by Malcolm Jolley
Tony Aspler (second from left) and participants in 2010's sip & Savour fundraiser
Tony Aspler is getting ready for this year’s edition of sip & Savour Ontario, to be held at Steam Whistle Brewing on the evening of October 19. Aspler started the annual celebration of local wine and local chefs five years ago to compliment The Ontario Wine Awards. Over the phone, he told GFR, “We’ll be pouring the medal winning wines, sip & Savour is a consumer extention of the awards, [where] people can try the wines in the context of enjoying food from top chefs.
Aspler, whose work as a wine educator, journalist, author and broadcaster earned him the Order of Canada, felt Ontarians ought to discover and enjoy the best of their wines with the best of the province’s ingredients and has invited chefs with a reputation for locavorism like Anne Yarymovich (FRANK), Anthony Rose (Drake Hotel) and Kevin McKenna (Globe) to create dishes to pair with the medal winning wines. To make things even more interesting, this year will feature three Ontario gourmet food trucks – El Gastrónomo Vagabundo, Gorilla Cheese and Cupcake Diner.
Proceeds from a silent auction at the event, held in the historic Roundhouse, will benefit Houselink Community Homes, a Toronto agency that provides housing solutions and support for people living with mental illness and at risk of being homeless.
Find out more at sipandsavour.ca.
Malcolm Jolley is the executive director of Good Food Media, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to educating the public about artisanal food and the publisher of Good Food Revolution. Follow him at twitter.com/malcolmjolley.
