WTN: Ironestone "Obsession" Symphony 2006

California.

Yellow with green tinges in the glass.

Apricot and tangerine on the nose, with black pepper.

Very fleshy and juicy orange, lemon and lime, peppery, quite tangy, good acidity and some grapefruit rind bitterness lurking in the background.

Very refreshing.

Peppery with tart grapefruit rind on the finish.

My wife and I have enjoyed this wine over several vintages. Always a fun drink that is well suited to sipping on the backyard deck on a summer evening or matched with spicy foods.

Screwcap closure.

Purchased at $14.95 (Canadian).

Thanks for the note Bruce. I agree - Symphony is a favourite of mine too for many years; I love the aromatics. I might perfer it a bit drier, but it's a lovely wine nevertheless.

This is the second time recently that I've paid attention to Canadian wine prices, the other being Bob Parson's Spanish wine tasting in Alberta. If you've visited Ironstone's website, you'll know that the winery sells this wine for US$8; it's often discounted to US$6 or 7 in stores. With the relative strength of the loonie these days (or weakness of the dollar, depending on how you look at it), that just makes your price look worse. What is it about the Canadian distribution system or taxes or whatever that makes you pay twice the US price for US and European wines? Are Canadian wines similarly marked up or do duties account for the difference? Any explanations you can offer would be appreciated.

Excellent questions Mark. The "answer" really depends on who you ask.

If you were to ask officials with the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO), the government-run monopoly, they would tell you all about long-term currency contracts, etc., etc. There are others, including myself and some established wine writers, who are suggesting that the LCBO is merely keeping prices high to earn a bigger profit.

The wine writer for the Toronto Star, Gordon Stimmell, has been writing a few columns about this issue and in Saturday's edition, he used the example of Yellow Tail Chardonnay, which sells for $4.99 in Buffalo and $11.25 in Ontario. As you point out, with our two currencies pretty much valued the same nowdays, that just doesn't make any sense.

I'm guessing your phrase "government-run monopoly" holds the answer one way or the other. Based on these three examples (the Yellow Tail from the newspaper column, the Ironstone and Bob Parson's Garnacha), wines retailing from $5 to $15 in the US all sell for twice that (or a little worse) in Canada. Duties based on wine volume or alcoholic content couldn't account for that. I think the difference must be some version of government mark-up.

Yeah good question and no real answer. In Alberta, the govt is still involved but much is now privatised. Some wines from abroad go through 2 agents sometimes(?!!) so both mark up. Then there are federal and provincial taxes on top of that. Finally the store has its mark up! Shall I go on, LOL.

I guess I should feel good - as screwed up and anti-consumer as the US's "three-tier" system is, it's nice to know that it could be even worse