This is a quote from page 32 of the LCBO Annual Report 2002-03. I take this to be a promise from the LCBO to reach a certain goal by the end of 2007-08.
"A strategic partnership between the LCBO, the Ontario wine industry and the government of Ontario helped lift sales of Ontario wines in fiscal 2002-03, especially of products that bear the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) label.
The goals of the partnership are to build Ontario wines' market share in litres to 50 per cent over the next five years, including sales through winery retail stores and direct delivery to licensees, and support the industry's efforts to create a world-class brand." According to numbers from other LCBO Annual Reports this just is not happening.
It is my often-stated belief that the LCBO is doing little to help Ontario wineries, certainly not to help the smallest wineries which are now popping up all over Southern and Central Ontario. As time goes by, in my opinion, the Board is less interested in anything but products from the factory wineries. In the spring 2007 pricebook more than half the products listed and about 60% of the dollar sales come from two suppliers - the Vincor (owned by US Company Constellation) and Peller groups. There are well over 100 other independent wineries in Ontario to share the rest. As these two companies also own most of the private off-site winery stores in the province this relationship seems inappropriate.
I would also state that there are other examples of seeming favouritism towards individual wineries by LCBO, and I would forward this chart as an example. LCBO used to send out up to about 50 Merchandising Bulletins each year, and I recall them as being heavily slanted to one or two producers. While never instructing the stores that they "had" to put up the notes, it was clear that approval to do so was given. The results are what I counted of the bulletins placed before me at the LCBO FOI office one fine day in July 2007. Another example comes from counting the number of domestic wines in LCBO Vintages which shows a strong support for a few suppliers only. I certainly suspect that this happens with almost all LCBO products.
But what are the numbers involved in Ontario Wine Sales? Did you know that in 1988 the LCBO sold just over 79 million litres of wine, of which just over 34 million litres was domestic? In 2006 LCBO sold about 112 million litres of wine, less than 33.5 million of which was domestic. Even including products that were up to 99% imported content as "domestic" couldn't help them reach the high mark of nearly 20 years ago.
LCBO Support for the Ontario Wine Industry From LCBO published numbers, see the reality.
How to get Ontario wines not available through the LCBO There are alternatives...