There’s an interesting story developing about the LCBO’s position on cheap wine. Last Tuesday, Report on Business ran an article about how the LCBO is planning to up-sell Ontario consumers from cheaper bottles to premium brands. The LCBO is trying to educate our palettes so we’ll be more willing to shell out for a better bottle of wine. This is part of a worldwide trend toward wine buyers with increasingly expensive tastes.
Report on Business exposed that one of the LCBO’s strategies was to increase the minimum selling price that the LCBO would accept for proposed new wines. For example, the LCBO would turn down a tender for a new wine from Portugal unless it cost at least $9.95, even though there are many wines that the wineries would like to sell for $7 or less.
A storm of public protest broke upon the LCBO. We don’t need no education! Give us plonk or give us death! In last Friday’s Globe and Mail, Beppi Crosariol reported that this pressure forced the LCBO to reverse its policy, and now it will accept tenders for cheaper wines. Popular Uprising: 1, State Monopoly: 0.
What does the Short Cellar think? I applaud the LCBO’s attempt to wean Ontarians to premium wines. Although the cheapest wines have been improving radically in the last 20 years (mainly due to advances in wine-making techniques), they remain simply drinkable. Most cheap wines are cheap because they are mass produced and have a uniform taste, like Coke.
Good wine, on the other hand, is a handcrafted, regional work of art – each with personality, complexity and history that unfolds as you learn to taste it. If the LCBO leads more people to the joy of wine appreciation, then more power to them. Frankly, life is too short to drink plonk. (Barry Smith, the philosopher that I mentioned in my last column, is quite eloquent on this point).
It’s not easy to find a wine with an interesting personality for under $10, but I’m a pretty industrious person. For your next weekday wine, I recommend Sogrape’s Vila Regia Reserva (LCBO #464388, $7.95), an astounding red from the Douro region of Portugal. Made from the grapes that often go into Port, it has the depth, complexity and backbone of church organ at full throttle. Even with all this power, it packs refreshing berry flavours and goes well with anything from roast beef to pizza.
I would serve this wine with pride to anyone. I just don’t know if I would tell them the price. Studies in California have shown that people will enjoy wine much more if they think it’s expensive. That certainly makes sense, but recent events indicate that this isn’t quite true in Ontario.
Matthew Sullivan is a lawyer with the Department of Justice in Toronto. He writes a weekly blog entry here on lawandstyle.ca. The Short Cellar column appears in the print edition of Precedent. Matthew can be reached at matthew@lawandstyle.beta-site.ca.