Monthly Newsletter
Posted: April 10, 2024
OWAA ANNOUNCES NEW CHAIR OF THE BOARD
OWAA welcomes Derek Cartlidge to the position of Chair of the Board of Directors. Derek holds a senior management role at Colio Wines, and is the President of Thornbury Cider. He joined the OWAA Board in 2019 representing the Lake Erie North Shore appellation.
Derek has held the position of OWAA Treasurer for several years and his move to Chair has resulted in new slate of officers:
Brian Schmidt moves into the position of Past-Chair and will remain on the Board.
We express our deep gratitude to Ken Douglas, who was first elected in 2004 and served as Chair from 2009-2012, then Past-Chair until March 2024. Ken contributed his extensive knowledge of the Ontario wine industry over its many years of development and evolution to its modern state.
We also recognize Brian Schmidt’s long and dedicated service as Chair. Brian has led the Board through three strategic plans and a period of significant change and renewal. Under his leadership the organization weathered the pandemic and emerged with a much stronger operational profile, bringing key services in-house and minimizing the financial burden on wineries.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING – JULY 9, 2024, PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY
Look for the notice of meeting and election information coming in late May.
DEADLINE TO ADOPT NEW LOGO ON ALL PACKAGING – JULY 31, 2024
As of August 1, 2024, the new logo (adopted in September 2019) will be the only VQA logo permitted for use on VQA packaging. This applies to the logo as it appears on labels, neck bands, screw caps, foils and capsules. Please reach out to the office with any questions you may have.
MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION (MFA) IS COMING TO VQA SERVICES SOON
We will be implementing new security features on our VQA Services application in the near future. Users will be able to select authentication through email or SMS verification or choose to continue without MFA enabled.
MEMBERSHIP EXPIRY
If you did not complete your membership renewal online before March 31, you will notice that your account has been set to inactive with read-only access. If this was an oversight, please login and complete the renewal. Memberships that are not renewed by April 30, 2024 will be automatically set to expired and the VQA Services account will be closed.
PLEASE KEEP YOUR ACCOUNTS UP TO DATE
As we start the new membership year, this is a good time to make sure you are up to date in your monthly reporting, complete your outstanding wine approvals – send us those missing labels! – and pay any outstanding invoices. If you need assistance finding out what is outstanding, or navigating the VQA Services application, please call the office or email [email protected].
REMINDER! ONGOING STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION – CHANGES TO THE VQA AUTHORIZED GRAPE VARIETIES LIST
The OWAA Board of Directors is seeking stakeholder feedback on possible additions to the list of grape varieties that can be used for VQA wines. The original consultation document was distributed to all VQA wineries in February and an updated version can be found here. If you have not yet done so, we encourage you to let us know your thoughts on these or any other specific varieties. Send your feedback to [email protected] by April 15, 2024.
In response to OWAA’s consultation, the Ontario Craft Wineries Association has presented a proposal to create a new non-VQA category of wine labelled “Product of Ontario”. For clarity, OWAA is not proposing a new wine category and is not seeking formal feedback on the OCW proposal at this time. We will continue to engage with OCW on its proposal separately from this formal consultation.
The grapes under consideration are:
Vitis Vinifera
Hybrids developed for disease resistance or cold-hardiness
2024 ONTARIO CRAFT WINE CONFERENCE & TRADE SHOW
On behalf of OCW
The sixth annual Ontario Craft Wine Conference & Trade Show will take place on Tuesday, April 23, 2024 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. This event is Ontario’s only industry lead conference focusing on the business of wine which brings together Ontario’s VQA wine and grape industry leaders. Join us for a full day of educational seminars, professional networking and business building featuring international keynote speakers. This event is attended by 400+ attendees including craft winery owners, producers, wine experts, professionals, industry suppliers, investors, government and industry champions. Register today to attend the conference of the year.
- Website: ontariocraftwineconference.ca
- Tickets for Registration: ontario.craftwineconference.ca/register
CERTIFICATION IN ONTARIO WINES AT CCOVI
We are proud to note that our course, Level 1 in Ontario VQA Wine Appellations, is embedded in the NEW Certification in Ontario Wines course at CCOVI, Brock University. The next offering of this five-week course runs April 29 to June 2 and is aimed at both industry and wine enthusiasts. This fully integrated online course will allow you to learn all about Ontario wines and earn not one, but three certifications, including the Level 1 in Ontario VQA Wine Appellations. For more information or to register for this course please visit Brock Continuing Education.