Jen Agg’s restaurants have remained among the few notable holdouts in Toronto that have chosen not to start offering takeout amid the COVID dining room closures.
While it seems like we’ll have to wait a little longer to have Le Swan’s tuna melts and late-night fondue back in our lives, there’s one way to get a small taste of the French diner at home.
Le Swan has teamed up with Niagara’s Tawse Winery to sell its private-label wine directly to customers and donate the profits to a good cause.
Tawse Winery typically produces house wines for Agg’s restaurants, including Grey Gardens’ orange wine, Bar Vendetta’s red, and Le Swan’s rosé.
With the restaurants closed indefinitely, however, Tawse and Le Swan have decided to sell the surplus supply of rosé directly to customers for the first time.
Tawse is offering the rosé at Le Swan’s cost, plus a $5 mark-up. The extra $5 added to the price of each bottle is being donated to Community Food Centres Canada, a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving food access in low-income communities across the country.
The wine is available to order in 12-bottle cases priced at $385.80, which works out to $32.15 per bottle with tax and shipping included.
The wine is described as “a dry and fresh style with bright strawberry fruit characters” that seems ideal for warm-weather sipping as spring sets in.
Le Swan and Agg’s other restaurants are shuttered for now. Agg has been characteristically outspoken about the need for more effective government support for the restaurant industry during this crisis but expressed optimism about the recent rent relief measures.
After today’s rent relief announcement I actually believe (instead of just blindly believe) we have a fighting chance. Thank you @JustinTrudeau @telfordk @fordnation
— Jen Agg (@TheBlackHoof) April 24, 2020
In the meantime, special portals have been set up for her restaurants that make it easier for customers to purchase gift cards for future use once dining rooms are able to reopen.