Larry Paterson

 

Paterson, better known as "The Little Fat Wino," was born in Peterborough to his parents Joyce and Murray. After attending Adam Scott Collegiate, Paterson took a three-year business administration course at Fleming College.

 

His parents wanted him to be a lawyer; he had no idea what he wanted to do.

 

Shortly before graduating from Fleming in 1975, Paterson landed a job as an LCBO clerk at the Sherbrooke Street location and stayed 30 years -- he retired in 2004.

 

Through the decades, he worked at LCBOs across the area, including in Omemee, Lakefield and Bridgenorth, doing whatever was needed: running cash, stocking shelves and developing special store offers.

 

He enjoyed beer and rum and never gave wine much thought until 1990, when he was asked to help market expensive Ontario wines. In researching those wines, Paterson studied wine magazines and talked with wine experts. It piqued his interest. "I liked the people I met and I liked the wine culture", Paterson says. "If you can get by the snooty people, it's wonderful." He says he started reading everything he could. He'd sink into a steaming bath and read a wine encyclopedia for 12 hours.

 

"I'd bury myself in it" he says. "It's just fascinating. There's so much to know and I'll never know it all." Paterson set up wine-tasting groups and founded a Peterborough chapter of the Ontario Wine Society. An informal group of about 10 people would meet in homes, taste wines and compare Canadian wines to international vintages.

 

In the early 1990s, Paterson helped start the Great Canadian Wine and Cheese Show in Lakefield, which lasted three years. That show was then reincarnated at Fleming College as Taste of the Kawarthas. Paterson also helped found the popular wine and food show Fiesta Buckhorn and helped start the Central Ontario Viniculture Association -- a group that provides public knowledge about growing grapes in this part of the province.

 

He has judged various amateur competitions and also judged for the Ontario Wine Awards. Paterson also donates wine and glasses to the annual Kawartha-Haliburton Children's Foundation gala to raise money for the Kawartha-Haliburton Children's Aid Society."

 

Through all his endeavours, he has tried to get more people to buy Canadian, and specifically Ontario, wine.

 

"I don't know why," Paterson says laughing. "I guess for the same reason I see California carrots in Sobeys and it pisses me off."

 

Paterson's basement walls are adorned with certificates of achievement, awards and medals. He was named winemaker of the year for 2005 and 2006 through the Amateur Winemakers of Canada. But he says he's flattered to have received special recognition this year through Grapes for Humanity.

 

Food and wine author Shari Darling, who lives near Lakefield, says Paterson deserves this award very much.

 

"He has been a force in standing for the awareness and sale of Ontario wines, even when our wine regions were young." Darling says. "He has led many people to buying Ontario wines over imports."

 

Larry is best described in his own words at www.littlefatwino.com

 

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