Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P.
A strange time to be defending govt intervention the day after the Premier did a soft-shoe worthy of Fred Astaire to defend his decision to subsidize a buddy’s wine-bottling operation that has the local wineries that actually *make* wine here vs buying it by the tanker load out of chile or Australia feeling both outraged and betrayed. But not to worry, because when challenged by the press, he reverted to his old pit bull persona for all to see. Just another example for why we need less govt intrusion into our lives.
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From what I read, it seems like the intentions were just to bottle wine from other producers, not to label it as Nova Scotia wine (but it can be labeled as "bottled in NS"?). There is already wine from many countries being sold, in competition with NS wines, at the NSLC and 'private' wine shops in the province. I don't see how it would make much difference whether wine with grapes from abroad, not being branded as an NS wine, is bottle locally or in Ontario or wherever. NS wine is mostly very different (in varietals and terroir) from wine produced from imported grapes (or grape juice or wine transported by tanker, or however it will be processed here), and people looking to buy a Cab likely won't confuse it with a Foch, for example.
Whatever the reason, it appears to be an offshoot of a trade dispute between Australia and Canada, so it sounds like it has to happen to resolve the dispute, vs the idea being floated that it was somehow the Premier's pet project to make his buddies rich.
It sounds like local producers are rightfully concerned about unintended consequences to their businesses. It appears that it wasn't thought through very thoroughly, and not communicated properly to the local industry before implementation. I'm sure it will all get worked out to the benefit of all in the long run. Meanwhile it's great fodder for the media to chew on.
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