Santé festival manager Susan Puff
Photo: BizBash
When the Santé Toronto International Wine Festival began, in 1998, it was a small event showcasing a handful of wineries. Next week the festival marks a milestone anniversary—10 years—with six days of seminars, dinners, tastings, and activities featuring 375 wines from 74 wineries around the world. Festival manager Susan Puff, who's been with the event since its second year, is eagerly anticipating the kickoff on May 5, the finale on May 10, and all the events in between. We asked her about how she's preparing.
Santé gets under way next week. What are you working on now?
This is the part of the festival where you’re just making sure that everything is coming together, that it’s all in place ... that the wine is here and the events are happening and the chefs know what recipes they’re cooking. It’s a massive level of crossing your t's and dotting your i’s.
Where does the planning process start for an event like Santé?
Each year we try to offer a balance between the events that are always a favourite for returning customers, and then we always try to create new events to add to that template. If you’re coming to the festival and you’re new to the festival, you’re going to love it. And if you’re one of our dedicated returning guests, you’re going to be able to pick your favourite and also be interested by something new that we didn’t have last year. I think when you have an annual festival or event of any sort, it’s crucial to make sure that you’re always keeping it kind of fresh and adding something new each year. There’s a great team at Santé, and each year we sit down—actually, before this year’s Santé even happens, we’re already planning for next year’s Santé—and start working on it.This is the festival's 10th anniversary. Is there anything special happening this year?
Yes. What we’ve done this year is we approached two major powerhouse wine regions to come and help us celebrate our 10th year, so we have the wines of California and the wines of Australia. In addition to those focus wine regions, we also have other wineries from around the rest of the world.
We’re also able to do two unique events focused around those regions. We have our California Cruisin’ event on May 8 and we have our Santé Down Under event on May 9 at Hart House, which is an indoor-outdoor barbecue. So in addition to having our seminars, our Sip, Savour & Shops, our winemakers dinners, our international tastings—where you can taste all the wineries—we also have these two great events that are just California wines and just Australia wines, and if you go to those events, what we’re hoping to create is a little mini-vacation for our guests that night. You’ll actually feel like you’ve had a taste of Australia or California.
Is this the first year you’ve chosen to feature two regions?
Yes, to the extent that we’re doing it this year, this is the first time. Over the 10 years that Santé’s been going we’ve done smaller focused regions here and there, but it’s the first time that we’ve picked two and it’s been such a big part of the festival.
Santé in the City is also new this year. Why did you add that element to the festival?
We’re owned by the Bloor-Yorkdale B.I.A., and so a lot of our events take place in that neighbourhood and this year the board of directors said, "It’s our 10th anniversary; we have a new name for the festival—it’s Santé Toronto International Wine Festival—and let’s open up our doors, if you will, to other restaurants in the city to participate in the winemakers dinners." So that’s what we did. We put the call out to restaurants saying. "We’d love to have you join us.... We’ll partner you with one of our participating wineries, you’ll work with the wineries to put together a special Santé dinner, and we’ll promote it." The restaurants put together a package so it’s a set price per person. That includes your dinner, all of the wines, and in some instances taxes and gratuity and what not. People really get to enjoy the wineries [that] have traveled a long way.
The thing about Santé is we actually have winemakers and principals from the wineries traveling to Toronto for this festival, so when you go to any one of our events, the chances are that when you sample a wine, you’re going to meet somebody who helped create the wine, and that does set Santé apart—always has—from other events that involve wine or beverages.
You mentioned the change in name. What was the reasoning for that?
When we started the festival way back, we had goals. We had at that time just a few wineries—we were about two, maybe three days in length and we had these great ideas and dreams that we wanted to keep this festival growing in Toronto and really wanted to build it so it became a recognized, well-thought-of stop on the winemakers' international circuit.
The winemakers [who] come to Toronto, they tour around the world. There’s sort of a circuit that they go to. After Santé there’s an international wine festival in London.... When we picked our Santé dates originally for May, it was our intention to build ourselves into this circuit. After nine years, and going from just a few wineries and a couple of days of events, we’re now six days, 74 wineries, and a lot of people coming. We are now on the international circuit. We are well respected, and I think the name change—this is a very long answer—reflects the growth of the festival.
What are some of the challenges in coordinating an event of this size?
Because Santé truly is a festival—and we’ve maintained that through the years—our events over six days take place in different locations, so we don’t move in for six days to the convention centre or one of the larger sort of conference centres. We are in different locations every day, which means that we are setting up every day’s events fresh and at night we’re taking them down.... So there are a lot of logistics to putting Santé together just to pull all of that off.
You add to that the fact that we invite 74 winemakers from around the world and many of them will be bringing wines that you don’t normally get to taste here. Some of them are not part of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario inventory at this time, so we also coordinate the shipping of all the wines from around the world to Toronto. The L.C.B.O. special-orders department is a huge partner for Santé in helping us get all of this wine consolidated and to Toronto. This wine is coming from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and it’s coming by boat. It is more economical to ship it by boat than by air. So all of our orders must be in before Christmas prior to the festival.
Just how much wine are you talking about?
Well, a lot. We have 74 wineries, 375 wines in total because each winery brings more than one wine, and the wines are in cases of six or 12, so it is a lot of wine that comes in and it all has to be accounted for. It also has to be labbed before it’s released to us. So between the event portion of this and the wine portion, there’s a lot of work, and a lot of it goes on for many months ahead of time.
What are you looking forward to at the coming festival?
Because I’ve been with the festival for nine years, I’ve seen us grow. I’ve seen us push those ideas up the hill. I think what I’m looking forward to is the whole festival this year. That sounds kind of funny, but it’s our 10th and I’m incredibly proud that we made it to 10 years. Toronto is a city that has a ton to offer people, and to have something that is unique, that you truly believe in, and each year you keep working on ... to make it to a milestone anniversary I think is just amazing.
That first Monday we have our Landmark Australian tasting, and this is the first time that Landmark Australia has selected Toronto for this tasting. It’s a very high-end tasting. They’ve done it in Vancouver, New York, London, but never in Toronto, and they chose us this year and I think it’s just a testament to where this festival has managed to find itself. So, yes, starting on Monday straight through to the finale event on Saturday, I’m kind of excited about the whole event.
Santé gets under way next week. What are you working on now?
This is the part of the festival where you’re just making sure that everything is coming together, that it’s all in place ... that the wine is here and the events are happening and the chefs know what recipes they’re cooking. It’s a massive level of crossing your t's and dotting your i’s.
Where does the planning process start for an event like Santé?
Each year we try to offer a balance between the events that are always a favourite for returning customers, and then we always try to create new events to add to that template. If you’re coming to the festival and you’re new to the festival, you’re going to love it. And if you’re one of our dedicated returning guests, you’re going to be able to pick your favourite and also be interested by something new that we didn’t have last year. I think when you have an annual festival or event of any sort, it’s crucial to make sure that you’re always keeping it kind of fresh and adding something new each year. There’s a great team at Santé, and each year we sit down—actually, before this year’s Santé even happens, we’re already planning for next year’s Santé—and start working on it.This is the festival's 10th anniversary. Is there anything special happening this year?
Yes. What we’ve done this year is we approached two major powerhouse wine regions to come and help us celebrate our 10th year, so we have the wines of California and the wines of Australia. In addition to those focus wine regions, we also have other wineries from around the rest of the world.
We’re also able to do two unique events focused around those regions. We have our California Cruisin’ event on May 8 and we have our Santé Down Under event on May 9 at Hart House, which is an indoor-outdoor barbecue. So in addition to having our seminars, our Sip, Savour & Shops, our winemakers dinners, our international tastings—where you can taste all the wineries—we also have these two great events that are just California wines and just Australia wines, and if you go to those events, what we’re hoping to create is a little mini-vacation for our guests that night. You’ll actually feel like you’ve had a taste of Australia or California.
Is this the first year you’ve chosen to feature two regions?
Yes, to the extent that we’re doing it this year, this is the first time. Over the 10 years that Santé’s been going we’ve done smaller focused regions here and there, but it’s the first time that we’ve picked two and it’s been such a big part of the festival.
Santé in the City is also new this year. Why did you add that element to the festival?
We’re owned by the Bloor-Yorkdale B.I.A., and so a lot of our events take place in that neighbourhood and this year the board of directors said, "It’s our 10th anniversary; we have a new name for the festival—it’s Santé Toronto International Wine Festival—and let’s open up our doors, if you will, to other restaurants in the city to participate in the winemakers dinners." So that’s what we did. We put the call out to restaurants saying. "We’d love to have you join us.... We’ll partner you with one of our participating wineries, you’ll work with the wineries to put together a special Santé dinner, and we’ll promote it." The restaurants put together a package so it’s a set price per person. That includes your dinner, all of the wines, and in some instances taxes and gratuity and what not. People really get to enjoy the wineries [that] have traveled a long way.
The thing about Santé is we actually have winemakers and principals from the wineries traveling to Toronto for this festival, so when you go to any one of our events, the chances are that when you sample a wine, you’re going to meet somebody who helped create the wine, and that does set Santé apart—always has—from other events that involve wine or beverages.
You mentioned the change in name. What was the reasoning for that?
When we started the festival way back, we had goals. We had at that time just a few wineries—we were about two, maybe three days in length and we had these great ideas and dreams that we wanted to keep this festival growing in Toronto and really wanted to build it so it became a recognized, well-thought-of stop on the winemakers' international circuit.
The winemakers [who] come to Toronto, they tour around the world. There’s sort of a circuit that they go to. After Santé there’s an international wine festival in London.... When we picked our Santé dates originally for May, it was our intention to build ourselves into this circuit. After nine years, and going from just a few wineries and a couple of days of events, we’re now six days, 74 wineries, and a lot of people coming. We are now on the international circuit. We are well respected, and I think the name change—this is a very long answer—reflects the growth of the festival.
What are some of the challenges in coordinating an event of this size?
Because Santé truly is a festival—and we’ve maintained that through the years—our events over six days take place in different locations, so we don’t move in for six days to the convention centre or one of the larger sort of conference centres. We are in different locations every day, which means that we are setting up every day’s events fresh and at night we’re taking them down.... So there are a lot of logistics to putting Santé together just to pull all of that off.
You add to that the fact that we invite 74 winemakers from around the world and many of them will be bringing wines that you don’t normally get to taste here. Some of them are not part of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario inventory at this time, so we also coordinate the shipping of all the wines from around the world to Toronto. The L.C.B.O. special-orders department is a huge partner for Santé in helping us get all of this wine consolidated and to Toronto. This wine is coming from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, and it’s coming by boat. It is more economical to ship it by boat than by air. So all of our orders must be in before Christmas prior to the festival.
Just how much wine are you talking about?
Well, a lot. We have 74 wineries, 375 wines in total because each winery brings more than one wine, and the wines are in cases of six or 12, so it is a lot of wine that comes in and it all has to be accounted for. It also has to be labbed before it’s released to us. So between the event portion of this and the wine portion, there’s a lot of work, and a lot of it goes on for many months ahead of time.
What are you looking forward to at the coming festival?
Because I’ve been with the festival for nine years, I’ve seen us grow. I’ve seen us push those ideas up the hill. I think what I’m looking forward to is the whole festival this year. That sounds kind of funny, but it’s our 10th and I’m incredibly proud that we made it to 10 years. Toronto is a city that has a ton to offer people, and to have something that is unique, that you truly believe in, and each year you keep working on ... to make it to a milestone anniversary I think is just amazing.
That first Monday we have our Landmark Australian tasting, and this is the first time that Landmark Australia has selected Toronto for this tasting. It’s a very high-end tasting. They’ve done it in Vancouver, New York, London, but never in Toronto, and they chose us this year and I think it’s just a testament to where this festival has managed to find itself. So, yes, starting on Monday straight through to the finale event on Saturday, I’m kind of excited about the whole event.
