As I noted recently, British wine writer Jancis Robinson recently assailed the way blended Canadian- foreign wines are labelled and marketed in Ontario. These wines are generally labelled ( in small print) " Cellared in Canada" and they are supposed to be displayed on shelves in the LCBO separate from VQA or other all-Canadian wines.
Too often, though, " Cellared in Canada" wines ( which can be as little as one- per- cent Canadian wine) are shelved alongside 100- per- cent Canadian wines. Maybe the LCBO's shelf signs are so inflexible that wines from some categories spill over into others. But the result can be confusion.
Jancis Robinson asked several customers in the LCBO's Toronto flagship store if they knew " Cellared in Canada" wines were not Canadian. She found that none did.
And a friend tells me that, while flying executive class on Air Canada from Zurich recently, she was offered two " Canadian" wines. Both were "Cellared in Canada."
She says she tried to explain this to the cabin attendant, and you can imagine how that went over! It makes you wonder who's selecting wines for Air Canada.
Now, I have no problem at all with blended wines whether they're blends of varieties (very common), different vintages ( most champagnes and sherries), wines from different regions (very common), or different countries.
You can think of international blends — say, Canadian wine with wine from Chile, France or Australia — as regional blends that happen to cross political borders.
The proof, surely, is in the glass. If you're not looking for region-specific, site-specific or vineyard-specific wine (and a lot of wine in the LCBO doesn't fall into these categories), international blends can offer perfectly good wine.
Regions, after all, can be huge. Think of southeastern Australia ( the super- zone most Australian wine comes from, which includes most of Australia's vineyards) or the terrific Vin de Pays d'Oc wines from that broad region of southern France. Are they regional? Yes, but not at all in the same sense as wines from Alsace or Coonawarra.
The real problem with international blends is not quality, it's labelling and retailing. The blend needs to be stated much more clearly and the LCBO needs to be a lot more rigorous in shelving and signage.
The Wine Rack led the way a while ago with its International Series, which very clearly showed where the foreign components of their blends came from.
But the law also needs to be changed to get rid of the " Cellared in Canada" description. What does that mean?
These wines weren't " cellared" in any sense that I recognize — foreign wine was shipped in bulk to Canada, where it was blended with a little Canadian wine and then bottled.
Just call it "a blend of foreign and Canadian wine" or —gasp— actually name the country of origin of the foreign component.
Canada's not the only country at fault here and wine is not the only commodity that's blended internationally.
But, please, let's have a bit of transparency, a bit of honesty in labelling and marketing these wines. Other reasons aside, it would show a bit of respect for consumers.
Three reds and one white today, to fight the winter blues. And they show what you can get for $ 10 or less.