Sommelier Debbie Trenholm

Debbie Trenholm wants you to know how much she loves Ottawa. For 20 years, she’s been introducing Ottawans to some of the finest food and drink this country produces. 

Born and raised in Ottawa, she discovered an interest in wine early on, ordering house wines at different restaurants and attending winemakers’ dinners. Back then, she found that Ottawa was overlooked when it came to these dinners and in 1998, undertook formal sommelier training at Algonquin College.

She graduated from the program in 2000, a time when there was plenty of support for high-tech start-ups but little for her line of work. 

As she put it, ”I started my business organically. As there were no wineries around Ottawa at the time, there were also no wine-related bursaries.” 

Her business Savvy Company began life as The Savvy Grapes. It was after she had added beer promotion to her line-up that the name, after a suggestion from her friend Theresa, was changed to Savvy Company.

In the early days, she held theme nights at the beloved Nicholas Hoare bookstore on Sussex and working with other sommeliers, this increased visibility helped her business grow.

Over the years she estimates that she’s worked with approximately 90% of all wineries in Ontario and some of that can be seen at the numerous sip and buy events she organizes each year.

At the recent Outstanding in their Fields, twenty wineries and local Ottawa food purveyors such as Anna Stubbe Chocolates, Aurelius Fine Olive Oils and Top Shelf Preserves were on hand for guests to enjoy. 

It turns out that year after year, the producers Trenholm works with have come to see the Ottawa market as essential. In effect, her vision of bringing the attention of the food and drinks industry to Ottawa has been realized.

What’s to be appreciated about the Savvy model is that you can mix and match the wines you wish to purchase and are not confined to buying six or a dozen of any one type of wine. It allows you the freedom to experience the wines produced from Prince Edward County to Niagara to Pelee Island.

On this evening, a few highlights came to my attention and I was delighted to find not one, but two, sparkling red wines of note. All the wines at this show are not available at the LCBO and can be ordered directly from Savvy Co.

The first was a Gamay from Foreign Affair Winery in Niagara. I’ve long held that Ontario produces some of the world’s finest Gamay outside of Beaujolais, France. With its bright dark stone fruit profile, balanced acidity and fine mousse, Foreign Affairs delivered an inventive and delicious take on this grape.

Another surprise came from Sprucewood Shores Winery situated on Lake Erie and just 30 minutes from Windsor.  I’ve had many wines from this region and found them to be largely marginal but here was something that, even if it had been in a blind tasting, just announced itself as Chardonnay. Good fruit character with a modicum of oak and lovely texture on a medium-length finish.

Creekside in Niagara, albeit relatively young, will soon be considered one of the older guard wineries. 

I’ve had their wines since their start and while some vintages have surprised, their wines have largely been pleasant and competent. 

With their Undercurrents series (and I can only hope there will be more) they are stepping things up with a wildly robust sparkling Shiraz. With explosive fruit and a slight rawness, this wine had enough character to cut through the bubbles to land softly on the palate with plenty of dark berry fruit. Pure fun.

Even as little as 15 years ago, the wines of Prince Edward County were a little rough and lean. Now with age on the vines, greater wine making talent and more informed vineyard practices, the wines of this region have come into their own and are rightfully winning awards.

Rosehall Run is arguably one of the better producers in the County and they showed up with a usual line up of quality wines that were varietally correct and quaffable. 

The grapes for the very nice Righteous Dude Riesling came from an area famous for Riesling grape growing: Twenty Mile Bench in Niagara. It was full-on Riesling with its symbiotic melding of stone and citrus fruit and balance of sugar and acidity. Delicious and appetite-inducing.

This wine was awarded Bronze at the recent Canadian Wine Awards. (See Quick Sips below for the full list of winners)

In recent years Debbie and her team have become Ambassadors for Ontario Ciders. Apart from her other talents, there may be a little pre-cognitive ability at work as she saw a trend towards cider years ago.  “At the moment there is a lot of interest and education going on around cider”, she said. 

It doesn’t hurt that ciders also cover two other trends: gluten free and low/no alcohol drinks. 

While Trenholm remains the sole proprietor, her sole full time employee, Shirley Roy is both the Community Manager and Media Relations contact. She joined the company six years ago after completing her sommelier training at Algonquin College.

Both women are behind the hand-packing of the increasingly popular Advent Calendars. They come with either ciders, coffees, non-alcoholic beverages or single servings of Ontario wine. In these times it may just be the perfect way to support Canadian businesses up and down the supply chain. 

Her customers and their experience of her team are of paramount importance to Trenholm and she makes it personal. “When people order Savvy selections, we include a hand-written note thanking them for choosing us.” A simple but significant gesture that reminds us how connected we can still be even without our phones.

Her website has a vast array of subscriptions and gift ideas. Not just content to host a number of in-person wine events, Savvy also holds an annual virtual Canadian Cheese Fondue Party (Jan. 31, 2026) where you will meet complete strangers online, making long cheese strings. Tickets sell out quickly so this may be just the gift for people who want experiences, and not things, this Christmas.

I should also mention that this fondue event features cheese from what I consider to be one of the greatest cheese producers in North America, La Station de Compton in North Hatley, Quebec. 

I have been to this fromagerie and it is a world-class operation with the welfare of the milk cows at the centre of their philosophy. Yes, they even provide waterbeds on which the cows kneel while feeding.

Trenholm and the Savvy crew appear to have thought of everything. They bring people together, they feature Canadian producers and they educate us about food and drink showing locals that everything for life’s little pleasures is available right here.