Iconic Brands Inc (ICNB)

[Trez]

Once a wine passes the taste test the marketing plan has to be approved.

http://www.dominionpaper.ca/articles/1194

For a wine to be sold in Ontario, an agent has to submit an extensive application, including a marketing plan and a product sample, which an LCBO buyer then assesses, passing the sample on for the Grading Panel to taste. At this point, some forty expert tasters gather in the Organoleptic Evaluation Room on the 3rd floor of the old Toronto LCBO warehouse near Queen’s Quay. The room’s white walls ensure that the colour of the wine can be properly assessed. Testing blind, tasters look for defects in the products and determine whether the wines taste the way they are billed. Once the wine passes this test, the agent is required to submit an even more detailed “LCBO Product Profile and Marketing Plan.” The product then heads to the laboratory where chemical analyses are performed, and the packaging (including the label), selling units, and shipping cartons are reviewed. Only at this point do buyers issue a purchase order specifying the terms and conditions of the purchase. When the wine arrives from the supplier, it is held in the warehouse until a second lab test is completed and the final price is determined.