Shoppers can now grab some wine to go with dinner as Canadian and imported bottles hit the shelves at 67 supermarkets across Ontario.

Finance Minister Charles Sousa made the trek Friday to Coppa’s Fresh Market on Dufferin near Finch to cut the ribbon on the government’s latest move to ease restrictions on the sale of beer, wine and cider.

“With one stop, consumers can pick up wine along with other grocery items,” he said, standing in front of a section of Ontario-made VQA red wines at the family-owned store.

“We’re trying to expand convenience and choice,” Sousa added as York Centre MPP Monte Kwinter, who is recovering from an illness, sat in a wheelchair beside him.

List of grocery stores selling wine

Six-packs of beer first made it to the aisles of 57 supermarkets last December, breaking the stranglehold on sales enjoyed for decades by The Beer Store and LCBO.

Friday marked the first wave of wine to hit supermarkets. By 2025, the government’s plan is to have wine in 300 of the province’s 1,500 grocery stores and beer in 450.

Stores with winning bids to sell wine were a mix of chains and independents with 31 locations in the Greater Toronto Area alone.

The list includes Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys, Longo’s, Walmart, Fresh Market, Highland Farms, Farm Boy, Starsky’s Fine Foods, Uxbridge Foods, Yummy Market and the Canex Canadian Forces Exchange System at Petawawa.

Beer sales, especially Ontario craft brews, have gone well as shoppers increasingly look for food and drink pairings, said Greg Ramier, senior vice-president of liquor for Loblaws, which is devoting half its wine space to VQA varietals.

“I think wine will be better than that because it does fit a little more easily with dinner. The customers are going to let us know,” he told the Star, adding “local is cool right now.”

Under rules set by the government, wine, beer and cider is sold in designated areas in stores from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Wine can have no more than 18 per cent alcohol by volume. Beers are limited to 7.1 per cent. The minimum price for wine sold in supermarkets is $10.95 per 750 ml bottle.

Wine sales will continue at 150 Wine Rack and Wine Shop stores already located within supermarkets.

There are no plans to sell spirits in grocery stores, with the LCBO’s 654 outlets maintaining a monopoly on liquor products which have higher alcohol content.

The expanded wine sales provide new business opportunities for vintners and “makes sense for the consumer and the beverage alcohol market,” said , said Heather MacGregor, executive director of Drinks Ontario, a trade association.

Cancer Care Ontario warned last week that making it easier to buy alcohol in Ontario will lead to increased consumption that could cause a rise in cancer rates.

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The provincial agency said there are as many as 3,000 new cases of cancer linked to alcohol use every year – particularly cancers of the mouth, esophagus, liver, colorectal tract and breast.

“A lot of people know that smoking is (a cause of cancer), but they don’t know that alcohol is,” said Dr. Linda Rabeneck, vice-president of prevention and cancer control at the agency.

Cancer Care Ontario recommends a maximum of one drink a day for women and two for men to limit the risk of cancer.