What's with wine in the trashy Tetra Packs these days?

[RedWolf]

Ok, now that pretty much sucks.

At least this side of the Ottawa/Outaouais* the SAQ still sells the quality wines in bottle. Tetra-pak wine is what you find in the groceries and stuff. (And it's relatively high-grade, actually, for grocery wine)

*Just so that our resident Ottawaians knows I'm talking about the RIVER, not the CITY.

Don't get me wrong - there is still a lot of quality glass bottled wine in the LCBO (The overwhelming majority in fact) It just seems that the number of tetra paked brands are increasing monthly.

I've been reading some speculation that the LCBO actually plans to get into the wine producing business - by purchasing cheap foreign wine in bulk (large cargo bladders), importing it and then re-packing it in Tetra Paks. They've been involved in initiatives to open tetra-pak filling facilities in the province so some people think its the next logical step for them - which is why they're working so hard to promote the technology in their stores.

On a side note: They've lost their fight to prevent the bottle deposit program as that has recently been mandated by the government. So now we pay a $0.20 deposit on all wine bottles.

 

[Drewcifer]

It's not trivial though. It's certainally not 'upper class' to like wine, and it's something which wine lovers care about and have strong opinions on.

In the US at least 50% of the population thinks that liking wine and knowing the difference between good wine and bad wine is snobby, pretentious and upper class.

It is a good thing too, if everybody in the US liked wine the extra demand would cause a massive worldwide price surge.

 

[Drewcifer]

The only problem is that Ontario wines are particularly poor value for whatever reason. I can buy a really good Australian Shiraz for about $13 in the LCBO... An Ontario wine of similair quality would cost in the $17 - $20 ballpark (In the LCBO or direct from the winery). Consequently I buy almost no Ontario wine.

If you are wondering why this is it is beacuse Australia is a major producer but has a small domestic market so it has to sell it's wines aggressively overseas. The same is true for Chile, Argentina, and South Africa.

On the other hand most North American wineries sell out all of their wine in the domestic market every year so they aren't under the same price pressures. I think the US, Canada and Switzerland are the only significant producers where that is the case.

 

[Grisu]

On the other hand most North American wineries sell out all of their wine in the domestic market every year so they aren't under the same price pressures. I think the US, Canada and Switzerland are the only significant producers where that is the case.

well, we just like to drink way more wine than we can produce, which explains why I have never seen swiss wine outside of switzerland (though I'm not really a big fan of swiss wine

but I'm happy that the average american drinks way less wine than the average european (I think it's about half as much). Otherwise the prices for wine would be crazy

 

[Paradigne]

Any wine is still better thn American beer

 

[RedWolf]

It is a good thing too, if everybody in the US liked wine the extra demand would cause a massive worldwide price surge.

Do you think this has somewhat to do with cultural opinions of alcohol? Wine is certainly an aquired taste - People who grew up drinking wine tend to like it a lot while people who didn't - often don't (unless they develop a taste for it later in life). So then consider this while thinking about European vs. North American attitudes towards alcohol: Europeans often see alcohol as just another drink that compliments/enhances the flavour of fine food - and I've heard stories of European families allowing their underage children to drink in that context. In North America however alcohol is seen as far more taboo - the drinking age in the US is 21 after all. Few families would allow their children a drink with dinner except for maybe very special occassions.

 

[RedWolf]

If you are wondering why this is it is beacuse Australia is a major producer but has a small domestic market so it has to sell it's wines aggressively overseas. The same is true for Chile, Argentina, and South Africa.

On the other hand most North American wineries sell out all of their wine in the domestic market every year so they aren't under the same price pressures. I think the US, Canada and Switzerland are the only significant producers where that is the case.

Thanks - I actually was curious about the why but nobody has ever been able to give me a good answer before.