Market share expansion a focus for Grape Growers' re-elected chair

Thursday, April 10, 2014

by MATT MCINTOSH

After being re-elected as chair of Grape Growers of Ontario’s board of directors, Bill George, owner of George II Farm and a multi-generational grape grower from Beamsville in the Niagara region, says he wants to spend his next term focusing on expanding Ontario’s share of the domestic wine market.

“Right now Ontario wines have about a 37 per cent share of the domestic market, so there’s lots of room for growth,” says George.

“That goes for both VQA wines and ICB wines, which are International Canadian Blends.”

However, George says the primary focus is still on developing the market for VQA wines.

According to Debbie Zimmerman, CEO of Grape Growers of Ontario, the board chair’s role is to communicate with government on behalf of Ontario’s grape and wine producers. While it is not an easy position to hold in such a highly regulated industry, she says, George has proven himself as a capable board member and leader over the last eight years.

The board as a whole, says Zimmerman, has not changed since the last election in 2013, but there is a vacancy for one seat for southwestern Ontario that has not been filled because the organization is “waiting for recommendations for it.”

“Board elections are done in one year intervals . . . we had some elections this year but we have other members that are only halfway through their term,” she says.

Grape Growers of Ontario is the commodity group that represents close to 500 grape and wine producers located in Eastern Ontario, the Niagara region, and on Lake Erie’s north shore. BF