Our Home and Native Flavours
It’s nearly here #winelover… 180 wineries from 16 countries, with Canada in the spotlight.
Canada’s premier wine festival runs from February 11 to 19 at the Vancouver Convention Centre and other venues across the city. There are lunches and dinners with international vine stars at some of Vancouver’s best restaurants, seminars with wine experts, access to the International Festival Tasting Room and other exciting events. All ticket sales support VanWineFest’s charitable partner, Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.
For full program details, visit VanWineFest.ca where you can also buy tickets. Or, phone the box office at 604-873-3311, or toll-free at 1-877-321-3121.
In 2017 the Wine World Celebrates Canada, as Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary of Confederation. With #Canada150, it makes perfect sense that this year’s VanWineFest will showcase wines from not only the hosting province of British Columbia, but also Ontario, and Nova Scotia.
When you attend the International Tasting Room, with more than 775 wines, you need a strategy.
No matter your level of knowledge, everyone should have a plan of how to taste and spit for the time they will be in the International Tasting Room
This year marks my 20th #VIWF, and over the past two decades I have learned a few key things, and learned things from others around me.
Here is my insider’s guide to taking on the tasting room like a pro: seven hacks that outline the how-tos, rules, and etiquette you should know before you go to this festival, or any wine tasting.
- EAT FIRST
Alcohol is absorbed more slowly on a full stomach
- DRESS FOR SUCCESS
This is a big room, and you are on your feet. Pinched toes and blisters are not great pairings.
And some other fool who does wear heels is going to teeter into you, and red wine might splash. Dark clothing hides the damage.
- DON’T STINK
Don’t wear perfume, or smoke and then go into the tasting room. It’s not fair to the vintners or the other tasters.
Winemakers try to check the aromas of their wines to make sure that they have arrived soundly. When you step up to the table wearing your your stinky eau de whatever, you will overpower the wines.
And speaking of stinky, please wear deodorant. But not stinky deodorant. Wine is an olfactory and sensory experience; so keep it neutral.
- Three hours, 775 wines… and ONE GLASS!
When you walk in the tasting room you will be handed a wine glass. This is your glass to use for the entire tasting, so hang on to it; don’t set it down and lose it. If you are concerned about flavours of wine mixing from one sample into the next, each table has a convenient pitcher of water on it so you can rinse your glass out between tastings. Before you leave for the night, set it down on one of the drop tables before making your way out through the onsite store.
- WHAT TO TASTE, WHAT TO TASTE?
With this many wines, you need to strategize to make the most of your time. Here are a few suggestions:
Choose one kind of wine to try.
Try the same wine variety from many different producers, in varying countries. And make sure you taste a varietal that is made in Nova Scotia, as well as Ontario and BC, so you can see how Canada comes to life in the glass regionally. Taste how the weather, sun, wind, and winemaking create differences in each region.
Skip the queue.
You will see some tables that have huge crowds around them. A pro tip from Christine Coletta, owner of Haywire (a BC winery you can visit at the festival) is to visit the table located next to the crowded one with no one in line. “Every winery and wine in the room has been selected by a tasting panel,” she notes. “So there is no risk; all the wines in the room are good.” Plus, this gets you a chance for one-on-one contact with the winery principal – who has traveled to the festival for the chance to pour wine for you.
Use table etiquette
When you approach the table, the principal will pour a small amount of wine into your glass. Then, take a step back and let the person waiting patiently behind you have access.
Spit
Next, sniff, swirl, and taste each wine, and then slosh it around in your mouth and spit it out into the provided spit bucket.
This is a wine TASTING, not a wine DRINKING. The idea is to sample the flavours, and you’re not going to get a full glass of wine. It’s not proper etiquette to ask for more wine, because the expectation is that you’re going to swish and spit out this wine like a responsible wine taster.
You might find some tastes are just too delicious, so you may want to actually drink one or two samples. But trust me, if you drink every wine you taste, you’ll be intoxicated before you even make it through the first few tables, and that is going to ruin the experience for you, as well as everyone around you.
- SHARING IS CARING
If you really enjoy your sample, please do let the winery know!
At least a year of effort has gone into that bottle in front of you. And since they have travelled to you, let them know how you enjoy having them visit us from however far away they’ve come, and that you like tasting their wine.
If you have an opinion on the wine that is less than positive, please keep it to yourself.
- STAY ALIVE, AND DON’T HARM ANYONE
And my last hack, the most important tip: at the end of the tasting, make sure that you have a designated driver, or take transit or a cab, so everyone gets home safely.
Are you planning to attend? Come back to this post and tell me how you enjoyed your festival experience.
Or talk to me about it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram