TRANSCRIPT

Interview with Debbie Zimmerman, Grape Growers of Ontario - Changes in Types of Grapes Grown in Ontario

The Grape Growers of Ontario over the last few years, starting back in the 1980's, went through significant changes in the type of grapes that we grow. We were growing at that time mostly Concord, Niagara and hybrid grapes and we moved into high quality vinifera which is the premium grapes that we grow today for VQA wines. That change-over started back in the 1980's and into the early 90's where we converted most of our tonnage and acreage into high quality vinifera grapes. We still grow a lot of hybrid grapes for imported products today. Unfortunately we are not growing enough VQA grapes, in our opinion, to grow the market place where it should be.