Context and differentiation: Development of the wine industry in three Canadian regions

This paper uses the cluster concept to explain the key factors of the development of wineries in Canada. First, we describe the salient features of the Canadian wine industry. Then we investigate the key factors of the emergence of the wine clusters in three different regions and discuss the structural and institutional problems hampering the development of the wine industry. Finally, differences across wine regions are discussed and assessed in relation to the cluster concept.

► The aim of this paper is to analyse the development of the wine industry in Canada.
► There are variations in the way the industry develop in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.
► The development of an industry at the regional level is a complex process and, in the case of the wine industry, it is the various possible combinations of physical and human factors that will determine the distinctive features of its development in different places.