As Jake got into in an earlier post, this whole “Cellared In Canada” thing is completely ridiculous.

To recap:

…the “Cellared in Canada” business, where Canadian wineries import grapes or juice from other countries and make the wine in BC (or Ontario). They don’t make a clear enough distinction for the average consumer except the fact that the bottle says in small print on the back “Cellared in Canada” and the wines are unable to qualify for VQA status. Not all wineries in BC or Canada that actually make wine from Canadian grown grapes choose to apply for VQA status, so this makes things a little more confusing…

A quick Google search finds widespread outrage about this, including Jancis Robinson, The Ottawa Citizen, Wine Case, Gremolata, Facebook, Niagra Grapevine, Niagra Farmers, Gismondi, Greenbelt Alliance, The National Post, The CBC, and so on (you get the idea).

Bubbling under all of this is the fact that Vincor, the official wine sponsor of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games, were all geared up – already putting this “Cellared In Canada” stuff front and centre with their Jackson-Triggs Esprit line where, one can assume, most imbibers have taken it for granted they’re drinking Canadian juice.  There have been cries far and wide about the bizarre decision to go about things this way ( <cough> cheaper <cough!> ) when Ontario farmers are suffering and in principle, it’s simply a little shady.  While it’s fantastic and commendable that they’ve stepped up to the plate for support, this aspect just seems wrong and, frankly, unnecessary.

Months ago, on a couple of different occasions and on the condition of anonymity, a few Vincor employees told me that the higher-ups never expected such a backlash, but had made the decision to ensure that these wines will be VQA.

Lo and behold, a peek at the Vincor FAQ page offers not quite a mea culpa, but an intriguing and carefully choreographed little number letting us know that this has apparently been the plan all along:

Q: Why bid for official sponsorship, knowing that VQA quality grape supply was insufficient for you to produce a 100% VQA Olympic wine initially?

A: It is important to realize that no winery in Canada could have met the volume requirements for a unique, dedicated and co-branded Olympic wine exclusively with VQA.  For us, it was most important that the award for Official Wine Supplier remained within Canada and that we have been able to contribute financially to our Olympic athletes.

While the domestic grape supply was not sufficient initially for a dedicated Olympic wine that was 100% VQA given the volume required for wide retail distribution, five of our existing VQA brands – including Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin, Sumac Ridge, Nk’Mip and See Ya Later Ranch – are also a core component of the sponsorship and will be promoted extensively leading up to (and in particular, during) the Games.  These five VQA brands will be front and centre at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and at special events across the country.

It had always been our intention to use wines with 100% Canadian content for our Olympic wines when we first signed a six-year sponsorship agreement with the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee (“VANOC”) several years ago.  Now, thanks to the excellent growing season in 2007, as of July 1, 2009, all bottlings of Jackson-Triggs Esprit™ will be 100% VQA.

Ta-da!!

So in three short paragraphs, we have gone from it being impossible for the wines to be VQA, to it being not only very possible, but they were able to roll it out that way immediately once criticism reached fever pitch!

Fancy footwork aside, this result is very good news.

At Cherries And Clay Headquarters, we actually have a couple samples of the “Cellared In Canada” Jackson-Triggs Esprit bottles (long story).  Once we track down some of the VQA stuff, we’ll do a little side-by-side tasting and get back to you!