30DaysONwine, Day 30 – Looking Back

By Suresh Doss On September 30, 2011

Another year and another ‘30 days of Ontario wine’ comes to an end. It has been a good year for our wines, and hopefully this year’s program was able to capture some of the local excitement.

Back then.

How quickly things can change.
I remember the moment vividly when I decided to start the 30 days of Ontario wine program back in 2009. Back then the objective was simple: raise awareness for local wines being produced in Niagara and Prince Edward County, and to motivate wine consumers to at least give these new wines a shot.

There is a generational divide in wine consumers: an older generation constantly comparing everything to old world wines, and a younger generation that doesn’t have a sense of comparison, and is eager to try anything to develop the palate, oftentimes with food. As members of this younger generation, we thought it would be a fitting moment to showcase some of the local juice being produced. And, after all, Ontario wines had improved tremendously in the last 10 years.

With a simple concept (one day, one winery, one or more wines) we launched the guide, taking readers on a ‘tour’ of Ontario. It may be hard to image, but two years ago only a handful of restaurants in Toronto had a commendable dedication to featuring Ontario wines on the menu. I’m not talking about restaurants in wine country, and I’m not talking about restaurants that had that bottle of Jackson-Triggs on the wine list since the doors opened. A researched, well thought out commitment to highlighting Ontario’s best wines, whether it be wines of cool climate nature or something our province was aspiring to do. Back in 2009, this bandwagon of local supporters was rolling along with only a few members.

The program was an instant hit, and man was it fun…and challenging. It was so popular, we extended the program to 50 days. After all was said and done, 50 wineries were featured and many consumers went to their favourite restaurants and asked for some of these bottles to be included on the list.

30 Days of Local wine returned in 2010 and was even bigger than the inaugural year. The concept was mostly the same, and we included side bar content from fellow local food and wine bloggers. We extended an invitation to chat ‘local’ with our friends in the blogosphere and they accepted with joy. 2010 was a great year for local wines in Toronto, as a large number of new and existing restaurants jumped on the bandwagon and featured more and more local wines. Restaurants with a ‘farm to table’ philosophy painted a fuller picture by featuring local wines as well as ingredients (previously, local wines were not included in the equation). Locally themed wine events and tours were popping up all over the place. With new dining options in wine country (still mostly Niagara as I still believe that dining options could be better in Prince Edward County and Lake Erie North Shore), and a new gourmet food truck or two, foodies were starting to take road trips. I remember spending a lot of time answering emails from first timers on where to go, eat and drink in those respective regions. The bandwagon was getting fuller.

Where we are now
Support for local got bigger and bigger, to the point where now many restaurants in the city feature at least two local wines. Sommeliers and scribes are touting their love for something local (let’s face it, we all have opinions over what is good and what isn’t) every chance they get. Two years ago, only one or two local publications featured local wines on a regular basis. Today, nearly every online or print publication in the Province has some editorial stream on Ontario wines.

The LCBO’s selection of local wines continues to improve, and arguably, the plethora of budget blended wines that have been released have become stepping stones for many drinkers. Also, a slew of high profile events took place this year aimed at promoting our wines to an outside (i.e. non-Ontario) audience. I remember a conversation with the owner of Southbrook Vineyards, Bill Redielmeier, at his winery early spring: “We know we make world class wines, we just need everyone outside of Canada to notice it.” Soon thereafter Bill took some of Ontario’s best Chardonnays to New York to pour for top wine scribes and sommeliers.

Back in May, Tastecamp travelled north of the border, bringing nearly 40 independent wine bloggers to Niagara. I was one of the organizers of the 3 day tour during which bloggers tasted some of what many consider Niagara’s best varietals: Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, and of course Pinot Noir. The reception was wonderfully positive for the most part, and blog and twitter content streams were heavy with ponderings about what Niagara can produce.

Going into 2011’s program, we knew we had to tweak the concept. There was a perfect storm brewing, comprised of wine events (International Cool Climate Chardonnay, Tastecamp, The Riesling Experience), tours, great wines (2007, 2008, 2009 vintages continue to impress and win multiple awards), and great new restaurants featuring local food and wine.
It wasn’t just about the wines anymore, so we decided to focus on local wine culture. This year’s program did feature a lot of wines but we also focused on wine production, dining options, current trends, and key personalities in the industry. We produced what we consider to be a reflection of the current state and face of Ontario wines.

Conversations
There were many hits, one of which was our new podcast series. Mike Di Caro continue the prodcast series which he started with our recent 30 Days of Ontario Beer program and moderated three great episodes on wine. He spoke to wine makers and growers on their thoughts on vintage and industry. I’m very happy to announce that this will be an ongoing series as we feel that there are a lot of conversations worth sharing.

Food and Wine
It seems it’s always a hit when we pair wine with food. Stemming from 30 days, a new series will launch in October focusing on the marriage between food and wine. This is a project that I’m most excited about because I fell in love with wine through food, and considering all the Spotlight writers are foodies (yes, all of them), I’m very excited about the upcoming content.

More Wine
For this year’s program, the writing staff tasted a lot of great Ontario wines, but we didn’t get a chance to write about them and share them with you. We’ve also received a great amount of feedback from readers that are requesting content on new wines. As a result, a new weekly wine column will allow us to talk about the wines we tasted during the 30 day program, as well as new releases. Look for this series in early October.

There seems to be a lot of excitement about local wines this year, from sommelier to wine consumer. A great example of this would be the recent Taste Ontario event, an annual event put together by Vintages and Wine Country Ontario. The event saw a record number of attendees from the hospitality industry, and consumers. Sommeliers that would have shunned local wines two years ago were in the tasting room next to me, eager to taste new Chardonnays from Tawse or Rieslings from Hidden bench, and Pinot Noir from the county.
So fear not, there will be plenty of days of local wine ahead. Thank you for all your support in another successful 30 days of Ontario Wine.