Thursday, March 26 2009
Commence the Festivalities!
How convenient: a glass of wine with the canapés already in it!
It's that time of year again: the Vancouver International Wine Festival is on. I've attended almost every year since 1987 and it's one of the best wine events in Canada--or anywhere.
There are a lot of side-events happening: gala wine dinners, food and wine matching events, specialty tastings involving special wine glasses, culinary competitions, seminars, luncheons . . . it's a whole week of wonderment. I've grown out of going to most of them (there's only so much trade-talk you can do before it makes you cynical) but if I'm in the country there's little that can stop me from going to the main event, the International Festival Tasting. From the website:
The big room is home to all 183 participating wineries, who will be pouring 723 different wines. Wineries are organized alphabetically and listed in the free Festival Program handed out at the door to help you keep track of the wines you like. The Tasting Room offers a unique opportunity to taste rare bottles and discover new treasures as you visit with renowned winery principals from around the globe. A winery principal, identified by their royal blue lanyard, is a senior member of the winery, intimately involved in the wine-producing process as a winemaker, proprietor or senior executive and is therefore thoroughly familiar with the wines being poured. Feel free to ask questions of them at their booth – and learn from the experts about your favourite wine.
While the tickets are not inexpensive, there are virtually no other opportunities in the year that would allow someone to taste over 700 wines in one spot, much less talk to the winemakers and growers right on the spot. For me it's been the best wine education a boy could have, and any time I'm asked how to go about getting a wine education, my first piece of advice is to never, ever miss an opportunity to taste at festivals, the bigger the better.
Of course, not everyone can taste 700 wines in three hours, even if you could get through the throngs around the popular booths. That's why I always go twice, once to the trades-only event, and again with my sweetheart on the Saturday night. I'm very goal-oriented and direct on the trades day, plotting a course to let me try all the wines I'm interested in, making notes and gathering intel (okay, I'm gossiping with old chums). I take public transit and spit almost everything out so I'm safe and sound for the ride home.
Saturday night I collaborate with the Missus on which wines panned out, and which to cut from the list, we rent a limo (surprisingly more affordable than you'd think, and much more affordable than a DUI) and we taste seriously for the first hour, comparing notes and conclusions, then we usually hit the champagne, get tiddly and wind up drinking Ports and dessert wines until they turn us into pumpkins.
It's a gay old time, and we usually pick up a couple of rare and happy wines from the on-site liquor store (oh, clever marketing! Get the rubes liquored up and sell them wine!) to enjoy later. It's a little too late to get in on the festival this year (it sells out every year) so you should get on the mailing list so you can make it next year.
If I see you there, I'll buy you a drink.
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