I have found myself in a unique position with many contacts in the Canadian wine industry, and see two promotional items that hold back small wineries in Canada:

1) The smaller wineries do not win their share of medals at open competition, and

2) They also do not get their products in front of the wine press.

Most mid-size and larger wineries have people who do the above to earn their daily bread, and the costs and pressures on a small winery owner are immense. But missing out on one or the other severely limits the ability of the little guy to get the word out to the general public. I suggest that each small winery should at least enter their best wine into at least one competition...

I would greatly appreciate any updates, information on other contests in Canada for Canadian wines, or error corrections by email at littlefatwino@trytel.net

All-Canadian Wine Championships

Contact person:
Bev Carnahan - email bcarnahan@mdirect.net   phone (519) 258-7666

"Established in 1981, the All Canadian Wine Championships is the oldest and largest competition in the country solely for Canadian wines. go to http://www.canadianwinetrail.com for complete details."

Entries are $37.45 each (inc. GST) and you need to provide 4 by 750 ml or 4 x 375 or greater dessert wine.

Okanagan Icewine Festival (2006 information)

Contact person:
Christina Ferreira email info@TheWineFestivals.com phone (250) 861-6654

Open to: Icewine and Late Harvest wines from grapes grown in Canada according to VQA standards. Information is online at http://www.owfs.com/

Entries are $75.00 each and you need to provide two bottles of wine.

Ontario Wine Awards

Contact person:
Tony Aspler - email Tony.aspler@sympatico.ca   phone (416) 488-8597

Open to: VQA Ontario Wines only http://www.ontariowineawards.ca/

Entries are $58.85 (incl GST) each and you need to provide 3 bottles of 750 ml or 3 x 375 ml or 5 x 200 ml if bottled in these sizes. To be eligible production must be 50 cases or more (icewine 25 plus).

Don't miss the Consumer Tasting Event at The fermentation Cellar, Distillery District, Toronto on Tuesday, June 13th!

It is no coincidence that professional wine writers tend to write about the wines that they get to taste. It is unreasonable to expect them to come to you...

In discussion with professional wine writers I am often struck by how often they mention that they rarely get to taste wines from the smallest Canadian wineries. The Wine Writers' Circle of Canada gets together semi-regularly and welcomes wineries to send single bottles of product to them. One bottle is sufficient to allow multiple wine writers to taste the wines. {Whether they write about them is largely up to just what you've put in the bottle!} To get more information please contact Sadie Darby, Administrator of the Circle, at sdarby@rogers.com or call (416) 410-0086. For further information about the Circle, please visit this site

www.littlefatwino.com