While it may be a bold move to call your wine amazing, Amazing Wine by Château des Charmes Estates Winery lives up to the claim. Not only is it reasonably priced, quality wine that pleases your palate, Château des Charmes is making a difference in the community and abroad by donating a dollar from every purchased bottle to charities that send young people from Ottawa to help build schools around the world.
There is also quite a story behind the wine. During her 25-year career at CTV Ottawa as anchor of the Weekend News and reporter for News at 6, Kimothy Walker was continuously interviewing incredible people in the city. “I wanted to create a way to share the positive stories about the generous work that these inspirational people were doing – right here in Ottawa.” From that idea, Amazing People – a special segment every Thursday evening profiling a different person and their amazing story was born.
Jonathan Tam was one of the first Amazing People profiled. A successful businessman, he changed the course of his life by selling everything to devote his time to SchoolBOX, a not-forprofit organization based in Almonte that builds schools in Nicaragua.
The story inspired Eric Collard, a friend of Walker’s. “People like Jon deserve more than just eight minutes of airtime for the hours that they devote to their community,” he says. So he teamed up with Walker and they formed the Ottawa Media Group. “I wanted to extend the brightness of the spotlight with a gala and celebrate them.” With the help of friends, they Debbie Trenholm is a Sommelier and the Founder of Savvy Company organized the first Amazing People Gala in 2011. It was was intended to be a small event to support SchoolBOX, but the Amazing People Gala exploded to 550 people and raised over $50,000.
The money goes towards Ottawa-area teenagers who learn about their power and ability to make a difference. Over the past few years, two groups have travelled to Nicaragua where they helped build schools and interacted with communities. They learned to be leaders and experience first-hand their impact on the world. “Amazing People is a celebration of the human spirit,” explains Walker.
“People want to be part of something – a movement – that is positive. Thousands of CTV viewers vote for the Amazing People to be honoured at the Gala.” Now in its fourth year, this year’s Amazing People Gala will take place on Saturday, October 24, at the Delta Ottawa Hotel. The goal is to raise $150,000 this year for SchoolBOX as well as for other charities associated with Amazing People who have been profiled.
Breaking away from the normal process of contacting wineries for donated wine, the Amazing People Gala organizing team took the approach of creating the Amazing Wine product line. Château des Charmes, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake was thrilled to be asked to participate. “We liked the positive vibe of all those involved in Amazing People and wanted to be a part of this Ottawa event,” explained Michele Bosc, Marketing Director at Château des Charmes. “Selling the Amazing Wine at our Ottawa store is a natural fit as it makes it easy for anyone to pick up a bottle or a case of the special wine any day of the week.” The winery will donate $1 for every bottle of the white and red wines to the Amazing People charities.
“Amazing Wine is now my house wine. Clients, family, friends and neighbours will be getting bottles for their birthday and Christmas,” says Peggy Taillon, founder of the Hera Mission of Canada. Taillon was named the 2011 Amazing People and her charity is a recipient of this year’s fundraising efforts. The Hera Mission supports orphans in Kenya. Other charities that have benefited from Amazing People funds are Ryan’s Well, Miracle League and Project North.
Amazing Wines Tasting Notes
2013 Chardonnay Delicious tastes of apple, pear and warm spices fill the glass. Aged in French oak barrels to create a medium-bodied, smooth and crisp wine that will complement many foods from roasted chicken to a seafood feast or simply enjoyed with friends.
2012 Cabernet Franc
Stunning red in colour with juicy tastes of red plums, raspberry and blackberry laced with a hint of smoke and ground pepper. This is a medium-bodied wine ready for anything off the BBQ, gourmet pizza, hearty stew or open when friends drop by.
Tickets for the Amazing People Gala are available at schoolbox.ca/galaAmazing
Wine can be purchased at Château des Charmes Wines located at 407 Laurier Ave West, online at www.amazingwine.ca or by calling Savvy Company at 613-SAVVYCO (728-8926)
Learn more about Hera Mission of Canada at www.heramission.org and SchoolBOX at www.schoolbox.ca
