Are you going to the Niagara Food & Wine Expo that’s running from May 27th to the 29th? A neat thing that will be happening is that the event organizers have partnered with a local non-profit charity called Project SHARE. It works like this: for every sample glass that is returned, $1 will be donated to the charity. I’ve been to a few tasting events where this sort of arrangement has been in effect. The collaboration is a great example of making good use of a little thought-of part of a tasting event. We all get a glass. Then, at the end, we take it home and add it to our collection or drop it off at a table on the way out. I know that the tasting glass is a fun souvenir to bring home; but, do you really need another one taking up space in your cupboard?

Along with donations for each glass left behind at the end of the show, Project Share is also collecting non-perishable goods for its food bank. Bring as much as you can and leave it at the entrance. Project SHARE, short for Support, Housing, Awareness, Resources and Emergency, aims to help residents of Niagara Falls who fall below the  poverty line. Even the exhibitors are getting in on the giving. Barefoot Wine and Bubbly will be donating 100 percent of its proceeds from the Niagara Food and Wine Expo to the Canadian Athletes Now Fund. The whole event seems to have taken a turn for the environment. The wine glasses provided will be actual glass rather than plastic, volunteers and staff will be wearing reusable and partially biodegradable aprons made from annually renewable resources like sugar cane fibre, wheat straw fibre and corn.

A good turn for an industry that’s all about terroir.