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The
General List Price Book cometh
The
LCBO’s continuing saga of hiding the best ©
Michael
Vaughan
National Post Weekly Wine & Spirits
Columnist
Saturday June 23, 2001
Well get on the phone and call
Ripley’s, the LCBO’s General List Price Book Summer 2001 edition has
finally arrived. Of course, don’t expect the contents or prices to be
absolutely correct. The first page warns us that this snapshot was taken
on April 17th after the LCBO’s purge of 400 products from the
General List (see my web site for details)! Ironically, the once
well-hidden Errazuriz Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc is still listed as a
“Dessert Wine” even though it’s long gone! This Price Book is a lot
leaner than in the past.
It’s been a long time since
we’ve seen an updated edition. And as per usual, there’s the opening
advertorial ditty luring the unsuspecting to the land of bland, but
popular products. But what’s this? I turn to page 96 and discover that
there really has been a major positive change. In the past, the LCBO’s
“Champagnes” heading included all the Ontario bubblies (along with the
real thing from France)! I always felt it was perverse that Canadian
bubblies could qualify as “Champagne” while everything else from Spain
to Australia would be listed as “Sparkling”. Ontario bubblies have
finally been demoted to “Sparkling”. Even the Andres listing at $7.45,
has lost its “Champagne” designation – at least here!
The reason for this final
nomenclature retreat isn’t clear. Perhaps it was an ingratiating effort
to get our icewines into the EEC - certainly France has been up in arms
about the LCBO ‘s use of “Champagne” for decades. Indeed, last
fall’s Price Book article focused on the “Champagne Cocktail”
without suggesting a single genuine Champagne. Did this burst the bubble?
In any case, it’s a step in the
right direction. Moreover, it’s also nice to discover that Ontario
fortified wines are no longer called Sherries and/or Ports. Now there’s
only one classification for Port and Sherry, the rest are “Style”
wines.
Unfortunately, you will still find
that Canada’s two largest producers, Andres and Vincor, are marketing
“Chablis” and/or “Burgundy” (as if these terms actually meant
something to the people who buy them). It’s a real shame they lack the
courage to do the right thing. I remember getting nauseous after seeing
“Canadian Chablis” being marketed in our Canadian pavilion at Disney
World’s Epcot Centre.
Some Price Book problems still
remain. We do not, for instance, have a “Fruit Wine” category. How
many would know that the three fruit wines from Newfoundland are to be
found under “Flavoured Table Wines” on page 101 in the “Kosher”
section. Indeed, the entire Kosher section might duplicated in each
appropriate section with a K moniker. This would
enable a buyer to see the entire range of wines available by class.
In fact, fruit wines are all over
the place. Under “Dessert Wines”, for instance, you’ll find
everything from the delicious Southbrook
Farms Framboise, which is a fortified (grape spirit) fruit wine
(14.5% alcohol) with 30-sugar code to the unfortified, Pale Moon Apple from South Africa
with 10% alcohol and a sugar code of only 1! How can the latter can be
considered a dessert wine? It certainly would be easier if all the fruit
wines could be put in one place and broken up into dry, off-dry and sweet
classifications, perhaps showing if they are low alcohol or fortified.
One of the most disconcerting
aspects relates to the placing of cream-styled fortified drinks into
“Wine Based Drinks” vs “Cream Liquors”. The latter are found under
“Spirits” meaning that they’re diluted spirits, while the former are
creams which are basically flavoured fortified wines and are found in the
“Wine” section. Fortified wine-based creams are considerably less
expensive than diluted spirits-based creams because the government loves
to give the spirit producers (as well as the consumers) an extra deep
tax/mark-up gouge. This is despite the fact that both can have the same
alcohol level.
All
of this came to head this week when I discovered Erin
Cream (cspc 540559) - a stunningly delicious, sweet, chocolate,
caramel and vanilla blend with 17% alcohol that sells for an incredible
$13.95. At this price who cares that it’s wine based, it’s a sublime
on-the-rocks sipper. Unfortunately, most people can’t find Erin Cream in
the LCBO Price Book because it is segregated from the 32 other creams,
which are listed under Spirits.
Now that didn’t matter too much
because since its introduction last year, Erin could easily be found in
LCBO stores along with all the other creams. Sales grew rapidly. Now
that’s come to an end. Seems that the LCBO has determined that Erin
Cream (and one other item) must be banished from the cream section. Why?
Well it apparently dilutes LCBO profits by encouraging customers to trade
down from the highly profitable, market leaders, such as Baileys Irish
Cream, which has the same alcohol but costs almost twice the price!
LCBO stores are now instructed to
take Erin Cream out of the cream section and put it with Aperitifs like
Dubonnet where it poses no threat. As a result, sales are dropping like a
stone because customers can’t find it! It’s appalling that rather than
help its customers find the excellent new low-cost cream liquor by proper
placement; the LCBO is determined to hide it. It seems that the LCBO is
more concerned in helping the commercial interests of the two companies
who control the some 80% of its sales, than their own customers!
As s far as I am concerned, if it looks, smells and tastes like a cream, then shouldn’t it be kept in the cream section where it could clearly be labeled as being wine-based? Indeed, I defy any expert to tell me that this is a wine and not spirit-based liquor on the basis of taste alone. Perhaps it’s time to take another critical look at privatizing this dictatorial monopoly which doesn’t seem take the best interests of its constituents to heart.
Copyright Michael Vaughan 2001
Prior written permission is required for any form of reproduction
(electronic or other wise) and or quotation.
Contact Michael Vaughan at
mbv@uniserve.com