Trump's trade war and Canada's retaliatory tariffs bring good news for Ontario wines

In the shadow of Donald Trump's trade war and Canada's retaliatory tariffs, Ontario's wine industry is seeing a silver lining.

At Cooper's Hawk Vineyards in Harrow, founder and co-owner Tom O'Brien said Ontario's move to take down American liquor from the LCBO shelves has "actually been pretty positive" for them.

"We've [seen] sales go up about 40 per cent since the American product came off the shelf. So, that's been super, super helpful," he said.

"Actually the removal of that I think has forced people to try more Ontario wines and like them and then keep buying them."

He said he was "pleasantly surprised" to see Canadians switch so quickly to locally-grown wines. He was suspecting a marginal increase but the 40 per cent amounts to about $4,000 a month for them

O'Brien said they have six wines under the LCBO's direct delivery program and are thankful to the wholesaler's program called Support Ontario Wineries, which selected 60 wines across the whole province including one of theirs. 

Even if the American wine should come back, O'Brien said, more Canadians would have become accustomed to Ontario wines and will hopefully keep buying them.

Debbie Zimmerman, the chief executive officer for the Grape Growers of Ontario, said she hopes so too.

"Because the U.S. wine is off the shelves, we have an opportunity to put more Ontario wine on the shelves. We haven't seen that kind of opportunity for a long time," she said.

'Seeing that increase across the province': Grape growers of Ontario

Zimmerman said the Ontario government has opened up about 8,000 points of access, of which 5,000 are presently operational, thereby boosting the access of Ontario wines from convenience stores to grocery stores.

"People have more access to Ontario wine. So, it's rather serendipitous that we've had these tariffs and American wines come off the shelf. We have more access for our consumers," she said.

"So, now we're seeing a real uptake in people choosing to be very patriotic as well to pick up that 100 per cent Ontario-grown bottle of wine. We're seeing that increase across the province."

Zimmerman said they are seeing an overall increase in sales across the province of about 29 per cent.

The other contributing factor, she said, is the dropping of the trade barriers. 

"Meaning I can now buy a wine from Nova Scotia, for example, and not have to pay a tariff if it's delivered to my house."

The "uncertain territory" with the tariffs, Zimmerman said, is challenging but the industry is planning for growth for the future, including increased grape production.

"We're not sure day-to-day how the U.S. is going to react to something, she said, and we're caught in that wheel of change."

She said grape and wine production is a vertically integrated business in Ontario and producers are counting on the government support for the future to ensure that they remain operational.

"We've seen that commitment from Premier Ford and his government," she said.

"We're counting on that support as we move forward to ensure that we [are] viable on both sides of the ledgers on growing grapes and producing wine."