TorontoWine.Com

your guide to wine in the city

Buying Wine in Toronto

This page has six sections: 

• Wine Ratings
• LCBO & Vintages
• Agencies
• Local Producers
• Home Delivery
• 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. 

If you have a particular bottle in mind and want to check up on its rating (out of 100), Canada's Wine Access has a database of over 11,000 wines reviewed since inception.

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 60 countries.  Over 4,000 products are available in more than 30 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 product search feature - useful when you half remember a name or you have a favourite product and want to see if there is any left.  The Ontario government has established a panel to review how wine is sold.  If you want to contribute to the debate, visit this website.

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.

Both Wine Access 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.  Each agency has a roster of producers including non LCBO products as well its regular LCBO and Vintages offerings.  Many will now deliver to your doorstep however note that you have to buy a minimum of a case.  Agencies can also help you to order wine from overseas if you know exactly what you want.   Pricing is regulated by the LCBO so you don't have an opportunity to get a deal but if you have particular tastes in wine, it is well worth your while to build a relationship with a specialty agency.  Several 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.  If you are interested in starting up your own agency, you should take Steven Trenholme's course.

Comprehensive information on all Ontario agencies including a wine "search" feature is available from OIWSBA - Ontario Imported Wines Spirits and Beers Association.

See below for a number of Toronto based agencies that offer a free newsletter:

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

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:

Home Delivery

There are four companies that specialize in delivering wines directly to your doorstep. They all  feature online ordering:

Winerytohome currently offers the wines of 30 wineries - over 400 wines almost all VQA. This is more than the VQA selection at the LCBO’s largest stores.  Wines are chosen by the following experts:

 Tony Aspler; David Lawrason; Christopher Waters , Evan Saviolidis, John Szabo and Zoltan Szabo.

Wine Line Ontario offers wines from various merchants in Ontario and BC and also various wine gifts, including art and prints, and wine baskets.

WineOnline.ca sell wines via their website or by phone and deliver to your home or business.  They focus on wines that are not available at the LCBO, and their current product range covers wines from France, Italy, Chile, California and Ontario.  They also sell glassware and other accessories.

WineThisWeek.ca  works with the finest Ontario wineries to bring premium, limited edition (non-LCBO) wines to its customers.  Wines are hand-picked by the following experts: Evan Saviolidis; Zoltan Szabo; Frank Baldock; Larry Paterson; Michael Pataran and Michael Pinkus.

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%.  Your choice!  

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