Wine Pricing - Canada and US

Spending the weekend in Canada and finding incredible values on Italian wine but that US wine is very expensive (all relative to buying wine at retail in the US). I assume the US taxes imports more than Canada and perhaps other countries do the same to US wines. Any thoughts?

Depends on which province you’re in. Your correct about US wine pricing in most provinces though.

Yes, I think you need to break it down by Province, since that is how wine is sold. It’s like saying “wine is cheaper in the United States than Europe”, ignoring the fact that some states, like California and New York have very free import laws while some are much more restrictive.

Which province are you in and which Italians are u finding crazy value on?

Markus - I think buying online in the US has eliminated much of what you’re talking about. I also understand there isn’t much differentiation between pricing of high end wines in provinces in Canada.

That said, I’m in NS and am referring in particular to Antinori Tignanello 2015 for C$99 at retail and Il Poggione Brunello for C$110 at a nice restaurant.

2 Likes

I thought the wine prices in BC are very high for imported wines. I get most of them much cheaper in the US.

Pricing varies by province. I’m in Ontario. Some wines are cheaper here than U.S. Other wines are less in the U.S. Overall, I’d say there are more that are less in the U.S. however steep duties bringing them back to Canada and the exchange makes many less advantageous for a Canadian buyer. The current exchange favours U.S. purchasing in Canada. Not sure about duty on taking wine back into the U.S. however, which needs to be factored in.

When I have talked to Canadians about both sides, only a small number, most seem to want to purchase wine in the US. Seemed like prices were better with more availability/choices. Also one of the regular comments was about how different each province was on pricing and availability back home.

1 Like

Part of the lure of shopping in the U.S. for Canadians is simply access. Our government monopoly (The KGBO) in Ontario, limits what can be offered and puts severe barriers in front of agents who want to bring in new items. They also tend to keep offerings to recent releases, with pricing on anything older being absurd. Very old bottles are simply not available except by auction, which has a whopping 39% buyer premium AND selling premium that starts out at 20%. So, the question of whether pricing is better on one side of the border or not varies, but the question of access to a broader range of wines or older bottles remains. There is no secondary market in Ontario other than the 1 KGBO sanctioned auction… and even there, selection is limited.

My (limited) experience in BC resort areas was the same. I was shocked at the prices that locals were paying.

One time we were up there and my dad got pulled over by a Mounty. He had confused the 100KMH speed limit with a 100MPH limit. He was given a Scolding of Severe Censure. That was probably the fastest that station wagon had ever been driven in its life!

Not quite sure I see the connection…

845 posts and this I’d the first you’ve noticed Thread drift?

2 Likes

Or ugly Americans for that matter.

More like a shear than drift… anyway…

One thing (among many) I find annoying with the KGBO is the way they drop producers. They will bring in a wine for a couple of years then stop. Makes it hard to build verticals etc. Unless of course it’s $25 Aussie Shiraz or Cal Cab in which case the tankers line up at the docks year in year out.

I used to visit friends in Toronto and always made a trek to the Queen’s Quay Vintages store because of their selection of Single Malt and once found an end cap of Kistler Chardonnay…

1 Like

I have found that in most cases, wine is almost always cheaper in my local provincial market in Canada. The only reason I shop in the US is because of access. There are a few producers that I love but they just don’t have representation in my province so I am forced to buy them at high prices in the US if I want any (Foillard, Bartolo Mascarello, G. Rinaldi, Allemend, Gonon, etc.) Since I am not a regular at any US store, I don’t have a discount or preferred pricing, combine that with the exchange rate and I end spending more than I would like to (but I dont have much of a choice if I want certain wines).

I have typically found wine cheaper in the US - I am thinking of my last two trips to Phoenix and Hawaii. Alberta has all kinds of horrific duties and taxes that jack even BC juice.

I travel frequently to Toronto and at more than a few times visited local government-owned wine stores at Queen’s Quay and along Bloor/Summerhill areas.

I haven’t found any wine that I would like to buy that’s cheaper than when I canvass US online stores. All are 33% to 150% the prices that I would find locally in the US.

1 Like

The Tignanello is available many places south of the border for $60-$70. The Canadian dollar is about 77 cents US at the moment, so that price (=US$77) is slightly higher than you’d pay at home. [CORRECTION ON MAY 8: Those were half bottle prices. 750ml run $90 and up on Wine Searcher.]
Restaurant markups are lower in Canada in my experience, but Il Poggione retails in the US for $55-$65, so that C$110 restaurant price (=US$85) is quite decent but still above US retail.

I think those are probably anomolies. I don’t know Nova Scotia’s market, but I shopped in Vancouver several times a year for many decades, and prices on European wines were generally about twice what I’d pay in NY. I think the multiple may have been even higher on US wines, but I never bought those.

The few times I checked out the government stores in Toronto, the selection was limited and the prices much higher than the US.

Sadly, the taxes and the markups that the provinces take mean that Canadian wines are very expensive, too.

John, thanks. where are you seeing the prices you cite for the Tignanello? I don’t see anything close to that at US retail.