TorontoWine.Com

your guide to wine in the city

Buying Wine in Toronto

This page has seven sections: 

• Wine Ratings
• LCBO & Vintages
• Agencies
• Local Producers
• Online Ordering
• Online Marketplace
• Personal Import

Wine Ratings

If you are thinking of starting a cellar and want to see the ratings by year of the better known wine areas before you buy anything, refer to Robert Parker's Vintage Chart.  An alternative is Winetasters "Vintage Charts" section. 

Another option for ratings is Tastings is produced by the USA based Journal of the Beverage Tasting Institute. 

LCBO & Vintages

The starting point for most purchases, whether domestic or foreign is the LCBO which includes Vintages.  The LCBO is the largest single purchaser of beverage alcohol in the world, purchasing fine wine, spirits and beer from more than sixty countries.  Over 4,000 products are available in more than thirty stores across Toronto.  The majority of products listed at the LCBO are available on a year over year basis subject to sales volume. The LCBO site has a very helpful product search feature - good when you half remember a name or you have a favourite product and want to see if there is any left.  The current inventory by store is available online and is updated on a regular basis.

Vintages is the fine wines and premium spirits division of the LCBO and specializes in one-off purchases.  It normally has two product releases a month.  You can subscribe (free of charge) to their monthly magazine which provides details of what will be available as well as cooking tips and upcoming events.  Your local store can provide the subscription form.  The magazine is also available on line.  Follow the "Monthly Release" link.  

A subset of the Vintages model is the "discoveries program" under which a small number of products are selectively released at certain stores.  You should ask your local store if the program is in existence there.  In addition, Vintages provides a Classics Catalogue three times a year which has rare and unusual wines for sale.  

There is a Vintages section at most LCBO stores and a separate location at  Cooper's St at Queen's Quay.  Other major locations in the Toronto area are Bayview Village Mall (Sheppard and Bayview), Crossroads at 2625D Weston Road (Weston and 401), and 10 Scrivener Square at Yonge and Summerhill.

All non Canadian products at the LCBO are represented by an agency.  A listing at the LCBO is a valuable commodity so agencies are always trying to get more of their products listed.  

if you don't have other sources for wine wisdom, it is a good idea to build a relationship with an LCBO consultant in your store, particularly if you are planning to store wine and are using Vintages to build your cellar. In my experience, they are extremely professional and love to help.  

In October 2008, Vintages launched Vintages Shop Online.  The idea is to market premium products the supply of which is limited and thus can not be stocked at individual stores.

Both Wine Align and Vintage Assessments provide a subscription service containing a detailed review and rating of the wines, in advance, on each Vintage release.  Follow the links for further information.

Agencies

A second option for buying wine is to deal directly with an agency.  Agencies have a dual role.  As well as supplying wine to the LCBO and Vintages, they also sell to restaurants.  Many restaurants, particularly the higher end ones, prefer to list non LCBO products.  If you have particular tastes in wine or you like the idea of getting a more exclusive product, it is well worth your while to build a relationship with an agency.   They can also help you order wine from overseas if you know exactly what you want.   Pricing is regulated by the LCBO however so you don't have an opportunity to get a deal  

Many agencies will now deliver to your doorstep however note that you have to buy a minimum of a case.  Comprehensive information on all Ontario agencies including a wine "search" feature is available from OIWSBA - Ontario Imported Wines Spirits and Beers Association.  

If you are interested in starting up your own agency, I highly recommend Steven Trenholme's course.

A number of agencies now have a free newsletter available via email or hard copy so you can easily keep up to date on what they have available.  See below for details:

• Churchill Cellars
• H.H.D. Imports Inc
• John Hanna & Sons Ltd
• Lifford Agency Limited
• Rogers & Company
• B & W Wines
  

Local Producers

A third option, applicable specifically to Ontario products, is to pay a visit to the producer / winery or buy the wine at a producer run store.  Refer to the Travel Toronto page for producers located in the Toronto area:

Online Ordering

if you don't have much time for shopping, online ordering may be of interest. 

Natalie MacLean offers 50,000 reviews of LCBO wines searchable by price, score, tasting note, region, grape, blend and food match. Natalie also pairs every wine with several complementary recipes. You can look up the inventory level of each wine at your closest LCBO stores according to your postal code and then create a custom shopping list based on what you like that's available. The reviews are also formatted for iPhone, BlackBerry and other smart phones.  If you'd like to subscribe to her free newsletter, follow the link.  For her biography, see the People page  

See below for five companies that specialize in delivering wines directly to your doorstep.  The only catch is that by law, the minimum order is six or twelve bottles depending on the packaging.  See also Vintages On Line above.

Winerytohome is the pioneer of online wine sales and specializes in Ontario products that are generally not available at the LCBO because of production limitations.  They effectively allow the small boutique winery and/or small lots of premium products to reach a wider audience.  They sell more than 400 listings from over 40 Ontario producers.  it is possible of course to obtain the product directly from the winery however the wines listed on the site have been sampled and endorsed by David Lawrason and Tony Aspler thus substantially increasing your chances of liking it.  They also offer artisanal cheeses.

WineThisWeek.ca  works with the finest Ontario wineries to bring premium, limited edition (non-LCBO) wines to its customers.  Wines are hand-picked by a number of wine experts.  They currently have approximately 60 listings.

WineOnline.ca main focus is premium wines that are not available at the LCBO.  They currently have approximately 140 listings of which 78 come from Ontario They sell wines via their website or by phone and deliver to your home or business.  They also sell glassware and other accessories.

WineGuru.ca  Wine Guru sell top quality wines from around the world.  They currently have approximately 60 listings.  They sell by the case lot, usually 12 bottles but sometimes 6, and deliver to most parts of Ontario.

Online Marketplace

Vinfolio Marketplace provides an online trading platform which facilitates the direct sale of wine from one individual to another.  Many bottles listed come from the private cellars of wine lovers who use the company's free web-based cellar management software, Vincellar.  Inventory can be tracked via bar-coding and is accessed via the internet.  Vinfolio also has an online wine store.

Personal Import

You enjoyed an idyllic overseas holiday including some fabulous wines and you've decided to bring back a case.  Well, you're in for a shock price wise.  If the wine accompanies you on the plane, the combined effect of Duty & Excise taxes, LCBO markup, GST and RST is in the region of 70%.  If the wine is unaccompanied, the markup is 110%.    

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