The Wines of British Columbia is excited to once again be part of the Vancouver International Wine Festival (VIWF) showcasing more BC Wineries than ever before.
This year’s highly anticipated International Festival Tastings will take place at the Vancouver Convention Centre from February 25 through February 27 showcasing more than 700 wines from 14 countries.
“The Festival Tastings are an excellent way to discover the many new BC VQA Wines, meet some of the winemakers and enjoy a night out with friends, family and colleagues,” notes Maggie Anderson, Marketing Director of the British Columbia Wine Institute. “The event attracts wineries from acclaimed wine regions around the world and we are thrilled to see BC’s contingent continue to grow each year.”
26 BC Wineries will be showcasing more than 100 BC Wines during the Festival Tasting, making BC the second largest region after this year’s festival theme region, Italy. During the Festival Tastings, the Wines of British Columbia Regional Booth will offer a broad selection of BC VQA Wines from across the province, focusing on British Columbia’s diverse wine regions and how local terroir is reflected within our wine.
The Vancouver International Wine Festival is one of the biggest and oldest wine events in the world, offering something for every level of wine drinker, collector and trade professional. From February 20 through 28, more than 50 wine events will take place, including seminars, tastings, masterclasses, brunches and dinners.
“We’re delighted to have 26 wineries from British Columbia, representing Vancouver Island, the Okanagan Valley, the Similkameen Valley, and for the first time, one from Kamloops” says VIWF Executive Director Harry Hertscheg. “We have such a strong wine and food culture here, and our festivalgoers love wine, they love food and they really love local wines. The BC section at the festival is always packed. British Columbia really is a world capital for wine and food culture. We welcome Wines of British Columbia with open arms!”
The 2016 participating BC wineries are:
Averill Creek Vineyard
Poplar Grove Winery
Bartier Bros. Vineyard & Winery
Quails’ Gate Winery
Black Sage Vineyard
Sandhill
Burrowing Owl Estate Winery
See Ya Later Ranch
Culmina Family Estate Winery
Stoneboat Vineyards
Gold Hill Winery
Summerhill Pyramid Winery
Harper’s Trail Estate Winery
SunRock Vineyard
Okanagan Crush Pad Winery/Haywire
Thornhaven Estates Winery
Hester Creek Estate Winery
Tightrope Winery
Meyer Family Vineyards
TIME Estate Winery
Mission Hill Family Estate Winery
Tinhorn Creek Vineyards
Osoyoos Larose Estate Winery
Unsworth Vineyards
Painted Rock Estate Winery
Wayne Gretzky Okanagan
For a full schedule of VIWF consumer events and participating countries visit VanWineFest.ca.
ABOUT THE BC WINE INSTITUTE (BCWI)
Since 1990, the BCWI has played a pivotal role in taking BC’s wine industry from a vision to an internationally recognized niche region producing premium wines and providing exceptional wine tourism experiences. The BCWI markets the wine and regions of BC; delivers quality trade, media and consumer tastings; and acts as the voice of BC’s wine industry by advocating to government on behalf of industry that contributes $2 billion in provincial economic growth annually.
The BCWI represents all wineries in British Columbia to grow the premium market share for the Wines of British Columbia, while driving awareness of our world-class wine tourism product – currently drawing 800,000 visitors with $476 million in tourism and tourism employment related economic impact every year.
The BCWI’s voluntary membership consists of 151 member wineries whose dues enable participation in various trade and consumer promotional events and retail marketing activities here in BC, across Canada and in select international markets, exclusively featuring BC VQA (100% BC) Wine. BCWI members produce 94% of BC VQA Wine sold in British Columbia.
