Quebec’s tiny wine making community has reason to toast: the provincial government announced Friday that they’d be pouring $4.3 million into the provincial wine industry.
Quebec wines currently represent only about one percent of its total sales, a drop in the barrel compared to Ontario where about half of all LCBO’s sales come from the sale of Ontario wines.
"Our wine industry is still young and it needs to hit new levels to reach its full potential," Premier Pauline Marois told a news conference Friday.
Some of the money will go to improving a program to allow vintners to obtain a reserved designation.
There will also be more money -- up to $300,000 from $125,000 -- for wine producers to boost their output.
"For customers to choose Quebec wines, there needs to be a large quantity of bottles on the shelves at all times," said Sylvain Simard, head of the SAQ, Quebec's liquor board.
Currently, Quebec-produced wine accounts for 0.5 per cent of the shelf space at liquor outlets.
"Just last year, the sale of Quebec wine increased by 40 per cent at the Quebec Liquor Corp.," said Simard.
He said that in the long term some wines currently available may be withdrawn in favour of Quebec wines.
Liberal Party MNA Stephane Billet introduced a motion in June to promote Quebec wine growers, but the PQ declined to support the motion.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
