Tasting Notes Toronto by Insider Wine
Tasting Notes Toronto by Insider Wine
Podcast Description
Hosted by Toronto-based sommelier Alex Abbott Boyd, Tasting Notes Toronto explores the personal and professional stories behind the people shaping the city’s food and wine scene. We talk about the real work behind the scenes — from first jobs and turning points to running restaurants and shaping wine programs. If you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes of hospitality and the people who drive it, this is the show for you.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on themes related to the hospitality industry, wine culture, and personal storytelling. Episodes feature guests discussing their journeys in food and wine, such as Ian Stoddart on creating a community wine bar and Robert Luo on crafting world-class wine programs. Other topics include innovation in restaurant concepts, the evolution of wine lists, and the artistry behind hospitality.
Hosted by a Toronto-based sommelier Tasting Notes Toronto explores the people shaping the city’s food and wine culture—from Michelin-starred chefs and master sommeliers to restaurant operators and winemakers. Each episode goes behind the scenes of hospitality careers, restaurant culture, and the decisions that shape what we eat and drink in Toronto today.
Should a sommelier ever sit down while the rest of the room is working?
Bruce Wallner is a Master Sommelier and the founder of Sommelier Factory, Toronto’s wine school. He built the wine program at Palazzo Versace, worked under Gérard Basset at Hotel du Vin, and ran the cellar at the Trump Hotel Toronto, now the St. Regis.
We talk about the $140,000 cellar Versace told him to ignore, why a bottle should reach your table in three minutes (he once waited 45), and whether a sommelier should ever taste with an importer on the restaurant’s time. Plus: Gérard Basset’s rule for whoever walks through the door.
We also get into the closet of tinfoil-wrapped bottles behind his Master Sommelier exam, the dawn walk home that made him quit, and why Jancis Robinson was always staring at him during exam prep.
If you’re a sommelier, you’re studying to become one, or you just want the story of one of Toronto’s most influential sommeliers, this episode is a must-listen.
Sommeliers Aren’t Supposed to Sit Down. — Bruce Wallner
Timestamps:
00:00 The $140,000 cellar Versace told him to ignore
04:14 Tall poppies: the Australians who trashed the place
06:28 Skipping a level: “a terrible mistake”
10:15 Hotel du Vin: a Michelin-star wine list on a bistro
12:41 Gérard Basset’s rule: put down what you’re doing
16:23 Why chase the pin? “It’s not the destination”
18:31 Four hours’ sleep and a closet of tinfoil bottles
21:08 “Must be Etna”: the wines that still trip him
24:07 The Trump Hotel: clearing out the grower Champagne
25:46 Walking home at dawn, two weeks before his first child
27:07 Australia gave 100%. Toronto: “meh”
29:35 Three minutes to the table — or 45
32:42 Tasting with importers on the clock?
39:14 $25 an hour, half the staff
43:06 What he drinks with his own money
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Links:
Bruce Wallner — @masterchefsomm
Sommelier Factory — @sommfactory
Tasting Notes Toronto — @tastingnotestoronto
https://www.youtube.com/@TheTastingNotesPodcast
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Hosted and produced by Alex Abbott Boyd · Recorded in Toronto · © 2026 Tasting Notes Toronto.
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