Wine Magazines with Articles on Canadian Wine

Started Feb 14, 2001

The Combined Larry number, year-total, is simply an addition and division of all publications tracked, and is intended to indicate a rough percentage of domestic support giving all publications equal weight.

2008: 20.5 % (July 17)
2007: 18.8 %
2006: 21.1 %
2005: 22.5 %
2004: 22.7 %
2003: 22.4 %
2002: 22.0 %
2001: 29.9 %

A "newspaper" from British Columbia, covering mainly BC wine, called BC Wine Trails, is 100% Canadian wine all the time. Take a peek at: Canadian Grapes to Wine which is the only publication regularly covering developing wineries and growers in non-traditional areas of Canada.

Click on the publications listed below to see issue by issue coverage of Canadian Wines recommended. I have counted the listings in the LCBO publications as recommendations (ignoring any advertising, as I do in all publications). Any inaccuracies in counting the number of entries is my own.

In late 2007 (Dec 21) the trend is grim. Of the publications listed, only Vines has a percentage that is not their lowest annual figure this millenium. Wine Access makes 3 Canadian and 153 imported recc's in their so-called "Canadian Wine Awards" edition. Local heroes one and all, they seem to think. And the wines they recommend seem often to be factory made additive driven wines. What will today's "experts" be remembered for in 30 years?

A promise made by the LCBO in their 2002-2003 Annual Report:

“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.”

Gee, that would be this year, and yet it seems that all LCBO publications are hitting rock bottom as far as support for domestic wines go. Could it be that LCBO sees Ontario wines in particular as being their only legal competition, which might hurt "Record profits" and Management Bonuses? And would having, yet again, ZERO Canadian content in the first Classics Catalogue of 2008 constitute support for the industry's efforts to create a world-class brand?

Wine Publication Recommendations since 2001
Canadian vs Imported Wines % Recommended
Publication % 2001 % 2002 % 2003 % 2004 % 2005 % 2006 YTD % 2007 YTD % 2008 YTD
LCBO Classics Catalogue ??.?   2.7   5.6   3.1   2.5   1.9   1.1   1.6
LCBO Food & Drink Catalogue 25.2 27.0 24.8 28.9 26.2 25.5 24.7 23.5
LCBO Price Books 27.3 26.9 26.2 26.6 26.8 25.8 25.8 26.2
LCBO Vintages Releases 12.7   8.7 12.9   8.4   9.6   7.3   7.0   7.7
Tidings 48.2 32.2 30.9 31.8 38.9 33.4 35.2 32.0
Vines 57.8 40.3 28.2 33.5 37.2 44.2 38.8 52.9
Wine Access 25.2 15.8 22.9 26.9 24.8 21.2 14.5   9.1
Wine Express 10.8 10.9 14.0 16.9 12.2   9.4   3.5 10.6

Wine Publication Recommendations 2008
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Vines 201     179 52.9
Tidings 173     368 32.0
LCBO Price Books 463   1,307 26.2
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue   51     166 23.5
Wine Express   15     126 10.6
Wine Access   56     562   9.1
LCBO Vintages Releases 125   1,492   7.7
LCBO Classics Catalogue     9     555   1.6

Wine Publication Recommendations 2007
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Vines 276     436 38.8
Tidings 248     457 35.2
LCBO Price Books 429 1,237 25.8
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue   91     277 24.7
Wine Access 173 1,020 14.5
LCBO Vintages Releases 169 2,257   7.0
Wine Express     7     194   3.5
LCBO Classics Catalogue     6     554   1.1
Wine Publication Recommendations 2006
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Vines     186       235 44.2
Tidings     282       563 33.4
LCBO Price Books     402     1,158 25.8
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue     111       325 25.5
Wine Access     224       835 21.2
Wine Express       17       164   9.4
LCBO Vintages Releases     195   2,491   7.3
LCBO Classics Catalogue       12       615   1.9
Wine Publication Recommendations 2005
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Tidings     194     305 38.9
Vines     297     502 37.2
LCBO Price Books 394 1,077 26.8
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue     107     301 26.2
Wine Access     182     551 24.8
Best Bottles     119     376 24.0
Wine Express       23     166 12.2
LCBO Vintages Releases     227   2,179   9.6
LCBO Classics Catalogue       20     794   2.5
Wine Publication Recommendations 2004
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Vines     230     457 33.5
Tidings     202     434 31.8
Best Bottles       93     220 27.9
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue     155     382 28.9
LCBO Price Books  1,568  4,337 26.6
Wine Access     202     610 24.9
Wine Express       24     118 16.9
LCBO Vintages Releases     240   2,613   8.4
LCBO Classics Catalogue       30     945   3.1
Wine Publication Recommendations 2003
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Best Bottles     118     209 36.1
Wine Tidings     243     544 30.9
Vines     142     361 28.2
LCBO Price Books  1,600  4,507 26.2
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue     121     366 24.8
Wine Access     203     685 22.9
Wine Express       23     141 14.0
LCBO Vintages Releases     200   1,355 12.9
LCBO Classics Catalogue (partial)       50     837   5.6
Wine Publication Recommendations 2002
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Vines     257     380 40.3
Best Bottles       95     195 32.8
Wine Tidings     328     690 32.2
LCBO Food and Drink Catalogue     152     411 27.0
LCBO Price Books (partial)   1,233  3,353 26.9
Wine Access     213  1,139 15.8
Wine Express       21     171 10.9
LCBO Vintages Releases (Partial)     149   1,554   8.7
LCBO Classics Catalogue       49  1,785   2.7
Wine Publication Recommendations 2001
Canadian vs Imported Wines Recommended
Magazine Canadian Wines Imported Wines YTD CDN (%)
Vines     199     145 57.8
Wine Tidings     224     241 48.2
Best Bottles     104     224 31.7
LCBO Price Books (partial)  1,284   3,427 27.3
Wine Access     212     630 25.2
LCBO Food & Drink (partial)       79     193 23.6
LCBO Vintages Releases (Partial)     172   1,181 12.7
Wine Express       21     174 10.8
LCBO Classics Catalogue     ???     ??? ??.?

Canadian Wine Page www.littlefatwino.com