Monthly Newsletter
Posted: April 6, 2026
VQA IS 100% ONTARIO AND 100% CANADIAN. EVERY TIME. GUARANTEED.
Now more than ever, it’s time to share this message with every consumer in Ontario. VQA is the only guarantee that a wine is 100% Ontario. Look for the VQA letters or the logo for authentic, local wine. Every time. Guaranteed.
THANK YOU FOR RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP (OR RENEW NOW!)
The membership renewal cycle completed April 1, 2026. Thank you for renewing. If you did not renew on the online portal, your membership is now expired and any existing VQA wine approvals will be rescinded on April 30. If you missed the notices, or just forgot, please make sure you complete the renewal as soon as possible to avoid regulatory penalties
PLEASE UPDATE YOUR USER ACCOUNTS AND INFORMATION
OWAA’s year end was March 31 and we encourage you to login to your OWAA account and update your information:
- Delete any users who no longer work for you, update your email and phone contact info
- Upload labels for those approvals that are still pending (and make sure you don’t release any wine before it is approved)
- Pay any outstanding invoices, but not before checking to see if you have a credit to be used. To check on whether you have used the credit issued last November, go to the invoices page and filter for 12 months. The credit can be used if you have more owing than the credit. If you don’t please use it when you next submit wine approvals.
SPARKLING WINE SWEETNESS DESCRIPTORS – CONSULTATION
OWAA is considering amending the rules to add a new sweetness descriptor for Sparkling wines “Extra Brut”. This will denote less than 6 grams of residual sugar and sit between Natural Brut (0 sugar added to dosage) and Brut (not more than 15 g/L). The formal request for comment with all the details will be circulated separately. We welcome your comments.
FRACETTE – SWEETNESS DESCRIPTORS
For those of you making wine in the new Fracette Sparkling wine category, please note some important information on labelling. Fracette must contain less than 15 g/L of residual sugar and therefore qualifies only for the sweetness descriptor Brut or Natural Brut. It cannot be labelled as “Dry” and this word cannot appear on the label. See the rules for Sparkling Wine below. As always, if you have any questions about how to label your wine, please contact katherina.radcliffe@vqaontario.ca or sabina.mostacci@vqaontario.ca.
| Sweetness Descriptions | Residual Sugar Level | Total Acid Level calculated as tartaric acid |
|---|---|---|
| Natural Brut (naturel) |
not more than 15 g/L no sweetener in the dosage |
not less than 4 g/L |
| Brut | not more than 15 g/L |
not less than 4 g/L |
| Extra Dry (extra sec) |
more than 15 g/L not more than 25 g/L |
not less than 4 g/L |
| Dry (sec) |
more than 25 g/L not more than 35 g /L |
not less than 4 g/L |
| Medium Dry (semi-dry)(demi-sec) |
more than 35 g/L not more than 50 g /L |
not less than 4 g/L |
| Sweet (doux) |
more than 50 g/L |
not less than 4 g/L |
REGULATORY REGISTRY – PINOT BEUROT AND ALBARINO
The proposal to add Albarino to the list of approved varieties and to recognize Pinot Beurot as a synonym for Pinot Gris has been posted to the Ontario Government Regulatory Registry. If you would like to comment directly to the government, you can find the details here.