VQA Ontario Releases Annual Report

(TORONTO, ON) – Of course annual reports aren’t exactly great and exciting reading, unless of you have a stake in the corporation which is issuing the report. However, assuming you are not a stakeholder in the Vintners Quality Alliance Ontario there may still be many interesting facts which could make you appear as a savvy wine whiz at your next social gathering.

First, as background, VQA Ontario is Ontario’s wine authority which regulates Ontario VQA wines under the appellation system as defined in the VQA Act of Ontario. It exercises delegated authority from the Province of Ontario to ensure label integrity which allows consumers to identify wines of origin made entirely from Ontario grown grapes.

As of the end of March this year, 168 wineries were registered as participants in the VQA system. Each wine seeking to describe itself as VQA undergoes quality assurance testing. In the reporting period, approvals were granted for 2,034 wines and denied for 59.

Each VQA winery member is subject to a VQA audit on a 6- or 12-month interval, depending on its compliance record. VQA can issue warnings, issue compliance orders, or lay charges while enforcing the VQA Act of Ontario.

The VQA provides an independent certification process required by the European Union. In the reporting period, 1,661 certificates were issued for 270 wines from 24 different wineries. The Annual report remarked that 2016 was an excellent year for grape growing.

The statistics are most interesting and are based on the period from April 1, 2016, through to March 31, 2017.