When I’m travelling in another country, I drink their wines but when I’m home I drink Canadian wines for at least ten good reasons. As we approach Canada Day, we need to remember that “made in Canada” is special and worth supporting.

1. Canadian wineries invest in the Canadian economy. You can’t outsource your winery. Even the dragon Kevin O’Leary doesn’t send his O’Leary wines overseas to have them made cheaper.

2. Canadian wineries offer fair wages to their workers. The many foreign workers who work in Canadian wineries  make more in an hour in here than they do in a day in many of the world’s wine producing countries.

3. Canadian wines pair well with local foods and have created great linkages with gourmet chefs, local cheese makers, organic and heritage vegetable growers, fisheries and livestock growers.

4. Canadian wineries have enticed Canadians and others to explore and enjoy the beautiful rural areas of our country.

5. The taxes on Canadian wines support our schools and social programs.

6. Canadian wineries competing in international competitions and events have brought attention to Canadians as far more than hewers of wood, bashers of seals and spillers of oil.

7. A great number of Canadian wineries are small artisanal wineries, driven by passion and a longing for perfection. They are artistry in a glass.

8. Other rural businesses such as inns, stores, restaurants, summer theatre festivals,wine  tour companies and musicians benefit from the traffic brought in by local wineries.

9. They taste really good and uniquely Canadian.

10. We are also part of the terroir that produces great Canadian wines, the flavour echoes who we are, what conditions we live through, and what we aspire to be.

Happy Canada Day Weekend and  cheers to Canadian wineries.

This blog was first published by Veronica Leonard on www.examiner.com/wine-in-toronto/veronica-leonard

What are your reasons for drinking Canadian wine? Please comment below.