Thursday, March 29 (Sold Out!)
Friday, March 30 (Sold Out!)
Saturday, March 31 (Sold Out!)
7 - 10 p.m.
Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre
999 Canada Place

 

So many wines, so little time...

Want to get a head start on your Tasting Room strategy?

Download the Floor Plan and map out your route.

Check out the Price List and and pick your must-haves from the BC Liquor Stores' onsite Festival Wine Shop.

Brush up on your Tasting Etiquette.  Swirl, sip and spit.  All the cool kids are doing it:

It's hip to spit at winefest JPEG
 (The Vancouver Sun, March 22, story - click image lower right to expand)

717 wines • 180 wineries • 17 countries

The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival is widely regarded as the best consumer wine show on the continent and the International Festival Tasting room is the heart of it all.

The big room is home to 180 wineries from 17 countries serving 717 different wines. Taste rare bottles and discover new pleasures as you visit with renowned winery principals from around the globe. You can identify winery principals (winemaker, proprietor, senior executive) at each booth by the royal blue lanyard holding their name tag. Wineries are organized alphabetically; they are all listed in the free Festival Program that you’ll receive at the door to help you keep track of the wines you like.

Australian Wine: A World of Difference

The spotlight shines on Australia at this year’s wine fest. You’ll find 54 wineries from Down Under pouring some 215 wines in the special Discover Australia section in the tasting room. Your Aussie walkabout takes you on a journey through South Australia’s wine growing regions including Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare and Coonawarra. Also experience Victoria’s Yarra Valley, New South Wales’ Hunter Valley and premium wineries from Western Australia. It will be a ripsnorter of a journey, mate! And no worries, you can even pick up your favourite grog at the bottle shop in the room!

Riesling Tasting Station

The global focus is on Riesling, a wonderful grape that creates wines of diverse styles and transcendent pleasure. It produces some of the most expressive wines in existence. Riesling devotees will find 97 examples of this wonderful grape throughout the tasting room. For comparative tastings of selected Rieslings gathered from throughout the room, head to the Riesling Tasting Station, where experts from Wine Access magazine and the International Sommelier Guild will be your guides.

Be forewarned that this is a wine tasting, not a dinner event. We strongly recommend that you have a meal before tackling the room. You will, however, find plenty of plain bread for cleansing the palate and food samples will be served throughout the room. If you’re feeling peckish, Bistro Bites onsite offers a variety of wine-friendly small plates priced from $2 to $6.

Festival Wine Shop

Free bottle check and wine delivery

Tasting room wines may be bought at BC Liquor Stores’ onsite Festival Wine Shop. When you find a wine you like, we suggest you set it aside in the free bottle check. Don’t wait until the end of the evening as some wines sell out early. Repeat as necessary. Pay for your checked bottles when you leave (or return them to stock if you change your mind). And if you don’t want to carry your bottles or cases home at the end of the evening, BC Liquor Stores will ship them free to your nearest outlet and call you when they are ready to be picked up.

Get Home Safe

Plan ahead. Do not drink and drive. We suggest that you leave the car at home, assign a designated driver or take a taxi or transit home. Or consider staying at one of our partner hotels - make a night or a weekend of the festival. If you opt for transit, BC Liquor Stores offers festival-goers a free transit ticket - pick yours up at the Get Home Safe booth in the concourse as you exit the festival.

Tasting room sponsors and suppliers

 

Balderson Cheese
Canada Bread
Freybe Gourmet Foods
Krinos Foods
National Importers
La Maison Alexis de Portneuf
Seattle’s Best Coffee
Terra Breads
Terra International Foods

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Get UnCorked!
Monday, March 26
Earls Paramount
905 Hornby Street
5 - 7:30 pm
$55
Buy tickets 604-873-3311