An American in Toronto

WINE TALK
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(Re the subject line: Yes, I know Canada is part of North America. But “A United Statesman in Ontario Sounds Off.” Something else I’ll figure out eventually.)

I am spending a year in Toronto. This is the first in a series of stories of bring wine across the border, and finding wine in Ontario.

Ontario is a state-run liquor town. Everything is controlled by the LCBO – the Liquor Control Board of Ontario – the largest single wine buyer on the planet. Import duties are something like 40%, but you can get a one-time one-day import license in conjunction with a move into the province.

There are complications. I have a US passport. My partner is Canadian. We are here for the academic year, and are only bringing enough for the year. But we might want to stay after that – maybe permanently – which means we will want to bring the rest of our wine in the future.

So we decided that I would get my one-time import license for this move. And if we moved for real, my partner would use her one-time import license in the future. Which means she can’t officially “move” yet, whatever that means legally.

Basically, the cheap duty is $1/bottle, $2/bottle for spirits, and (I don’t know why) $3/bottle for sparkling wines. That’s Canadian, so subtract 25%. But there’s also a bottle deposit, so add another $0.20 bottle.

There’s a form to fill out: helloLCBO | Import Permit: Returning or Moving to Ontario

The instructions make no sense. They want your work permit number, which you don’t have yet. You have to pay in advance, which you can either do in person in Ontario – where you aren’t – or by check from a Canadian bank: which you don’t have. My advice is to ignore all of that; call the number on the instructions form. There you’ll find a very helpful Canadian government employee who just wants to help. She’s the one who will grant the license, so whatever she says goes. She’ll give you an email address to send the form, and tell you to complete as best as you can. She’ll approve the license, and then else someone will call you and ask for your credit card information to pay. And then she’ll email you the signed license – so don’t worry that you don’t yet have (or even know) your Canadian address.

(Note that this only covers Ontario import duties. There are also ominous sounding Canadian import duties that I would have to pay at the border.)

It all worked out exactly as she said it would.

A few weeks later we packed the wine (four cases) and spirits (five cases), along with everything else we were bringing (15ish boxes), into a UHaul, and headed for the border. (We had a bunch of other required paperwork: my Canadian work permit – which I finally got – and various import documents including a detailed inventory of what we were bringing into Canada.)

We rolled up to the border near Niagara Falls. Me with my US passport and my Canadian work permit, my partner with her Canadian passport, us with all of our Canadian and Ontario paperwork filled out extra neatly, and our stuff.

Us: (Handing over our passports) Hi.

Nice Canadian Border Guard: Why are you coming to Canada?

Me: I have a one-year teaching appointment at the University of Toronto. ((EDITED: Used to say “University of Canada.”))

NCBG: (Pointing to the back of the truck) Is that everything you’re bringing with you.

Us: Yes.

NCBG: (Handing us back our passports) Have a nice day.

Me: But…but…don’t you want to see our paperwork. It’s all here. I filled it out for you. I wrote extra neatly! (Okay, I didn’t say any of the last bit. But I really wanted to.)

So, that’s the story of moving wine into Canada. 10/10; would recommend.

Next up: Buying a case of wine in the US and flying into Ontario with it.

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There are some incredible Berserkers in Toronto should you be looking for people to drink with. I can’t speak highly enough of @Mike_Grammer, @Tran_Bronstein, and @Sanjay_Shampur.

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??? This didn’t set off their suspicions?!

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I wondered about that too :slight_smile: I can’t say that I know the campus location for the University of Canada :joy:

Very kind words, Mike, thank you. We have been so privileged to be hosted and feted many, many times by our Atlanta posse. We miss you guys.

Bruce—please do reach out, we have a small but mighty group here and would love to get together with you if you’re so inclined.

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This will not go as well for you as your experience above, generally speaking.

Duty entering Ontario is around 67% (never try to ship to Ontario, that’s 100%). You’re allowed two bottles per person duty free as long as you’ve been gone for 48 hours.

In my experience, if you drive across the border they’ll charge you every time. I’ve also found them strict at the Toronto Island Airport.

Pearson seems to be more preoccupied with the large volume of international flights and the people who stuff meat and dairy products in their oversized suitcases. So I find them a bit more lenient because they’re busy. As long as the value of the wine isn’t too high, I find they’ll often let you through with 4-6 bottles per person, if you’ve been gone for more than 48 hours. I think from their POV you’re already entitled to two bottles duty free (and you’ll use that on your most expensive bottles) so collecting duty on 2-4 of your cheapest isn’t worth the hassle.

If you fly by yourself with a case of 12 bottles I’d expect to pay that 67% on 10 of them, though of course YMMV and you might get lucky.

You might find yourself regretting not slipping a few extra cases in you U-Haul.

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I fixed the typo.

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A few weeks ago, I tested importing wine into Ontario.

I bought a mixed case, packed it in a wine shipper for the airline, and flew with it into Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto.

Nice Canadian Border Guard: Do you have anything to declare above your personal allowance?

Me: We have twelve bottles of wine.

NCBG: Go over there.

“Over there” was a customs official. I had annotated my receipt. Twelve bottles, minus the two bottles each for our personal exemption, leaves eight bottles to pay duty on. (I marked the eight cheapest bottles.) The total purchase for those eight was $151 USD, which I helpfully converted to $213 CAD. I gave my paperwork to the customs official.

He was not friendly. He spent about five minutes, typing a lot of things into his computer, and – without showing me any of the paperwork first – told me to go to a nearby window and pay the duty: $119 CAD. I was annoyed; I wanted to check his math first. But I could not. I paid, and brought the receipt back to the customs official. He gave me a detailed receipt and told me to go. No one checked the box of wine to confirm anything.

Outside of the customs area, I looked at the paperwork. It was correct. He charged me on the eight cheapest bottles. He did the currency conversion correctly. The details were hard to understand, but this is what I think the charges were: Ontario tax was 39.6%. A additional charge – “Duty” – was $4. “Provincial liquor mark-up Fee” was $86. Federal tax – GST – was $28.

So…56% duty in total.

That’s expensive, but not terrible. I can imagine coming back from France with a few cases, knowing that I’m paying half again to get them into the country.

Next: Visiting a LCBO store in Toronto.

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Thank you for the kind words, Mike.

Bruce, please do get in touch.

Cheers, Jay

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Yeah, sounds too generic

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Bruce, if you need tips or guidance on which agents bring in which wines in Ontario, just shoot me a DM and I would be happy to point you in the right direction.

(Disclaimer: I work for one of them.)

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Alcohol in Ontario is state controlled. Lots of people here say that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario – the LCBO – is the largest single alcohol buyer in the world, but the internet says that’s false, (It’s Tesco’s in the UK.)

There are LCBO stores all over Toronto. Many of them are really big, similar in size to the large New Hampshire state-run stores. They carry a large selection of everything, although no US products since Trump’s saber rattling.

Two things to note. One, they only carry items that they can buy enough of to fill a shelf. This means no small producers, or small batches, or anything allocated. If you don’t have enough bottles for the LCBO, they’ll go elsewhere.

And two, they cater to local tastes. The LCBO near Koreatown has a large soju selection. The LCBO near the tony neighborhoods have more high-end wine.

I visited one of those, on Yongue St. No wine from California or Oregon, of course, but lots of from the rest of the world. Nothing wowed me, but there were a few things I would consider buying. I did buy one bottle – a 23 Jaffelin Brouilly at a very reasonable $22 CAD – which was perfectly serviceable.

I would not be happy if all I had available to me was the LCBO.

Next: Wine bars can sell bottles!

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Check out the Vintage offers.

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I made a beeline for the Vintages section. (For everyone else, that’s where the “good” wine is.) No much that excited me.

I was told that there are more limited Vintages offerings that show up on the LCBO website, and sell out within minutes. I don’t know if I have the patience for that sort of thing.

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SAQ > LCBO easily. Did a comparison last summer Best Montreal store versus Yorkville.

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There are also some really good websites from Alberta that you can order from to Ontario with temperature controlled shipping (BSW Liquor being one, Zyn the other). You’ll have to pay Ontario sales tax (13%) still but often times they have discounts and the pricing is still better (along with selection). The best advice? Make a day trip to QC and buy from the SAQ. Far superior to LCBO.

LCBO is really only helpful for classics and special offers. Bordeaux futures are good too, however, they are priced much higher than the US and Europe. Classics take place the first Thursday of every month (the next one is next week) and special offers are usually each Thursday (with exception). Here is the link to next week’s Classics: VINTAGES Shop Online | Order from Classics Collection

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What Marco said. BSW has a fantastic selection of Italian wines at very fair prices. The website is uneven and often doesn’t list vintages but a phone call can sort that out.

I have received many orders from BSW and ZYN delivered to my house in BC.

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Turns out that the LCBO isn’t exactly a monopoly on selling wine. Wine bars can bring in and sell their own bottles. You all who live in Ontario know this, but it was a big surprise for me.

Details are complicated, and someone on this board should explain the process to me. But near as I can tell, independent importers can bring wine into Ontario that the LCBO does not import. They need to go through the LCBO, and pay some ridiculous import duty, but it’s possible. And here is where the interesting wines are.

At a wine bar called Loop Line on Dupont and Christie I found bottles of 2020 JM Raffault “Les Picasses” Chinon at a very reasonable price. (Still too young; it’s much better the next day.) Another wine bar, Blue Door – on Bloor between Ossington and Dufferin – had several interesting Rhones, Loires, and non-Cote d’Or Burgundies. Here is where the interesting wine is in Ontario.

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You can also buy straight from distributors, however, my understanding is that they need to sell you the bottle in the way it was imported (which is usually in packs of 6 or 12). It’s something I’m happy to do for some wines but can also be cost prohibitive in other scenarios. Splitting cases with friends usually resolves that challenge though :).

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Go to Archive 909 for wines with bottle age. They do a great job of cellaring an eclectic selection.

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Mixed cases (agent’s mix not yours usually) are sometimes offered, not sure how that jives with the rule you cite.