Essex County winery says interprovincial barriers continue to limit Canadian wine sales

Wineries are calling for interprovincial trade barriers to be reduced after a report said billions could be added to the Canadian economy.

The president of an Essex County winery says interprovincial trade barriers continue to prevent Canadian wineries from reaching more customers across the country, despite growing national discussion around freer internal trade.

Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery president Steve Mitchell, who also serves as vice chair of Ontario Craft Wineries, says provincial liquor boards remain one of the biggest obstacles facing wineries hoping to expand sales beyond their home province.

“There’s been a lot of discussion about interprovincial trade barriers,” Mitchell told CTV News. “Wine is something that continually floats to the surface, feels like an easy fish to fry. Fact is, it doesn’t seem to be anything close to the truth.”

Mitchell said each province’s liquor board controls what products can be sold within its borders and often acts as a gatekeeper for Canadian wineries looking to enter new markets.

“The main barrier are the provinces,” he said. “Each province has their own liquor board. Through that liquor board, they collect money.”

Mitchell said buyers within provincial liquor systems also influence which wines consumers ultimately see on store shelves.

“There are buyers that make decisions about what’s brought into their province in order to sell,” he said. “There’s a very large opportunity for the buyers in other provinces to make decisions to bring in more wines from other provinces.”

The comments come after renewed national attention on internal trade barriers and their economic impact, including a recent CTV News report citing estimates that billions could be added to Canada’s GDP if restrictions facing wineries were reduced.

Mitchell pointed to one recent agreement between Ontario and Nova Scotia allowing direct-to-consumer wine shipments between the two provinces as a positive step, though he said its long-term impact remains unclear.

“The door is open, and wineries can now begin to take advantage of the opportunity,” he said.

Mitchell argued provincial liquor boards could quickly increase the amount of Canadian wine being sold simply by prioritizing domestic products.

“If those provincial liquor boards wanted to increase their Canadian content, they could do it with a decision,” he said.

Mitchell said increasing interprovincial wine sales could have ripple effects throughout Essex County’s wine sector, including more vineyard development, staffing and tourism growth.

“If more wines from Essex County are purchased, then that means that growers need to put more grapes in the ground,” he said. “It means wineries need to buy more tanks. It means they need to hire more salespeople.”

He said smaller wineries in particular can struggle when customers from other provinces discover products during visits to wine country but are later unable to easily purchase them from home.

“Small wineries miss out on opportunities because they meet customers that come through their front door and they have an opportunity to sell to them, except there’s a barrier in the way,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also raised concerns about a lack of reciprocal access between provinces, specifically pointing to Quebec’s wine market.

He said Ontario recently introduced an open listing process allowing wineries from other jurisdictions to sell products through the LCBO wholesale system into grocery stores, convenience stores and restaurants.

However, Mitchell said Ontario wineries do not currently have similar access into Quebec.

“There’s a lot of consumers in Quebec that are aware of Ontario wines,” he said. “Their access to get them is non-existent.”

Mitchell added that less than one per cent of wine sold through Quebec’s liquor board comes from Canadian wineries outside the province.

“That represents a massive opportunity to improve the amount of interprovincial trade in the world of wine,” he said.