The LCBO - Part 3

3. Supporting the domestic wine industry and providing it with incentive through differential pricing, marketing, and promotion practices.

This one can be handled in two different ways if the LCBO was privatized.

The first way is the Ontario government could mandate that a certain percentage of stock/floor space is dedicated to domestic wines in privatized stores. Similar to the way Canadian content rules are used for radio and TV airtime. Bookstores in Canada are subject to this as well.

The other way to deal with this is to stop protecting Canadian based wines altogether. We are living in a global economy and regional protectionism is very outdated thinking. This protectionism hurts the Canadian wine industry by giving them a closed market for sub par wines, and Ontario consumers by charging higher prices for imported wines to prop up the domestic market.

Ontario makes great Riesling, Late Harvest, Ice wines and some decent Chardonnay but that is it. Ontario wines are also generally overpriced, can't count the number of times I have an Ontario based wines that is good, but then see the price and think, "It was good, but not that good.." and know I can find a much better imported wine for the same price or less.

Here is a link that shows a list of wine producing countries by volume.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wine_producing_countries

Canada is 32nd in the world. I tossed around the numbers and came up with a few interesting observations - Canada produces less than 1/6th of a percent of the world's wine. Canada's total wine production is 4% of South Africa's production, Canada total wine production is less than 1% of France's total wine production.

Now with those observations, wander into your local LCBO and look at their wine sections. The South African wine section is super tiny (if it exists at all); France's wine section will be at maximum the same size as the Canadian or less. The Canadian wines usually take up 20-25% of the wine floor space of an LCBO. So Canada makes less than 1/6th of a percent of the world's wines and yet gets 20-25% of the floor space at the LCBO which is ONLY place to purchase imported wines. This isn't including the bonus of being the only wines sold in Ontario Supermarkets.

What is their motivation to make better and more competitively priced wines with these types of market bonuses???

What is really scary is most Canadian wines were over-priced when our dollar was at 63 cents vs. US dollar... now that our dollar is at par with the US; Canadian wines should be stupidly overpriced. Well, they would be if the LCBO was actually quick to pass on those savings on California wines to Ontario consumers. To be fair the LCBO has passed on some savings - a bottle of wine in the US which retails for $7.99 US, was listed at $19.95 is now listed at $17.95. Wow, a $20 wine when the dollar is at 63 cents in now is $18 when our money is at par!

STOP protecting Canadian wine... if Ontario can't make wines which are competitive on the world stage then they need to get the fuck out of the wine business.... PLEASE.

Now people reading this make think I'm being very "Un-Canadian" in my thinking, and thinking that if I love the US so much then I should just move there.

My response to that is this... I'm a confident and proud Canadian. I have no doubt in my mind that our Rieslings and Dessert wines can easily compete on the world stage. Stop planting vines in Niagara that don't grow well (Cabernet Sauvignon for example) and focus on making the best damn Rieslings and dessert wines on the planet. The only way this is going to happen is if we stop protecting them...

Cheers!


Mark.

The LCBO - Part 2

2. Balancing regulatory control with the need to raise revenue for the provincial and federal governments through profits and taxes on alcohol sale;

The point above,basically means the LCBO is in business to make money for provincial and federal governments.

The LCBO Employees Union loves to talk about how much money is raised by the LCBO and if we privatized it, all that revenue would go away.

This is a half truth at best…. when I go to NY state and buy wine, once I reach customs on my way back and pay duty on the wine there is a line on the bill called LCBO markup charge.

Last time I was in NY buying wine here was the break down on the duty...

Value of wine in CDN dollars - $1160.70

Excise Tax - $11.16
GST - $70.31
Provincial (LCBO) Markup fee - $464.06
Provincial sales tax - $196.31

Total duty - $741.84

So the province of Ontario between the markup fee and sales tax got - $660.37 without an LCBO employee handling a single bottle!

This markup charge is in those profit number that the LCBO Employees Union talks about. So if the LCBO didn’t exist the government would still get a good chunk of that revenue (via alcohol taxes) that is currently gets from the LCBO.

Cheers!

Mark.

The LCBO - Part 1

There are two things I hate about Ontario and wine - Ontario wines and the LCBO. For those of you unfamiliar with the LCBO (Liquer Control Board of Ontario)... please give this a read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCBO .

The LCBO is a government run monopoly on alcohol. I do not believe they are doing a good job in serving the province of Ontario and changes need to be made.

Ideally, I would like to see them privatize the LCBO. I don't believe this will happen as Employees Union of the LCBO works very hard at putting out propaganda every time privatization issue comes up, the Government itself loves having the LCBO around for patronage appointments, and lastly the voters in Ontario are too apathetic to force the change.

I found the following on a report done for the Ontario Liquor Boards Employees' Union. ( http://www.yorku.ca/nuri/lcbo.htm )

The objectives and concerns of the LCBO are basically the following:

1. Regulatory control of the sales of alcohol to protect society;

2. Balancing regulatory control with the need to raise revenue for the provincial and federal governments through profits and taxes on alcohol sale;

3. Supporting the domestic wine industry and providing it with incentive through differential pricing, marketing, and promotion practices.

I am going to break this blog up into five parts - the first three will deal with each of the objectives, the fourth will deal with what is wrong with the current system and the last will be about suggestions I have for changing things with the LCBO.

So lets get started - 1. Regulatory control of the sales of alcohol to protect society;

Whenever the topic of privatization comes up this first point is a favourite for Ontario Liquor Boards Employees' Union propaganda, I call it the "Think of the Children" argument.

The "Think of the Children" argument is basically this - if booze was sold in convenience stores the restrictions on alcohol to minors would be much more relaxed than it currently is. They like to make out that minors would be buying booze buy the caseload, teen alcoholism rates would go through the ceiling, instead of packing a drinking box of Orange Tang in their lunches they'd switch to bottle of Vodka to get them through the day... Oh whoa is me!

The answer to this is simple - don't sell booze in convenience stores, instead require stores that carry booze to be stand alone stores. If your whole business and livelihood centered on having a valid liquor license, how relaxed would you be in I.D'ing minors?

Also this "Think of the Children" argument is bullshit anyways... when I was 16 and needed a bottle; it wasn't hard to find someone's older brother or sister to go buy it. I sure today's youths are just as 'clever' as we were.

So as long as alcohol is sold in stand alone stores this whole “Think of the Children” argument is invalid versus the current system...

Saturday Night - Hit'em with the spice weasel!

In the WTF? is ZippySauce article I made reference to another couple - Mick and Amy who were there when Zippy Sauce was born. Mick and Amy and my wife, Kathy, and I usually have dinners on Saturday nights. I decided to start writing about each of our Saturday night dinners for a couple of reasons.

1. We always have wine with the food and since this is Wine and Food blog...

2. This way I have a diary of Saturday nights and which wines and foods we matched, so if I decide to do a dish I haven't done in awhile, it will hopefully be listed on the blog and I can use it for reference.

This Saturday was Mick's turn to cook and he was busy. He did three courses and two of them were brand new. All three courses had one thing in common - spice.

The picture here is of the possible wine line-up for the evening. The red on the left is a Rodney Strong Zinfandel, the three white are (from left to right - EJ Gallo Single Vineyard Chardonnay, Robert Mondavi Riesling, and a Beringer's Alluvium.

Mick was planning on using a Zinfandel on the first and third courses but wasn't sure which white would pair with the second, and wanted to hold off until trying the second course to pick the wine. <--- Wuss... a real man is willing to take a shot at the pairing just by knowing the ingredients :).













First course was Diablo Meatballs and the Rodney Strong "Knotty Vines" Zinfandel.

Diablo Meatball were ground beef, onions, cumin, Chipotle peppers and a few other ingredients.

These were quite spicy, but were funny as you didn't notice the spice on first bite but it really hit you on the aftertaste. We were all sweating after a few of these meatballs.

We tried all sorts of different sauces with the meatballs - honey mustard, salsa, Zippy Sauce, garlic mayo, Bull's eye Honey BBQ sauce. Zippy and the garlic mayo were probably the most interesting. My wife made the suggestion that the meatballs had a nice flavor but would be really good as burger. At that point we all drooled at the thought of Diablo burgers with aged Cheddar, Bacon, lettuce, tomato and a good hit of Zippy Sauce. Mick has promised to do the burgers on his next Saturday.

"Waiter, there's a cat in my wine..."


Mick and Amy's cat "OJ" helping with wine duties.


The Rodney Strong 2001 "Knotty Vines" Zinfandel was a bit of a disappointment to me. I like a big bold Zinfandel and the Rodney Strong reminded me more of a softer, peppery Shiraz than a Zinfandel. Mick really liked it though so I guess it is more of what you are looking for in a red Zinfindel.


The second course was BBQ grilled shrimp in a brown sugar, orange and chipotle marinade.

These suckers were brutally hot and almost too much after my taste buds were still burning from spice of the meatballs. These were good but Mick has other shrimp recipes that I like more than this one.

After trying the shrimp, Amy, Kathy and myself wanted the Mondavi Riesling and Mick wanted the Beringers Aluvium. Out voted 3 to 1 Mick gave in and we went with the Riesling.

The Robert Mondavi 2005 Riesling is a great food wine and pairs well with alot of foods that normally are hard to pair with. I've had this wine with Chinese, Curried foods, and other spicy dishes and really liked it. This pairing was good but not great, and I couldn't help but wonder how the Alluvium would have gone with the shrimp instead.

The third course was spicy Chicken Quesadillas. These normally have a bit of a kick to them but after the first two courses, seemed very tame.

Mick broke out a Francis Ford Coppola's "Director's Cut" Zinfandel (since we killed the first Zinfandel with the meatballs!).

This was more like a Zinfandel I know and love - Big, bold and very fruit-forward. Out of the two Zinfandels we tried this was my favorite, but I'm sure Mick would go with the Rodney Strong.

The Zinfandel was a pretty good pairing but I was bugging Mick before this course to try the Chardonnay with it but he held his ground so Zinfandel it was. I would have been curious to see how the Chardonnay went with this...

For dessert, Amy and Kathy had bought a Chocolate and Peanut Butter based cake. It was OK but by that time I was filled to the gills and heady from all the wine so I didn't pay much attention to it.

"Until today, I have never liked White wine ..."

I have had three different people on seperate occasions tell me this after trying a White wine I had paired with a food course. The first time someone said that to me, I was amazed. I thought about all the different White wines I had tried and how wonderful most of them were; the diversity and complexity of a Riesling, how refreshing a Sauvignon Blanc can be, or how good a big buttery Chardonnay can be.

This got me to thinking how could someone go their whole life and not find a White wine they liked and then it hit me - Weddings and large group functions. I remembered how many weddings and large group functions I'd been to that the White wine was god awful.

My buddy, John called me and asked about what wine he should serve at his wedding. I asked him what price point he had to work with ... "As cheap as possible". I came back with two wines that I thought were OK - a $10 white and a $11 red. Both of these wines weren't what I'd describe as amazing but they were at least drinkable. He thought both of these would be good, and then discussed the choices with his parents... who freaked "Spending that much money on wine? Most people aren't wine drinkers at the wedding and you want to spend that much!!!"

When he told me this I was floored - $10-$11 bottles of wine are too expensive? I've used higher priced wines to cook with, but I guess when you are buying a very large number of bottles, a couple of bucks per bottle can make a big difference.

In the end he picked up a Red wine from Macedonia (until that point I didn't even know Macedonian wine was even sold wine in Canada) at $6 a bottle and I can't recall what the White was but it was just as cheap and even more nasty than the red.

(Note - to any of my American friends reading this - a California wine that you buy for $7-10 will end up costing $18-20 in an Ontario Liquer store, so when I say $10-$11 CDN, it would be like a $4-5 bottle. $6 CDN is going to be like a $2-3 bottle of wine in the US.)

I don't think John's parents were the exception to the rule, generally at most weddings and large functions the wine's most important feature is price.

This got me thinking about weddings in general - if you aren't willing to spend a few extra bucks on wine to get something drinkable, maybe you should cut down on the guest list? Smaller guest list = more money per person to spend on people you do like!

For a lot of people there first exposure to wine is at a wedding or large group function, if this was the only place you were drinking wine, you are not exactly getting the best that the world of wine has to offer.

The other thought I had was the food that the White wine was going with. I find Red wines are a lot more forgiving when pairing (i.e. if you pair something that goes with a Cab. but instead use a Pinot Noir or a Shiraz, it will probably be OK, not amazing but not bad). White wines tend to be lot more diverse between grapes than red. You miss with a White wine pairing and you'll really know it.

So between Wedding and bad pairings, it does kind of explain why someone might not of had a White wine they liked. If your experience with White had been like that, it wouldn't exactly motivate you to go out and spend $15-25 on a nicer White, would it?

Cheers!

Mark.

Food and Wine pairing - the Basics.

My love of cooking is what got me into wine in the first place. I usually will not drink wine on its own. Matching the right wine with the right food will take your dinning experience to the next level.

Wine pairing isn't hard. It is exactly the same as knowing that a baked potato is a good match for steak. Would you put a scoop of vanilla ice cream with that same steak? No, of course you wouldn't. This is because you tried ice cream, potatoes and steak many times and know how they taste and what they do and don't work with.

So the reason wine pairing seems hard to most people is lack of exposure to wine. Once you become familiar with the different types of wines out there and try them with more and more foods it will become much easier.

Here is how I started learning how to pair - My wife, Kathy and I would get together with another couple every Saturday night for dinner. We alternate between the two houses each Saturday. I would cook/make three courses - Soup, Salad/Appetizer and main course.

Hit the Internet (Google is your best friend when it comes to wine pairing) and do a search on what wines go with each course. I guaranty whatever you are making; someone, somewhere on the Internet has made something close to it and has a wine they are recommending with it. Now you should have a list of three wines. The exact brand isn't important, what is important is type of grape. Buy those three wines.

Once you sit down for dinner, pour out all three wines so there will be twelve glasses total on the table. Tell everyone which wine is supposed to go with each course, but make sure you try all three types with every course.

Here is an example menu -

Curried Chicken Soup + Semi-sweet Riesling

Smoked Salmon with Bagel Crisps, Cream Cheese, Lemons and Capers + Chardonnay

BBQ Beef Tenderloin with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans + Cabernet Sauvignon

When you have the Riesling with the Curried Chicken it will be a nice match, hopefully one of the other two wines should be really nasty with Curried Chicken. Sort of like the flavor you get with toothpaste after drinking a big glass of orange juice. You will start to wonder if one or both of the other wines is off or has something wrong with it. This is what you are looking for. You will be amazed at how good the Chardonnay will be with the Smoked Salmon and the Cabernet will be with the Tenderloin. I'm also willing to bet you will be very disappointed with how the Riesling does with the Tenderloin.

The whole key to food pairing is exposure to as many types of wines and foods as possible.

Another option to get more exposure to wine is to form a Wine Club with a group of friends. Say four to six couples and each couple brings a bottle of wine and a small snack to go with it.

Every few months or so we expand Saturday night out to another two couples. Every couple is responsible for bringing one course of the meal and a wine to go with it. This is awesome as for the price of one bottle of wine and one course, you get exposure to three other wines and three other foods.

Lastly, keep your eyes open for Wine events happening in your area - wine stores doing tastings, wineries in your area doing tastings, charities doing a wine tasting as a fund raiser.

One thing you will want to purchase is a small notebook. Nothing too large, something that can fit in your pocket, so when you try a wine that you really like you can write it down! Can't count the number of times I have had a great wine and didn't write it down and then a few months later think about that night and can't recall the wine for the life of me.

Cheers,

Mark

WTF is Zippy Sauce?

This bowl, though worn, well-loved and now retired, was where the very first batch of Zippy Sauce was created.

The two Mason jars in the behind are both filled with Zippy Sauce.

WTF is Zippy Sauce? Zippy Sauce is the name I have for a home made BBQ sauce that was created on the fly at my friend Mick's house when he was in the middle of grilling steaks and remembered that he was out of a commercially branded steak sauce. As all four of us had already been drinking... there was no way any of us were driving to store to get some.

So I volunteered to make something up... and after a quick web search on BBQ sauce recipes which gave me a rough idea of what is in a normal BBQ sauce, I raided his kitchen cupboards and "a little of this and a little of that" and voila "Zippy Sauce" was born.

The dinner was funny as Mick and his wife, Amy and my wife and I sat down for dinner, everyone took the smallest amount possible of the new BBQ sauce. Each of us in turn dipped a little steak into and tried it. A minute later we were all heaping more of the sauce on our plate.

A couple of weeks later we were back for another BBQ. Mick mentioned that he bought some steak sauce from the store. I figured that was the end of my home made BBQ sauce adventure, at this point Amy spoke up and said she didn't want the store bought stuff and she wanted the "zippy" BBQ sauce I'd made before. My wife agreed and want the "zippy" sauce as well.

I almost panicked as I'd made that sauce up two weeks ago and wasn't sure if I could remember exactly what went in it. I gave it a shot and while it was slightly different from the first batch, it was close enough that everyone enjoyed.

The "Zippy" sauce was born. I played around with the ingredents and which ratio of each to use for the next year or so and now I have the recipe down and Zippy sauce is now very consistant.

Cheers,

Mark