Pursuant to the 2023 Ontario Budget: Building a Strong Ontario, effective July 1, 2023, a single basic tax rate of 12 percent applies to wine and wine coolers sold in off-site winery retail stores if the wine or wine cooler is manufactured by the owner of the off-site winery retail store.  Off-site winery retail stores include:

  • standalone off-site stores, and
  • stores located inside the shopping area of a grocery store, referred to as wine boutiques.

Wine and wine coolers from on-site winery retail stores

Purchasers of wine and wine coolers from Ontario winery retail stores located on the winery’s production site are subject to the following taxes, which are included in the price of the product.

Wine basic tax:

  • if the wine or wine cooler is an Ontario wine or an Ontario wine cooler, 6.1% of the retail price of the wine or wine cooler, or
  • if otherwise, 19.1% of the retail price of the wine or wine cooler for purchases made on or after April 1, 2018.

Volume tax:

  • 29 cents per litre for wine, or
  • 28 cents per litre for wine coolers.

Environmental tax:

  • 8.93 cents per non-refillable container.

For the purposes of the wine taxes

Ontario wine means wine that is Ontario wine for the purposes of the Liquor Licence and Control Act, 2019:

  • wine produced from agricultural products grown in Ontario, and may include agricultural products grown outside of Ontario in the prescribed amounts

Ontario wine cooler is, except as prescribed by the regulations, Ontario wine, or a beverage containing Ontario wine, that contains not more than 7 percent alcohol by volume.

Retail price of wine or a wine cooler is the amount fixed by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (or the winery, if the LCBO has not fixed a price) for the wine or wine cooler, less the sum of:

  1. the amount of any deposit on the container containing the wine or wine cooler that is required to be collected or remitted under the Ontario deposit return program
  2. all taxes imposed under Part IX of the Excise Tax Act (Canada) (i.e., HST) in respect of the purchase of the wine or wine cooler, and
  3. all taxes imposed under the Liquor Tax Act, 1996, in respect of the purchase of the wine or wine cooler.

Disclaimer: The information on this page does not replace the law found in the Liquor Tax Act, 1996, and related regulations. For more information, please visit ontario.ca/finance.