Sommelier of The Year

At DaiLo in Toronto, co-owner Anton Potvin plays matchmaker to chef Nick Liu’s French-Hakka cuisine – and makes our heads spin with his Old World pairings for the New Asian palate.

Big Mac Bao + Brut Sauvage, Domaine Baud, Jura

To go with such a casual dish, our sparkling Crémant de Jura is sometimes a hard sell. But it has that brioche toastiness of champagne, and the bubbles and acidity cut through the richness of the “secret sauce” aioli.

Sweet and Sour Pork Hock + Vouvray, Domaine Champalou, Loire Valley

A lot of low-end Spadina Chinese food is dominated by sweet or spicy. Nick never defaults to those extremes; when the dish is balanced, the wine doesn’t have to do that work. This chenin from Vouvray has a touch of residual sugar and that blistering acidity – a perfect sweet-and-sour wine.

Truffle Fried Rice + Etna Rosso, Tenuta delle Terre Nere, Sicily

Fried eggs and truffle remind me of a luxurious breakfast in Piedmont, an aromatic dish you don’t want to overpower. This nerello mascalese red has elegance and depth – as if Burgundy and Barolo skipped off to the south of Italy and had an illegitimate child.