"As I sat in our quiet livingroom in Rexdale, Ontario, I flexed my fingers and then thrust them stiffly toward the centre of the room. I spoke.

        `Let there be an Amateur Winemakers of Canada.'

        And there was a great roll of thunder
        and there was a blinding flash of light, as the stench of sulphite filled the room.
        And lo! There before me did appear the words:

        in a tawny smoke in Old English Script. And it was done,"

        The version of how it really happened is slightly different.

In the second Amateur Winemakers of Ontario competition, the first prize in the Dry Aperitif class was won by an entry from Québec. Thus John felt that it would be a great idea to get as many entries as possible from other Provinces to compete in a National Competition to be held in conjunction with Ontario's third Competition in 1971. The only `thrusting of fingers' that John did was writing dozens of letters, filled with enthusiastic ideas, exhorting every person he could get in touch with to share them. Thus the first AWC Competition was held and had entries from Québec, Ontario and British Columbia.

By 1972, John had managed to contact people in Nova Scotia and Manitoba as well, and the Competition, again held in conjunction with the AWO Provincial, had entries from five Provinces. The 1973 AWC Competition was again held in Ontario, but this time, separately from the Provincial. Entries came from seven Provinces and for the first time, the Championship went outside of Ontario.

1974 was the Centennial year for the city of Winnipeg and in that year a hard working committee from Manitoba hosted the National. 1974 also marked the first year that a Convention type weekend was held in conjunction with the Competition with Amateur Winemakers from across the country. The writer well remembers his first meeting with John Armstrong in the lobby of the North Star Inn - an emotional moment after so much correspondence had passed between us. There were people from B. C., Saskatchewan and Ontario as well as Manitoba and for the first time the National was a "people" thing as well as a Competition.

British Columbia was the 1975 Host Province and once again a Convention weekend was laid on. The Competition had 167 entries from Nova Scotia, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Ontario was once again Host Province in 1976.

In 1977, Alberta was the Host for the first time and once again a Convention was held, which was attended by Winemakers from several Provinces. At this time the first really formal Annual General Meeting was held. A Constitution and a set of Bylaws were agreed upon by Representatives from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. A committee was also struck to improve the definitions of the classes. Representatives from Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia were appointed to it.

Since then, the hosting of the Competition has rotated in a more or less regular fashion among Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. Manitoba hosted in 1990, Ontario in 1991, Alberta actually had a quorum at the AGM in 1992 and BC will host in 1993 in Kamloops, which will be having its Centennial.

Charles Plant         September 1992

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