UHN's Grand Cru wine festival raises $47 million, with a $35M Ajmera gift to fund a transplant institute
The three-day Halpern fundraiser drew 5,000 guests to the Enercare Centre, and a $35 million donation will fund a new surgical tower at Toronto Western Hospital.
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Premier Doug Ford was guest of honour at this year's Grand Cru Culinary Wine Festival, and two dinners for 18 at Shay with him sold for $120,000 each. The three-day fundraiser, run by Halpern Estates' Todd, Adam and Colin Halpern, raised $47 million for the University Health Network.
The Ajmera family, whose patriarch Sam Ajmera heads food manufacturer FGF Brands, announced $35 million to establish the Ajmera Transplant Institute. The plan calls for a new surgical tower at Toronto Western Hospital that would take operating rooms from 17 to 37, making it the largest transplant centre in Canada and the largest lung transplant program in the world. UHN president Dr. Kevin Smith also pointed to a clinical trial of lab-grown, insulin-producing beta cells, which he called a first step toward curing diabetes.
The main tasting took place October 28 at the Enercare Centre, where 5,000 people moved through a hall of roughly a hundred producers. Winemakers from Pol Roger, Domaine Roulot, Maison Louis Jadot, Castello di Ama, Domaine Clau de Nell and Marchesi Antinori poured older vintages, and a police officer was posted at the Château Lafite Rothschild booth to supervise the line.
The auction raised most of the rest. Magnum bottles of first-growth bordeaux and guided caviar tastings went for $11,000, a 105-year-old bottle of Château d'Yquem for $15,000, and a Range Rover for $245,000. A piece by the artist Mr. Brainwash sold for $100,000. Halpern, who ran the auction, joked after one American-wine lot that he was glad Ford had left the room.
Cumulative giving since the festival began now exceeds $221 million.
