Peterborough Examiner
Prestigious honour awarded to
Peterborough may be home to the world's smallest vineyard.
Larry Paterson stands in the suburbs showing off the nine grape vines (four vidal, three merlot, one pinot blanc and one cabernet sauvignon) climbing up the left side of his Royal Drive home.
The vines are planted beside the paved driveway in a thin strip of land, about the size of a garden in which you might plant a handful of marigolds.
Come summer, he explains, the now stark vines will cover up the home's side windows with bunches of deep, purple grapes before he clips the fruit and bottles it..
When he created the tiny vineyard in the mid-'90s, people said he was crazy to try and grow grapes in this climate. But looking to the sky on a recent sunny afternoon, the 53-year-old father of two explains it's the same sun that shines over world-famous wine region Bordeaux, France.
"So why not?," he says with a smirk and a smile.
Paterson, who says he likes to prove people wrong and calls himself an unrepentant Canadian wine chauvinist, champions Ontario wine every chance he gets and encourages people across the province to grow their own grapes. Paterson predicts the Peterborough area will be home to at least six commercial vineyards within a decade.
For this dedication to Ontario wine, Paterson has won the prestigious Grapes for Humanity Ontario Wine Award. The award recognizes Paterson's "hard work, dedication and passion in the Ontario wine world," says Tony Aspler, founder of the Ontario Wine Awards.
"For years, Larry has been championing the Ontario wine cause and encouraging people to plant vineyards in the most unlikely of places," Aspler tells The Examiner. The plaque was presented to Paterson during the 12th annual ceremonies on April 21 in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Only one other person has won this award, Aspler says. Lakeview Cellars founder Eddy Gurinskas won it seven years ago for his passion in the industry.
Paterson, best known by his nick-name "The Little Fat Wino," sat down with The Examiner to discuss how he started out as a beer-drinking LCBO clerk and rose through the ranks to become an award-winning wine expert who helped found huge community festivals such as Taste of the Kawarthas and Fiesta Buckhorn.
Paterson was born in Peterborough to his parents Joyce and Murray.
He has two younger brothers: Dave, who owns Paterson Auto Sales and Service on Parkhill Road East, and Bruce, who runs Funtastic Promotions.
After attending Adam Scott Collegiate, Paterson took a three-year business administration course at Fleming College.
His parents wanted him to be a lawyer; he had no idea what he wanted to do.
Shortly before graduating from Fleming in 1975, Paterson landed a job as an LCBO clerk at the Sherbrooke Street location and stayed 30 years -- he retired in 2004.
Through the decades, he worked at LCBOs across the area, including in Omemee, Lakefield and Bridgenorth, doing whatever was needed: running cash, stocking shelves and developing special store offers.
He enjoyed beer and rum and never gave wine much thought until 1990, when he was asked to help market expensive Ontario wines.
In researching those wines, Paterson studied wine magazines and talked with wine experts.
It piqued his interest. "I liked the people I met and I liked the wine culture," Paterson says. "If you can get by the snooty people, it's wonderful."
He says he started reading everything he could.
He'd sink into a steaming bath and read a wine encyclopedia for 12 hours.
"I'd bury myself in it," he says. "It's just fascinating. There's so much to know and I'll never know it all."
Paterson set up wine-tasting groups and founded a Peterborough chapter of the Ontario Wine Society. An informal group of about 10 people would meet in homes, taste wines and compare Canadian wines to international vintages.
In the early 1990s, Paterson helped start the Great Canadian Wine and Cheese Show in Lakefield, which lasted three years.
That show was then reincarnated at Fleming College as Taste of the Kawarthas. Paterson also helped found the popular wine and food show Fiesta Buckhorn and helped start the Central Ontario Viniculture Association -- a group that provides public knowledge about growing grapes in this part of the province.
He has judged various amateur competitions and also judged for the Ontario Wine Awards. Paterson also donates wine and glasses to the annual Kawartha-Haliburton Children's Foundation gala to raise money for the Kawartha-Haliburton Children's Aid Society."
Through all his endeavours, he has tried to get more people to buy Canadian, and specifically Ontario, wine.
"I don't know why," Paterson says laughing. "I guess for the same reason I see California carrots in Sobeys and it pisses me off."
Paterson's basement walls are adorned with certificates of achievement, awards and medals. He was named winemaker of the year for 2005 and 2006 through the Amateur Winemakers of Canada.
But he says he's flattered to have received special recognition this year through Grapes for Humanity.
Food and wine author Shari Darling, who lives near Lakefield, says Paterson deserves this award "very much."
"He has been a force in standing for the awareness and sale of Ontario wines, even when our wine regions were young," Darling says. "He has led many people to buying Ontario wines over imports."
Visit www.littlefatwino.com to find out more about Paterson and to view his wine tasting notes.
The Little Fat Wino