In it’s short history of winemaking, and even shorter history as an official VQA-approved wine growing region (since June of 2007), Ontario’s Prince Edward County has amply established it’s suitability to making fine wines.

Something must be going on. If you haven’t checked it out, now would be a good time. According to the St. Catharines Standard, VQA sales (100% locally produced wines) are outpacing imports at the LCBO by a wide margin. “From April 1 to July 11, 2009, dollar sales of VQA wines were up 25.6 per cent, while imported wines increased by one per cent compared to the same period in 2008.” In addition to producing good wine, Ontario has developed into a hot tourist destination, now attracting an estimated 1 million visitors annually.

I know, I know, the recession is over. Doesn’t mean we can’t still enjoy a little meltdown-inspired deal. I’ve seen some pretty interesting things on the wine front in the restaurant business as a result of the downturn. For example, Amaya Indian Room on Bayview Avenue was charging a flat $19.29 mark-up on wines, and 1% of the closing DOW Jones industrial average for their prix fixe dinner for two (i.e. when they started the promotional offer, the average was just over 6000, meaning dinner for two went for $60). Now that it’s back closer to 10,000, they’ve ended the offer.

Attitudes towards screwcaps have changed, but we knew that. Here’s some more evidence, this time from a local source. Peter Blakeman, a professor of hospitality and tourism at the Niagara Culinary Institute, delivered a paper on July 8 at the Bacchus Goes Green conference in Dijon, Burgundy, organized by Brock University, the University of Burgundy, the Burgundy School of Business and UNESCO.

sang Graham Duncan of Now Magazine, who burst into that little ditty as the topic of Fuzion came up in the LCBO lab one morning. Has the world gone mad for Fuzion wine?

I was recently asked to be a guest along with Mike Mandel (aka Deacon Dr. Fresh, a gonzo wine journalist) on Canada’s national radio station, CBC, on the Radio Q show with Jian Ghomeshi to discuss the phenomenal success of the brand called Fuzion made by the Familia Zuccardi. Listen to the podcast here: http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/qpodcast_20090528_16267.mp3

A couple of weeks back, my friend Tara Q. Thomas, senior editor at US-based Wine & Spirits magazine was in Toronto to join me in co-hosting a seminar on Greek wines (a sub-specialty of hers and mine). Afterwards, as a proud host, I offered to pour her a few local wines so she could cathch up with the scene here in Ontario (Tara had not been to Toronto since she was 17, a few years ago…).

“I am a believer in the slow food movement, and I think we should start a slow wine movement, too” says Jadot’s president Pierre-Henry Gagey during his opening remarks at Barberian’s Steak House in Toronto last week. “Time may be our enemy, but it is a friend of wine. We are not here to make wines that taste perfect 1-2 years after vintage. What we are after are wines that will be at their best 10, 20, 30 or 40 years on.” This was to be a point he would amply demonstrate later on that evening.

Jean-Martin Bouchard, winemaker for Hidden Bench Vineyards in the Niagara Peninsula, Canada, is fully ‘en form’ and continues to push the envelope of quality for Canadian wine. This is JM’s 5th vintage at Hidden Bench, having arrived in time to deal with the generally excellent 2005 vintage. But coming from South Australia, the reality of dealing with the challenges of cool climate viticulture quickly became apparent with the more difficult ’06 and ’08 vintages. “We’re pretty confident we know how to handle these challenges now” says JM.