The demand for premium Canadian wines on international markets has risen dramatically with a new initiative to market Canadian wine labels co-operatively under the Wines of Canada designation.

By this time last year only 1,000 cases of Canadian premium wine had been shipped to the crucial u.k. market.

This year, as a result of the new marketing initiative, more than 5,000 cases have been shipped, and negotiations are under way to ship an additional 40,000 cases, worth about $1.3 million.

The Wines of Canada designation is being used for premium wines from Ontario and b.c.

‘We both found ourselves on the export market, talking about our products, and it made an awful lot more sense to unite into Canada, which has a stronger image abroad,’ says Peter Gamble, co-director of the National Export Committee.

‘We wanted to take advantage of a number of things that were positive about Canada,’ says Gamble, citing the popularity of the New World and Cool Climate wine categories, both of which Canadian products fit into nicely.

The wines, some of which carry the Wines of Canada designation on their labels, are grouped in retail outlets, and are supported by a poster campaign.

So far, the initiative has been particularly successful in the u.k., where the wines met critical success in competitions judged by the industry’s ‘opinion leaders.’

Gamble says the Wines of Canada campaign is still in its early stages in the u.s., but expects sales will match those of the u.k. by next year after recent praise by American wine critics. AB