on issuing new winery licences was finally dropped in 1974. During the same decade, demonstration planting began to show that Vitis vinifera could be successfully grown in Canada. Other growers found that high quality wines could be produced if Vitis vinifera vines were grown with reduced yields, new trellising techniques, and appropriate canopy management. In 1988, three important events occurred: free trade with the United States, the establishment of the Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) standard, and a major grape vine replacement/upgrading program. The VQA acts as the regulatory and appellation system that intends to ensure "high quality" and "authenticity of origin" for Canadian wines from the provinces of British Columbia, and Ontario. Each of these events served in one way or another to improve the viability of the wine industry in Canada. During the 1990s, Canadian vintners continued to demonstrate that fine grape varieties in cooler growing conditions could potentially possess complex flavours, delicate yet persistent aromas, tightly focused structure and longer ageing potential than their counterparts in warmer growing regions of the world. Cellared in Canada Cellared in Canada was a former indicator from 1994 to 2018 for wine products from Canadian wineries, whose grape must originated from outside of Canada. Canadian wineries are able to import pre-fermented grape must from other countries, and use it to produce wine under their own products. The maximum quantity of foreign wine used in Cellared in Canada wine products depended on the province the wine originated from; with certain provinces requiring a minimum amount of local grapes be used in order for it to qualify as Cellared in Canada wine. In Ontario, 30 per cent of the grapes in Cellared in Canada wine had to originate from local wineries. Conversely British Columbia did not stipulate the use of local grapes in the production of its Cellared in Canada wine products. In late 2009, local and international criticism of the Cellared in Canada practice and the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) emerged. Grape growers in Ontario began protesting the practice as a threat to their livelihood claiming that thousands of tons of Canadian grapes are left rotting on the vine because producers are using imported grapes to make wine labelled as "Canadian". Wine producers who do not use the "Cellared in Canada" designation criticized the practice as tarnishing the reputation of Canadian wines and misleading consumers. Producers and growers in Canada have