DCHP-2

VQA DCHP-2 (November 2016)

• n. — abbreviation, especially Ontario, Agriculture, often in compounds, as in VQA wine

  abbreviation for Vintners Quality Alliance, a regulatory body overseeing quality standards in Canadian wine production.

  Type: 1. Origin — In the late 1980s, a group of vintners formed VQA (see the 1988 quote). The government of Ontario passed the VQA Act in 1999, which aims to ensure that strict quality standards are met in wine production and that products are labelled by the exact geographical location of origin of VQA wines (see E-Laws Ontario reference). The term is predominant in Canada (see Chart 1). Currently (in 2016), VQA operates in Ontario; in British Columbia it operates as the British Columbia Wine Institute. VQA wines are available nationally and internationally. As shown in Chart 2, VQA is overwhelmingly used in Ontario, although British Columbia comes in second with about 18 index points. Non-VQA wines can be blends from any location within or beyond Canada (see the first 1998 quotation).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "VQA", which is marked "Cdn".

  See also: icewine