Rick O’Brien/Wines of Ontario
Canadian winemakers have joined forces with Come Over October, a community-driven movement that asks consumers to meet and share a glass of wine with someone this month.
The campaign, which launched in Napa Valley last year to protect wine’s image as a hospitable beverage and a potential means to reduce social isolation by promoting communal activities, is expanding across Canada with the support of Wine Growers Canada.
“Canadian wine has a unique power to bring people together,” president and CEO of Wine Growers Canada Dan Paszkowski said in a statement. The organization represents wineries which are responsible for more 90 per cent of all wine produced in Canada.
Good Taste: Coonawarra’s oldest winery is looking to the future
Canadian wineries, retailers, restaurants and industry partners are asked to share ways to inspire everyday enjoyment of wine in social situations. A recent newsletter from Black Hills Estate Winery in the Okanagan greeting consumers with the message that “October is a month for slowing down, gathering close, and celebrating the simple pleasures of good wine and good company.”
Come Together–A Community for Wine was created by prominent wine writer and educator Karen MacNeil and wine communicators Gino Colangelo and Kimberly Noelle Charles as an alternative to Sober October and to promote the cultural heritage and socio-economic impact of winemaking. They were inspired by wine’s timeless role in fostering camaraderie and belonging.
An alternative method for making alcohol-free sparkling wine? Cheers to that
“Wine has, for thousands of years, been at the centre of human connection. To see this message embraced across borders is truly exciting,” said MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible.
Wine grapes from a vineyard in Crousetown, N.S.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
Similar sentiments were shared in an appeal to the heads of state attending the United Nations 80th Anniversary General Assembly in New York last month. One meeting’s focus was setting policy on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health. Once finalized, the resolution will shape global health policy through 2030.
Members of the International Academy of Wine, an organization formed in 1971 with more than 100 members in 20 countries, spoke against an overemphasis on potential health effects from alcohol consumption – a harmful drug to avoid – while overlooking positive cultural and human dimensions.
In 2023, the World Health Organization pointed to increased risks of a range of cancers and other diseases to declare “No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health.” But the lack of large-scale randomized trials means existing research is based on observational data, which also includes indications of health-protective effects attributed to light to moderate drinking.
In the International Academy of Wine’s letter to the UN assembly, they wrote: “Enjoying wine moderately is to defend the culture of taste and restraint, and perpetuate a bond that unites continents, people and generations.”
According to reports from The Drinks Insider, the declaration moving toward becoming a resolution will continue to combat harmful consumption within a framework that supports moderate drinking.
