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Bench - a geographical sub-appellation). Labelling panel consisted largely of LCBO product consultants
terminology is also regulated. - essentially LCBO retail store employees with supe-
rior product knowledge and, in the case of those
As with most wine laws - particularly those on the tasting panel, proven knowledge of wine
governing younger regions - evolution is large- defects and various wine characteristics.
ly unavoidable. When I contacted VQA Ontario
headquarters to get a status update - and to ask With the new changes, the panel roster is made
how the pandemic had affected operations - I was up of qualified wine professionals, including som-
somewhat surprised by the response. meliers, winemakers, wine educators, WSET diplo-
ma and MW holders. Another change is that wines
“VQA Ontario has changed its operating name are no longer given scores (out of a possible 20
to the Ontario Wine Appellation Authority,” says points, with 13 required for a passing grade). In the
Laurie Macdonald, the organization’s Executive early days VQA actually had a two-tired scoring sys-
Director. “When the pandemic began in March tem. If memory serves me correctly, a score of over
2020, LCBO suspended all VQA tasting panels. The 13 counted as a pass and the wine could carry the
sensory evaluation has been conducted by the VQA medallion on the bottle. Those scoring over 15
Appellation Authority using its own panelists since points could carry a gold VQA medallion. Whether
then and this will continue on a permanent basis.” or not I’m completely accurate on this point is
more or less moot, as it was eliminated early on in
To backtrack a bit for perspective: for a wine to the history of VQA.
become VQA certified, it not only has to comply
with labelling and packaging standards, and demon- The move away from any type of numerical scor-
strate geographic origin, it also has to pass labora- ing apparatus is likely a good thing, at least in the
tory and organoleptic testing. Up until the change eyes of winemakers. In fact, some have grumbled
Macdonald refers to, both of these functions were (in varying levels of volume) that the tasting panel
carried out by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario itself should be scrapped. The argument for this
(LCBO), the province’s government-controlled bev- stance centres around the possible “subjective-
erage alcohol monopoly. This wan’t a bad thing. ness” of the panel and the awarding higher scores
The LCBO lab is sophisticated and its technicians to wines that are personally preferred as opposed
are, for the most part, top-notch. (Lab analysis is to those which are technically sound. It also, per-
still carried out by LCBO.) The sensory evaluation haps in an indirect way, points to an issue with sec-
tion (c) of the Act’s sensory
guidelines that reads:
(c) To the extent that an
applicant identifies a vari-
etal designation in the
application, such wine
should exhibit the pre-
dominant character of a
wine produced from the
designated grape variety or
varieties
Simply put, if you submit
a Riesling to the panel for
evaluation it should smell
and taste like Riesling (and,
of course, be defect-free -
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