TORONTO — Canada’s three master sommeliers — John Szabo, Jennifer Huether and Bruce Wallner — competed in an “Iron Chef-style” dinner pairing of select Australian wines for a crowd of guests at Toronto’s Elleven restaurant Tuesday, Oct. 25.
“We have a growing portfolio of Aussie wines, so we thought it would be a lot of fun and a unique way of profiling our agency’s wines. It was a terrific evening,” said Craig De Blois, sales manager of Lifford Wine Agency, which helmed the event.Elleven’s executive chef, Graham Pelley, and his brigade, created a menu that included a fricassee of sweetbreads, local Ontario lamb tenderloin, hand-rolled lamb-shoulder cannelloni and sous-vide lamb loin with salsify and sherry collard greens. The finishing touch was a course of beautiful cheeses.
After the wines were sniffed, sipped and pondered for their finish, and the meal was completed, the votes were tallied. The surprising vote created a three-way tie that was broken with a final ‘taste off,’ which saw Elleven’s Huether crowned the winner.
De Blois hopes to make the special dinner an annual event.
