Abstract:
There has been a dramatic shift in Ontario since the 1970s from seven prohibition-era wineries producing inferior wine from local, lambrusca grapes to over 100 small estate wineries with award-winning wines from European vinifera and French-hybrid grapes. From nondescript, unwelcoming, urban factories with their industrial products, we now see wineries situated amid their vineyards, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to a plethora of experiences aside from tasting and purchasing wine.
The continual growing of this industry among an ever increasing middle-class population has been supported by various measures in the public and private sectors, from the Green Belt Act (2005) to protect the land base to research, regulations and subsidies to assist grape growers and wine makers. However, behind this bucolic landscape, and the media hype and satisfied customer that accompanies it, can be found a troubled industry and a contested countryside. From a countryside of production to one of consumption brings a number of socio-spatial pressures. Meanwhile, the wine industry is made up of a large number of players (from grape grower and government regulator to wine drinker) who are arguably working in their own interest rather than for the wider public good. For Canada to take its rightful place among the world's wine countries, it is important that various reforms being suggested or undertaken come to fruition.
