Grand Cru Wines and Dines for Worthy Cause

Next weekend marks the occasion of the seventh annual Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival in Toronto, a hoi-polloi biennial celebration of all things food and drink that brings together the worlds of wine, gourmet dining and medical research in a powerful combo. 

The exclusive dinners that are the hallmark of the event spill out across 27 of Toronto’s most splendid private homes, with each experience featuring fine food, fine wine, a treasure-laden silent auction and the attendance of a leading UHN scientist to pepper the conversation with erudite stuff. 

Among the participating wine estates this year, find such oenophilic powerhouses as Champagne Barons de Rothschild, Château Margaux and Hugel et Fils. The chefs, meanwhile, are a star-studded lot whose midst includes high-profile loaners like Jose Iribarren, from Barberian’s Steak House; Massimo Capra, from Mastira; and Daniel Boulud, from NYC’s Boulud, a chef who’s in the limelight of late for recently confirmed rumours that he will open the new restaurant at the Four Seasons next summer.

Guests will bid on a slew of esoteric auction items, including two tickets to the 2012 Tony Awards in New York, a limited edition Cartier Platinum Dandy Pen, an entire signature kitchen from Miele, dinner with Geddy Lee at Sotto Sotto and a private dinner for 12 in the tiger cage at the Bowmanville Zoo.

Over the last six years, the festival has raised more than $8.2 million, all of it earmarked for research at the Toronto General Hospital and Toronto Western Hospital. 

This year the Grand Cru will take place October 27 to 29, with the dinner on the 29th. Proceeds will again directly support scientific research and fund key program areas at the Toronto General and Toronto Western hospitals, including the UHN’s McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine. 

For more information or to attend Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival, contact Marni McKenzie at 416-340-4800, ext. 4544 or marni.mckenzie@uhn.on.ca.