What an amazing month Justin & I had celebrating with the LCBO! This year, the LCBO is celebrating not one but two milestones: VQA's 30th anniversary + Food & Drink's 25th anniversary. To kick things off in August, we attended the most beautiful dinner at Trius Winery, dining alfresco under the stars. It is an exciting year that the Food & Drink's anniversary coincides with the VQA anniversary as VQA wines has been instrumental in building the ontario wine industry both domestically & abroad.
Living in Niagara's wine country, I am lucky to be surrounded by the endless wineries and vineyards, but LCBO makes it easy to bring local home! If you’re unfamiliar with what is considered a VQA wine, it refers to the wine that is produced from 100% ontario grown grapes that have been approved through a strict quality assurance program. LCBO offers a selection of 651 finds! Ontario is actually home to three major wine regions: Niagara-on-the-Lake (the birthplace of Ontario's wine industry), Lake Erie North Shore & Prince Edward County. Prince Edward County is the youngest but fasting growing wine region in which I will be heading to this week! I cannot wait to explore the beautiful wineries & vineyards up there.
This past weekend, we ventured to Toronto to celebrate Food & Drink's 25th anniversary issue over a dinner at album studios. The theme of the issue is "Ontario for Dinner", so the LCBO team brought this theme to life through food, wine and design. Hosted by Angela Aiello, the founder of iYellow Wine Club, the meal served recipes featured in the anniversary issue, as well as the VQA wine pairings. The event attendees included influencers, Food & Drink contributors, VQA winemakers, LCBO wow leaders and contest winners.
At the event I was able to style my own image with one of the stylists from Food & Drink magazine. It was so much fun to get a peak of how the recipes are brought to life and learn a few tips from one of the top food stylists. The magazine's recipes and photography have inspired so much over the years, so it was amazing to be able to meet the real people behind it all. The anniversary issue is now in stores so be sure to pick up a copy before it’s gone and don’t forget to look for VQA discoveries at your local LCBO.
Cheers to another 30 years of VQA + 25 years of Food & Drink! Thank you for having me be a part of your celebrations.
xo
this post was created in partnership with the LCBO!