dlb@drutx.UUCP (06/17/84)
I recently traveled through Ontario and Quebec and was truly astounded at the wine prices and selection. In Toronto, you could buy Ontario wines and French wines, with good selections of both. In Montreal, Quebec, you could buy Quebec's wines and French wines, with good selections of both. In both places there was a smattering of German and Italian wines, but virtually *no* California wine. What I did find from California was incredibly overpriced by American standards. For example, a bottle of Colony Classic Cabernet Sauvignon, which I can buy for $2.39 here in Colorado, was selling for $8.30 CDN in the government store in Montreal. Even with the 20% exchange rate, that's still almost triple the U.S. price. The best California wine I was able to find was River Oaks Chardonnay (around $14 CDN, as I recall). The only other California wines I found were Colony, Masson, and Almaden, all at incredibly inflated prices. Some questions for Canadian readers of this group: Is there a large tax on imported wines in Canada? The local wines were reasonably priced ($3 to $5 CDN), and even the French wines didn't seem out of line by U.S. standards, but the few California wines seemed way out of line. Why is there no interest in California varietals in Canada? Why are Ontario wines virtually impossible to find in Quebec and Quebec's wines impossible to find in Ontario, when they are so prevalent in their own provinces? With the exception of one winery in Ontario (Ch. des Charmes, if memory serves me correctly) that bottled vinifera varietals, all the Canadian wines I saw were "Red Table Wine" or "White Table Wine". What sort of grapes are grown in Canada? Why is tnere virtually no varietal labeling? Lots of questions, no answers. I'll summarize if I get any responses.... -- dave bauer (303)538-4482 AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver ihnp4!drutx!dlb 11900 N. Pecos St., Room 30J28, Denver, CO 80234