The Vancouver Playhouse
International Wine Festival is pleased to have had this very special dialogue about
Canadian wine issues as part of the Trade Days Conference. What is Wine Brand Canada? Is it Icewine internationally? How does Cellared in Canada fit in? How relevant are
issues regarding sustainability?
Master Sommelier John Szabo moderated
the morning, in-camera Strategy Session (9:30 - 11:30 am) featuring presentations by Mike Weir Wine, Tinhorn Creek, LCBO, Vincor, Brock University, Flat Rock Cellars, Andrew Peller
and Mark Anthony Brands.
The Summit continued with a Canadian-inspired luncheon (the other two trade lunches were SOLD OUT) showcasing wines from British Columbia, Ontario and (for the first time at the Festival)Nova Scotia:
Currently there is no definition of Wine Brand Canada beyond Icewine.
The speakers seemed to have many different visions of what Brand Canada
should be, including:
Varietal
Regional
Sustainability
There was not agreement on which method should be the future direction.
Would we be able to get everyone to agree to focus on one variety, make
it the best in the world, own it? Probably not.
General agreement though that we need a Brand Canada, some kind of
focus.
Are we actually ready to develop a brand or is it too early in the
evolution of Canadian Wine? Maybe it will just happen over time. Should we
wait?
There is no practical need for business reasons to define a brand.
Current market encourages the opposite of a defined brand. It encourages
diversity.
·Sales are virtually all in own market and we need
diversity to get spots on shelves/wine lists
·We have high profit in our own markets – reduced
mark-ups for locals provide an advantage in own markets
All agreed that the focus should be first on building Canada wide
availability – own our own market.
To do this we need to address various barriers:
Provincial shipping
Different tax structures
Liquor board mark-ups
As an aside, there is plenty of room to still increase the market in
Canada. We are only at about half or less of our potential consumption. Can
double or triple consumption in Canada.
How?:
Awards
Pioneers
Marketing together
Currently though we are competing against each other, rather than
working together to compete against international competition.
Have to decide do we want to be in the text books, talked about
internationally, be on top restaurant lists? If so we would need to focus and
specialize. But currently we don’t need to do that for business reasons so
nothing happening.
If we could focus it would legitimize the industry. If there was a
change in fortunes for the industry, we would have this legitimate renown to
fall back on and to help rebuild.
A way to specialize is via sub-regions. Build reputations on a regional
approach. May work better as varietals is not likely to happen.
To build market to may want to focus on bringing people here. We will
never be a net exporter so need to bring people here to tell the story.
In summary we need to specialize somehow, we just don’t how yet. And we
need collaboration to do it. For further information on the Canadian
Wine Summit please contact Event Producer, Sonia Fraser, at soniaf@telus.net.
It is on the A-list of global wine events. The Playhouse is regarded by most producers, importers, journalists and wine-loving consumers as the best show in Canada and among the best in North America.
