Last week the Greenbelt crew headed out to the Niagara region to participate in the Annual Grape Growers Luncheon. As usual the wine was superb, the company was great and the conversation, interesting and important.
In addition to hearing from a variety of industry speakers, the guest of honour, Chantal Hébert, captivated the crowd. With her knowledge of Canadian politics, quick-witted remarks and great sense of humour, she had guests laughing out loud. Hébert is anational affairs writer for the Toronto Star based on Parliament Hill, a guest columnist with the Montreal daily Le Devoir, a member of the CBC's The National's weekly At Issue panel, and a blogger with the French-language magazine L'Actualité.
Each year the Grape Growers hold this luncheon, gathering many industry and interested people to kick off the September Niagara Wine Festival that runs from September 16- 25th. As a part of this kick off, the Grape Growers welcomed their incoming Grape King for 2011-2012, Ed Hughes from Hughes Vineyards in Beamsville, Ontario.
It is very important to the Friends of the Greenbelt Foundation to continue to support and encourage growth in the Niagara region and the sourcing of more VQA wines in stores across the province. As Niagara is synonymous with wine and can be identified to anyone in Ontario as “the grape-growing” region, the Foundation is proud to support this event as an important part of our Ontario and Ontario Greenbelt culture.
-- Carla Balabanowicz, Communications Coordinator