St. Catharines Downtown Association

The City of St. Catharines' long-standing desire to bring the popular Niagara wine tourist route through the city's core is close to being realized.

Last month, members of the Wine Council of Ontario, which controls the The Official Guide to the Wineries of Ontario, took a major step in adding downtown St. Catharines to its wine route.

Members of the council's tourism committee approved including the St. Paul Street to Queenston Street line to their map.

To be official, the full board of the wine council must approve the change, which could happen as soon as February.

The earliest possible date for downtown St. Catharines to be added to the wine route is spring 2011.

Wine council president Hillary Dawson said members are impressed by the city's commitment to bringing the route downtown, and that it's nearly a certainty.

"I'm more than incredibly optimistic," Dawson said.

"I would be shocked if it didn't happen."

The wine route is the official guide for thousands of tourists who visit Niagara wine country every year, and has the potential to bring 155,000 cars through downtown St. Catharines annually.

City officials have been talking about bringing the wine route to St. Paul Street for years, but the idea has been held up by the wine council's lingering concerns over the deteriorating state of the downtown.

The city made a pitch to the wine council in July to change the route by outlining several future projects to improve the core, including a performing arts centre and new Carlisle Street parking garage.

McMullan said the wine council is a major marketer of Niagara and would help put St. Catharines on the global tourism map.

"From a tourism and a marketing point of view, it would certainly raise awareness of St. Catharines considerably and really provide some focus to our downtown," McMullan said.

City economic development director David Oakes said bringing the route downtown would spur more private investment in the core.

"What that does is it creates another layer of confidence from the wine council, from the wine industry in general, that downtown is in fact an area that is open for private investment related to wine and culinary," Oakes said.

Dawson said the wine council still has some lingering questions before making the change, including how the municipality will market the wine route and pending work on the Burgoyne Bridge.

The 94-year-old structure on St. Paul Street West may need to be replaced, and a forecasted construction start-date is three years away.

McMullan said he's been reassured motorists will still be able to cross Twelve Mile Creek and Highway 406 at St. Paul Street during the construction period.

Currently, Niagara wine country tourists are sent south of downtown St. Catharines to Pelham Road or north to Lakeshore Road as they head between wineries in west Niagara and Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Dawson said the other routes would remain, and St. Paul Street would be an addition to the map.

The wine council currently features 81 winery properties on its maps of Niagara, Prince Edward County, Toronto and York Region, Lake Erie North Shore and Pelee Island.

Earlier this month, five of the province's largest vintners — Andrew Peller Ltd., Vincor Canada, Colio, Magnotta and Kittling Ridge — pulled their membership from the non-profit trade association.

Dawson said it will be up to the wine council to decide next year if departed wineries will be included in future wine route maps, which are released every spring.

Article published in The St. Catharines Standard by M. Beech

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2199789