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In this edition :
CCWA News
 CCWA membership renewals (2012)
CCWA Board meeting (February 8)
Annual convention (June 23-25, 2012, White Oaks Resort & Spa)
Canadian Wine Crafter Magazine
Industry News & Perspectives
Nova Scotia: Conflict brewing over legislation
Mediocrity and VQA
Small Ontario beer brewers lose $8 million fund
What do you drink if you want lower-alcohol wine?
Your Business
Why, and how, you should collect customer data
Businesses advised to be diligent about marketing, research
Manitoba to become newest province to regulate franchising
Global News and Trends
Raise a glass to the free market in wine
What rising temperatures may mean for world's wine industry
Wine? It's in the bag
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CCWA membership renewals (2012)
Now that we have moved to get our members aligned to a common renewal date (February 1) - as opposed to anniversary dates - we are now in position to renew all our members this month. We are putting together the packages which will be mailed later this month. The package, in both official languages, will include a benefits statement, cover letter, brochures showing the benefits of participating in both the newly revamped and comprehensive insurance program and our low rate credit card processing arrangement. These two programs together will go a long way toward covering the low $250 member fee. Sign up and be part of Canada's only National craft wine association.
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CCWA Board meeting (February 8)
Chairman Rob Van Wely will oversee the next CCWA Board meeting on February 8. The Board is now representative of both manufacturers and retailers with strong participation from the Ontario and Quebec Councils. If there is an issue that you would like brought before the Board please contact David Long, Executive Director at (416) 726-0597.
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Annual convention (June 23-25, 2012, White Oaks Resort & Spa)
Our multi-stakeholder committee has fashioned the theme of Achieving Success Together and promises to be a valuable education and networking experience for all our members. A draft convention schedule has been circulated to the "CCWA Convention Committee" based on their input and we should be in a position soon to fill the keynote speaker and workshop opportunities. Once again if any member has an idea or issue that should be presented at the convention, we will give it serious consideration.
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Canadian Wine Crafter Magazine
The next issue of our quality magazine, will be mailed to all retailers in mid-February and will once again include some interesting and practical articles on food pairings, social media applications and methods that can enhance sales, as well as the full brief that CCWA made to the Quebec Government in our efforts to have FOP operations allowed and responsibly regulated in that province.
Please click here to view a letter from our publisher JM Levi and Associates and see how you can participate in this widely read publication on YOUR business.
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Nova Scotia: Conflict brewing over legislation
Source: The News (Pictou County, NS)
| David Nowlan says he is being environmentally green and supporting local business when he makes his wine in the back shop of Water N' Wine. But according the provincial government, he is also doing something illegal. Nowlan is just one of hundreds of customers of Water n' Wine in New Glasgow that use the business' service to brew their beer or ferment their wine on site rather than doing it at home. The provincial government recently made amendments to the liquor control act that will give the Nova Scotia Liqour Corporation the right to impose injunctions on such businesses which it says will cut down on illegal sales of alcohol and binge drinking. This argument doesn't fly with Charles Patton, who owns Water N' Wine in New Glasgow and expects to be affected the most by the legislation [which came] into effect January 4, 2012. Patton said he expects a visit from the NSLC in the future and when such an injunction is imposed he is ready to fight it, "all the way to the Supreme Court". Read more... |
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| The News (Pictou County, NS) - 12/26/11 |
Mediocrity and VQA
Source: Ottawa Citizen
| Some people put a lot of weight on VQA certification as a guarantee of quality. After all, the "Q" in VQA stands for "Quality." But professionals agree that a lot of VQA wines fail to deliver on quality: Estimates vary from 10 to 25 per cent. The European appellation system has the same kinds of flaws. But there, the situation is reversed, in that the name refers to geography and it's the quality test that isn't explicit. For the consumer, the difference is that if you buy a Burgundy you think is poor quality, you might feel unhappy at having shelled out for a poor wine, but you wouldn't necessarily think you had been deceived, because there was no explicit guarantee of quality. Not so with a VQA wine, where Quality, with a capital Q, is emblazoned on the label. That's a real problem when the wine inside is Mediocre, with a capital M. Read more... |
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| Ottawa Citizen - 12/22/11 |
Small Ontario beer brewers lose $8 million fund
Source: Toronto Star
| They have names like Flying Monkeys or Kichesippi and use ingredients like maple syrup and raspberries. And until a few years ago, few Ontario consumers knew or understood the concept of craft beer. All that changed in part due to an $8 million provincial program that Ontario's smallest brewers learned this week will not be renewed, another victim of the government's sweeping deficit-slaying measures. The Ontario Craft Brewers Opportunity Fund was relatively small in dollars but mighty in impact, the brewers say, noting it helped create jobs, boost sales and level the playing field in The Beer Store. Read more... |
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What do you drink if you want lower-alcohol wine?
Source: Globe and Mail
| In a study of 91,432 wines from vineyards around the world produced during a 16-year period, researchers found last year that 57.1 per cent contained more alcohol than stated on the label. Among those, the average alcohol was 13.6 per cent versus a declared average of 13.1 per cent. Incidentally, the study, published by the American Association of Wine Economists and co-written in part by George Soleas, senior vice-president of logistics and quality assurance at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, based its findings on wines sold in Ontario. The reason? Ontario is one of the few jurisdictions to test alcohol on every product. Read more... |
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| Globe and Mail - 01/11/12 |
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Why, and how, you should collect customer data
Source: Globe and Mail
| A customer database and purchase history is a must-have for every small business. If you don't have one, you need to get started right away because you have put off building an enormous asset for long enough. It's well-known that it is a lot more effective to sell to the customers you already have than to find new ones. But if you don't know who they are, how to reach them or what they have already bought and like, you will just have to wait. - and hope. And that's no way to grow a business. Read more... |
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| Globe and Mail - 01/10/12 |
Businesses advised to be diligent about marketing, research
Source: Halifax Chronicle Herald
| When the bottom line gets tougher to pad, businesses can't afford to waste their dollars on marketing tools of the past. Ditch the flyers on windshields, forget the do-it-yourself method and aim to find the right message for the right audience. For small-business owners juggling payroll, staffing, ordering and inventory, independent market research is a time-consuming approach that lacks depth. The downside of professional market research isn't hard to spot - it costs money. The advent of social media and the ability of consumers to immediately share and discuss their positive and negative experiences about a given business have altered the marketing game; current economic turbulence adds fuel to the competitive fire. Read more... |
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| Halifax Chronicle Herald - 01/09/12 |
Manitoba to become newest province to regulate franchising
Source: Globe and Mail
| The new year will likely see the addition of one more province that regulates the Canadian franchise industry. Prospective franchisees in Alberta, Ontario, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are already required by law to be given a franchise disclosure document, often called an FDD, that explains the nature of the franchise being offered and information about the business opportunity as specified by the four provincial legislatures that have enacted franchise laws. Manitoba recently released draft regulations under its franchise statute for public discussion. Although Manitoba's statutory regime is largely based on the Uniform Law Conference of Canada's model franchise law, like other Canadian provinces, there are differences between each province's disclosure requirements. Read more... |
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| Globe and Mail - 01/04/12 |
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Raise a glass to the free market in wine
Source: Knowledge@Wharton
| The worldwide wine business is a good case study in free trade, given that there are many producers and few restrictions on commerce. In recent years, the cost of wine has reflected this generally free global market in two ways - one good and the other bad, as George M. Taber argues in this op-ed piece. Taber is the author of four books on wine. His latest is titled, A Toast to Bargain Wines: How innovators, iconoclasts, and winemaking revolutionaries are changing the way the world drinks. Read more... |
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| Knowledge@Wharton - 01/06/12 |
What rising temperatures may mean for world's wine industry
Source: Yale Environment 360
| Few products are more sensitive to changes in temperature than wine. So the rising temperatures and associated with climate change are already reshaping the industry. Production as a whole is moving north (or south in the southern hemisphere) as opportunities open up in once-inhospitable areas. Meanwhile, vineyards in warmer climates are facing mounting problems as it gets hotter. Assuming projections of much hotter world prove true in the next 50 to 100 years, many winemakers will be forced to change their signature products, move, or go under. Many will go under no matter what they do. Read more... |
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| Yale Environment 360 - 12/19/11 |
Wine? It's in the bag
Source: Record.net
| You've seen boxes of wine... The typical retail package contains 3 liters, a bit more than three-quarters of a gallon. The cardboard primarily lends stiffness to the package. What really makes it work, however, is inside: a flexible plastic bag and a built-in valve that holds, protects and allows easy transfer of the wine. A new business in Stockton [California] is building on that same type of technology but on a much larger scale: [their] bags - called flexitanks or flexibags - hold 24,000 liters, or about 6,340 gallons, of wine. The company packs the bags and wine into 20-foot steel shipping containers as it moves cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay and other varieties between wineries and the Port of Oakland. Read more... |
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