What does a wine career look like when your body can't do the hours anymore?

Merrin McHugh ran the floor and the wine pairings at Actinolite for seven years. Then a stroke in 2023 took her off the floor. Today she is the Wine Director for restaurants Sara and Rasa, the founder of Wine by Merrin, and does sales at Boires.

We talk about the 10-hour days and the 400-name handwritten wait list that burned her out, the three days she was alone after the stroke, and how she now runs two wine programs without being on the floor — a $60 pairing at Sara included. Plus: can fine dining and a life outside it coexist at all? "No. Maybe."

We also get into the kitchen that used fermented white-currant juice instead of lemon, and "no news is news" — her advice to every wine rep and every buyer.

If you work in restaurants, hire sommeliers, or just want to know what the hours really cost, this episode is a must-listen.

Is Fine Dining Burning Out Its Best People? — Merrin McHugh

Timestamps:
00:00 Would she do it again at 40?
00:35 Joining Actinolite the week the Globe review hit
02:36 Cooking the Canadian landscape: no lemon, foraged dishes, the health inspector
04:29 From Yours Truly to running Actinolite's wine list
07:14 Building pairings for vegetable-led menus: orange wine, a sparkling red, the egg dish
11:30 A day in the life of a 26-seat restaurant
12:42 Burning out: bonfire dinners and the 400-name wait list
14:47 Leaving for a fishing lodge in BC
16:07 The stroke
18:14 Rehab, her voice, and learning to walk and speak again
20:42 Wine by Merrin: consulting for Sara and Rasa from home
23:48 What a working week looks like now
25:17 Is this sustainable? Partner, parents and rest
27:40 Can a tasting menu afford a full-time sommelier?
30:17 One thing she'd change about the industry
31:32 Advice for the next generation
33:43 Life as a wine rep, and what reps and buyers get wrong
36:27 Ontario producers worth finding
39:20 Her favourite Toronto wine lists
42:11 Where to find Merrin, and Sara's $60 pairing

🎧 Enjoyed the episode? Follow, rate, and review Tasting Notes Toronto on your favourite podcast platform — it really helps others discover the show. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Links:
Wine by Merrin — @winebymerrin
Merrin McHugh — @merrinlee
Sara — @sararestaurantto
Rasa — @rasarestaurantto
Tasting Notes Toronto — @tastingnotestoronto
https://www.youtube.com/@TheTastingNotesPodcast

If this episode was worth your time, the best thank-you is sharing it with one person who'd love it.
Hosted and produced by Alex Abbott Boyd · Recorded in Toronto · © 2026 Tasting Notes Toronto.

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

🎧 Enjoyed the episode? Follow, rate, and review Tasting Notes Toronto on your favourite podcast platform — it really helps others discover the show. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Links:
Bruce Wallner — @masterchefsomm
Sommelier Factory — @sommfactory
Tasting Notes Toronto — @tastingnotestoronto
https://www.youtube.com/@TheTastingNotesPodcast

If this episode was worth your time, the best thank-you is sharing it with one person who'd love it.
Hosted and produced by Alex Abbott Boyd · Recorded in Toronto · © 2026 Tasting Notes Toronto.

Why would a restaurant kill à la carte when the majority of fine dining is bringing it back?

Adam Minster is a partner in The Food Dudes — the group behind Rasa, Sara, Chop'Hop and Pantry — and this spring Sara went all-in on a single seven-course tasting menu.

We talk about the 70% of guests who'd already made the decision for him, the choices that keep it $115 instead of $300, and how a $60 wine pairing works economically. Plus: the hospitality reflex you can hire for but can't train.

If you run a restaurant, work a floor, or just want to know what a $115 tasting menu is really buying you, this episode is a must-listen.

Tasting Menus Are Out. Sara Bet on One. — Adam Minster

Timestamps:

00:00 Why Sara killed à la carte
02:12 $115, not $300: the strip loin math
04:02 The Journey, course by course
09:15 The hospitality reflex: hire for it, can't train it
11:07 A $60 wine pairing, and why guests just want to trust you
17:49 "I can't eat your dry eggs anymore"
20:57 "This is the guy": The Food Dudes to Rasa
24:13 Cook for the guest — and the salad people would riot over
29:50 Opening Sara: "I wasn't ready"
35:25 COVID, the great equalizer
37:55 Closing Rasa for a month. Still worth it?
40:06 Chop'Hop, 3pm closes, and the best salads in Toronto
51:12 Delivery apps: "They f***ing suck"
53:04 Which half of the restaurant the robots replace first

🙌 Enjoyed the episode? Follow, rate, and review Tasting Notes Toronto on your favourite podcast platform — it really helps others discover the show. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Links:

• Sara — @sararestaurantto
• Rasa — @rasarestaurantto
• Chop'Hop — @chophop_salads
• The Food Dudes — @fooddudes
• Tasting Notes Toronto — @tastingnotestoronto
• https://www.youtube.com/@TheTastingNotesPodcast

If this episode was worth your time, the best thank-you is sharing it with one person who'd love it.

Hosted and produced by Alex Abbott Boyd · Recorded in Toronto · © 2026 Tasting Notes Toronto.