the GTA who are not aware of the great quality and value of our Ontario wines,” he said. “We will continue to focus in Ontario, specifically the GTA.”
In the province, to ensure that the wine is a 100% Ontario product, a VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) symbol is added to the bottle’s label. It certifies the wine meets specific quality standards for grapes and winemaking.
Michelle Wasylyshen, president and CEO of Ontario Craft Wineries, hopes the attack on Canadians continues to stay top of mind among consumers and, ideally, changes peoples habits.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for us,” she said. “People are listening like never before and I think people are angry at the U.S. Donald Trump is unpredictable, so hopefully that anger doesn’t go away.”
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Wasylyshen said the buy local movement is not new to the wine industry.
“We have been singing that hymn for a very long time,” Wasylyshen said. “When you look at it, we are a made-in-Ontario industry.”
According to Wine Growers Ontario, the industry generated approximately $5.5 billion to the province’s economy and employed 22,300 people in 2019.
Aaron Dobbin, president and CEO of Wine Growers Ontario, said there has been sales growth for Ontario wines over the last couple of years, and the interest has heightened since the tariff threat.
“We are seeing a lot of consumers looking for Canadian and Ontario products,” said Dobbin. “We are very supportive of that, not just in wine, but supporting local jobs and local economies in general.”
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Dobbin said a trade war would have minimal impact on Ontario’s wine industry as Canada ships very few products to the U.S.
In fact, according to Dobbin, the eight largest wineries in the U.S. makes more product than all of Canada.
At LCBO stores, American wines account for about 20% of market share and VQA wines is around 6%.
“Our biggest growth opportunity is taking market share away from imports,” Dobbin said. “We’ve been very focused on local for awhile and that’s where we see our growth opportunity, in getting Ontarians to try and enjoy our great Ontario wines.”