💠

Membership

Benefits of Membership

The goal of PIWI Canada to promote the acceptance of PIWI grapes, whether that is by helping grape growers plant them or getting consumers to buy PIWI wines. We will also advocate for government agencies to make it easier for growers and winemakers to benefit financially from planting the grapes and selling their PIWI wines.

Join PIWI Canada Today!

As a member, you will be supporting these goals as well as having a say it what we do. Most of the membership fees will be used for advocacy. A further breakdown can be found below.

Priorities

  1. PIWI Wine Tastings Curiosity is a driving force and many grape growers and winemakers what to know what the modern varieties taste like, so your membership fees will help support this by importing some top brands from the EU and arranging a tasting at a local winery.
  2. Improve the Availability of PIWI Vines Having access to vines is important and the current availability is limited in Canada, though there are some US sources. But having a domestic supply of PIWI vines is important and that is something we want to work on with local propagators.
  3. VQA & Grapegrowers Designations PIWI grapes are modern hybrids that are upwards of 90% Vitis Vinifera (99%+ genetically) and in Canada, the designation of being a hybrid has negative impacts on income through the grape pricing schedules as well as a lesser or no VQA approval. This can also lead to less acceptance of PIWI grapes and result in the continuation of excess chemical use in vineyards.

Membership Fees

From each annual membership, roughly 10% to 15% goes to fees and services (bank fees, website(s), membership system (5% fee) and credit card processing fees (3% fee).

Also, from each membership, 25.00€ is passed to PIWI International for their support and rights to use the PIWI logo on

The core work done by PIWI Canada is voluntary, and there are no wages paid to any worker or director of PIWI Canada. However, membership income can be used for marketing (advertising, events, etc.) and travel expenses for events that promote or help continue the efforts of PIWI Canada.

We will produce an online report annually that lists the activities so you can see how your participation helps achieve the goals of PIWI Canada and PIWI International.