VERONA, Italy, May 22,
2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- New statistics released on
April 23th by Canada's national statistics agency confirm
that wine is increasingly gaining popularity. Canada is a remarkable producer of wine, but
Canadian consumers' attention seems to be drawn to foreign
products: 70% of the total wine consumed between 2017 and 2018 was
imported. When interviewed about this, Canadian wine professionals
commented that they had already been noticing this phenomenon in
previous years and that the news does not come as a surprise.
However, they further remarked that Canadian consumers often lack
the knowledge necessary to discern quality products. Aiming to
change this situation and provide their customers with the best
products, the above-mentioned wine experts, who are 25 in number,
decided to join Native Grape Odyssey (NGO), an EU-financed
educational project for the promotion of European native
grapes.
Canada is a market that the
European Union cannot underestimate. Whilst beer seems to retain
its position as Canadians' favorite alcoholic beverage (39, 68% of
the value of total alcoholic beverages sales), Canada's national statistics agency has data
to confirm that wine is not far from gaining first place (32,43%).
This is a tendency arisen within the last 10 years: wine sales in
Canada have been consistently
increasing year on year (averaging 4,2% a year; 4,6% compared with
the previously investigated fiscal year, 2016/17). At a global
level, analysis by Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du
Vin (OIV) on the state of the viticulture in the world market has
found that in 2018 Canada was the 13th country in terms of wine
consumption, but the 6th for volume of imported wine (joint with
the Netherlands). As mentioned
above, Canada's significant wine
import rate is confirmed by Canada's own data, which reports that 70% of
the wine consumed in Canada
between 2017 and 2018 was of foreign origin.
The Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union certainly played
a fundamental role in imported wine's conquer of the Canadian
market. The treaty was provisionally applied on September 21th, 2018, and eliminated 98% of the
exporting tariffs between the signing countries. The CETA also
signified the official acknowledgment of European denominations of
origin, a remarkable achievement for high-quality European
products. For the first time, the treaty banned the sale in
Canada of imitations of 140
European delicacies, making European designations of origin an
unequivocal guarantee of products origin and craft.
However, protecting these products from imitations is not
enough. In order to make the most of this opportunity, the European
quality system needs to be demystified and communicated to the
ordinary costumer. According to NGO participant Kurtis Kolt, wine consultant and sommelier, wine
experts are aware of the superior craft of EU products marked with
quality labels, but the difference is still unclear to the general
public: «It should not be taken for granted that everyone knows
what PDO and PGI mean. Actually, in my opinion there are many wine
consumers in Canada that are not
aware of the meaning of these denominations.»
This is precisely why the European Union has created educational
programs such as Native Grape Odyssey. Comments from participants
confirm that the full potential of European wines in the Canadian
market is still to be expressed: «Wine consumption, sales, intrigue
and interest are on the rise in Canada currently and it is a great time for
the premium wine market. Wine is currently on trend in Canada and it is a great time to focus on more
niche or lesser known wines varietals and regions» - commented
Jeffery Osborne, Sales Manager at
Grape Brands Ltd. and sommelier.
The situation seems promising for European exports in Canadian
market, but these products need to be properly introduced and
explained to the consumer. This is a role that only people of
authority within the market can undertake. The above-mentioned 25
wine experts have thus found in NGO a way to deepen their knowledge
about the subject, so that they can effectively express it to the
Canadian market. Joanne DiGeso, wine
educator, stated that NGO has perfectly identified what is needed
to take European wine sales in Canada to the next level: «I think that NGO is
doing great work at educating influencers, sommeliers and educators
on the broader range of Italian wines. This, in turn, should
'trickle down' to consumers.» Sommelier Jeffery Osborne commented
further by praising NGO's educational activities content:
«NGO-organised seminars are fantastic deep dives into perspectives
on the grapes and wines which we are typically not exposed to by
CMS or WSET. »
The success of this first edition encouraged NGO's organisers to
expand the programme: large scale events have already been planned
for the months to come, and this time NGO will literally bring
European excellence to the world, organising educational activities
directly in the target countries.
About: Native Grape Odyssey is a project financed by the
European Union and managed by Unione Italiana Vini and Zante
Agricultural Cooperatives Union for the promotion of PDO and PGI
European wines abroad, in particular in three countries:
Japan, Canada and Russia. In order to achieve this, the Native
Grape Odyssey educational program will organize wine seminars,
workshops and b2b meetings both in these countries and in
Verona, Italy, inviting wine experts and influencers
from these countries. These events, realized in the span of three
years (2019-21) aim at creating awareness about European native
wines abroad, in particular Italian and Greek wines, which share a
long tradition and a high standard of quality.
SOURCE Native Grape Odyssey