Please forward this to anyone you think may be interested
ONTARIO BANS "ONTARIO"
"Buy local -- savour Ontario!" is a rallying call that is being heard more and more frequently this year and rightfully so. Recently there has been a concern with honesty and accuracy in labeling along with a desire on the part of many small Ontario wineries to include the word "Ontario" on the label for their l00% locally produced wines. Truly, Ontario consumers have every reason to be proud of their homegrown wines and the agri-tourist wine industry that now encompasses much of the province.
“ONTARIO GROWN STRAWBERRIES WERE USED TO MAKE THIS WINE” IS FORBIDDEN
Unfortunately the word 'Ontario” - a legitimate geographic descriptor - may not be used on a wine label unless as an indicator of the appellation "VQA Ontario VQA", available only to specific VQA wines. This is a restriction imposed by the VQA Act (l999) on non-VQA wines to ensure that the VQA standard is not compromised. Our association fully supports the VQA rules pertaining to VQA Ontario but also believes that any wine made exclusively from Ontario product should be entitled to declare itself as originating in this province and that the use of terms like Product of Ontario or Ontario wine by a winery would not jeopardize consumer confidence in the VQA system.. As it stands now it is discriminatory to restrict the use of the word "Ontario" to a limited number of VQA wines. It is time to resolve this issue in the interests of all local consumers and producers who truly believe that good things do grow in Ontario!
Jim Warren Larry Paterson President Vice President paradise@mountaincable.net littlefatwino@trytel.net Ontario Viniculture Association http://www.littlefatwino.com/ova.htmlOVA is an organization which has 36 Winery members as of this information release.
Please communicate your thoughts by emailing any of the following:
Liberal Party – Dalton McGuinty, dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
Conservative Party – John Tory john.tory@pc.ola.org
New Democratic Party – Howard Hampton hhampton-co@ndp.on.ca
Green Party - Green Party of Ontario admin@gpo.ca