The 37th Annual Vancouver Wine Festival invites you to savour Australia as it salutes the tasty drops from “Down Under.”
And the feature grape will be none other than the charming shiraz, aka syrah (sera).
It’s one of the biggest and best wine fests in the world and it will be uncorking all its charms from Feb. 20 to March 1.
The most popular events are the International Festival Tastings ($89) held at the Convention Centre on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. This year a Saturday matinee ($68) has been added to cater to the overwhelming demand.
If you love wine or you’re just starting to learn about the elixir of the vine, this is the place for you. You will be able to sample delicious drops from 55 award-winning “Strine” wineries.
But the selection isn’t reserved just for the Land of Oz. Wines from 13 other nations will be uncorking their vinos. That’s a total of 170 wineries or 770 wines to try. Although some events have already sold out, there is still a good selection of happenings available.
Ideally, you should visit the tasting room on three occasions. On the first evening, focus on white wines. On the second night, switch to reds, including the feature wine shiraz. Finally, enjoy champagne and sweet stickies like Aussie tawnies and muscats.
If you’ve only one chance to visit the tasting room, choose Thursday evening or Saturday afternoon. There are fewer crowds, so you won’t have to wait in a long line to get a sample.
Finally, once you taste the wines, you can order by the case from the reps at the table or purchase bottles at the on-site wine shop.
But there’s much more, including the fun and informal Wine minglers. Australia has its Savour Australia on Tuesday night. The Aromatic Kitchen Party ($55) has gorgeous whites and sparkling wines bursting with enticing aromas at the Miele Showroom Sunday afternoon.
I’ve always enjoyed the Saturday Wine Lunches. Restaurant Australia ($99) is a grazing event which matches wine and food at the convention centre.
If you want to get serious, join the wine seminars where you will be guided through a sit down tasting and learn from a panel of experts on the wines of a country, region, grape variety or a single winery. McLaren Vale Scarce Earth ($55) explores the diversity of soil on the shiraz in this celebrated Australian region. All About Syrah ($65) explores how one grape produces such diverse styles around the world. And A Decade of Portfolio ($100) features 10 vintages of Laughing Stock’s reds from the Okanagan.
Another highlight is the wine dinners at 18 Vancouver restaurants featuring the cuisine and wines from Australia, France, Italy, Spain and the U.S. Top of the heap would be the Penfold’s collection with the incredible wines of this iconic Australian winery, home of the $1,000 bottle of Grange Hermitage, matched with the immaculate cuisine of Hawksworth Restaurant — $225 for an experience of a lifetime! Unfortunately, it’s sold out.
Visit vanwinefest.ca for event and ticket info.
Eric Hanson is a retired teacher and wine educator
