Vancouver International Wine Festival 2025 – The Wine World is Here!

I got my VIWF-cherry (rather, wine cork) popped, attending the 46th rendition of this annual event for the very first time this year. Let the pouring begin!

I stepped into the massive Tasting Room at Vancouver Convention Centre West and was immediately in awe, never having been in Ballroom C before. It’s a gorgeous space, super high ceilings, light wood walls, irregularly placed drop-lights, and a beautiful view of North Vancouver across the water.

Neatly organized across the expansive space were booths representing 120 wineries, 5 sake breweries, and regional tasting tables from 15 countries from around the world. Each booth had a selection of 4-5 wines. This year’s festival theme was U.S. Westcoast Wines, showcasing some of the very best wine from the Washington, Oregon, and California regions.

Let’s hold that thought for a sec because I beelined my way to the Ninki Shuzo booth for the Rice Magic Sparkling Sake! I first had a taste of this delicious beverage at Hello Nori’s new Signature establishment at Park Royal but it is not normally available for purchase at liquor stores. Naturally sparkling and blush pink from the red rice used in the fermentation process, this sweet sake has delicate bubbles and is the best sparkling sake I’ve ever had. Super excited to be able to purchase a few bottles at the onsite BC Liquor Festival Shop, exclusive to VIWF event. Tip: don’t wait til the end of the day to grab the bottles you want, because the tasty stuff gets sold out early on!

Now, back to wines. I’m partial to whites, light, fruity, easy-to-drink, and on the sweeter side, so I mostly stuck to the world of Pinot Grigios, chardonnays, and rosés, though I did sample a few glasses of tasty reds. I was apprehensive at the prospect of an all-you-can-drink wine event, since wine and I aren’t the best of friends the morning after a good drinking session. Best advice I received was to have dinner before the event, and don’t be afraid to use the spit bucket and rinse your wine glass out between tastings. It’s perfectly ok not to swallow every single sip. I did still feel bad about pouring out good wine but I was so much better for it in the morning.

Having had dinner before coming to the evening tasting, I went straight to the Art of Bordeaux table for a sample of Château Suduiraut 2021 dessert wine. Made from 100% Sémillon grapes, with notes of caramel and candied citrus, this honey-colored wine was syrupy sweet! A little went a long way.

Earlier at the festival shop, I had spotted that the Brilla Pinot Grigio Rosé was $3 cheaper than the Brilla Pinot Grigio and was eager to find out the difference between the two. Both were in the same gorgeous Italian drop-diamond designer bottles. The rosé was as crisp and dry as the Pinot Grigio, but was light pink and had a hint of rose floral scent. The small price difference is due to the shorter production time.

Back to sweet wines, my friend Gail raved about her all time fave port from Black Sage Vineyards – the 2011 Pipe. Not technically a port, but a port-style red wine, I, too enjoyed this great dessert wine. Ripe plum on the nose and a drink that coats the tongue, this would be perfect with some dark chocolate squares.

Hovering around the Okanagan Valley wine producers tables, we tasted some Osoyoos Larose vintages. These predominantly Merlot red wines were to my hubby’s taste: rich, bold, and intense. He was already excitedly thinking about the steak dinner that he would pair these with. Meant to be aged for at least 5 years, there is quite a difference (softer and smoother the older it is) between the 2013, 2017, and 2020, with the first being the tastiest to drink (but also the most expensive!)

The Greek wines were intriguing, since we don’t often see wines from Greece at the liquor store. At the Alpha Estates table, we sampled the Single Vineyard Hedgehog Xinomavro 2022 and the Xinomavro Rosé 2023. As the exhibitor put it, the latter “is one of the top five rosés to try before you die.” Light and fruity, with peach and strawberry on the nose, this tasty and balanced rosé was very easy to drink. The Hedgehog was quite light in colour for a red, but was a lot bolder than we expected! Hubby also liked this a lot, and wished it was readily available in all BC Liquor stores.

Taking a break from wine tasting, we explored some food samples: a tasting scoop of kinder Bueno gelato from d’Oro Gelato, a cup of al dente Molisana Mezzi rigatoni smothered in Carbone’s delicious spicy vodka sauce, Partners olive oil and sea salt crackers, a square of Ritter Sport milk chocolate hazelnut. Bottles of Fiji water from the Fiji Water station kept us hydrated.

I particularly enjoyed the generous charcuterie plate of Antonio Romero jamón, dry-aged pork salami, manchego cheese, green olive, gourmet rustic picos, and black caviar flavour Spanish potato chips, and a sample of fried marcona truffle almonds from ARC Iberico Import’s Jamoneria booth. “Home is where the Jamón is” and we definitely took a pack of this Spanish Ibérico ham with us.

One of the highlights of the California Wines Regional Tasting Station was the interactive “Smell the Glass” game! Choose either the Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon side, smell the glass, try to identify the scent, and then submit your answer on the touch screen. It’ll immediately tell you if you got it right or wrong!! I got 3 out of 4 scents on the Chardonnay side. The tricky first scent had me thinking that was pineapple but was actually apple!

I tasted some wines from California’s Monterey County and Sonoma. The Mer Soleil 2022 Reserve Chardonnay is unoaked, with no secondary malolactic fermentation, so while it was clean and crisp, it was a little tart for my taste. I also tried the Bread and Butter 2022 Chardonnay, which was more oaky and had notes of ripe pear and citrus. Hubby particularly enjoyed the balanced Director’s Cut Zinfandel.

From the Paso Robles region, JUSTIN winery’s 2021 Sauvignon Blanc was dry and refreshing, and would go well with fried food while the 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon was smooth, black cherry, cinnamony was calling for grilled lamb.

Over at the Westcoast Chard Bar was a selection of chardonnays from the theme region, including one from Dolly Wines in California. I did not know that Dolly Parton was in the wine biz! The La Frenz Naramata Estate 2023 was a unique “peaches and cream” style Chardonnay, smooth and balanced and would be perfect with fish.

Wandering back to the BC wines tables, I was excited to discover a winery that’s super close to home: Richmond Country Farm has a wine arm, Country Vines Winery, tucked away on the same property. The 2022 Schönburger Estate white was so my type of wine! (Thanks for the recommendation, Gail!) Fragrant and fruity, the lychee hits you in the face and would be so tasty with a plate of aged cheese. The Back Forty Bubbles, made with the same grapes as the Shönburger, while refreshingly light and crisp, did not have the same inviting lychee fragrance.

Wines for a Better Planet featured wines that were produced sustainably, biodynamic and organic wines, and wines produced using a more efficient regenerative farming process that therefore have a lower carbon footprint. Hubby enjoyed the bold Francis Ford Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon Director’s Cut 2021. He loves coffee and this wine had espresso and toffee aromas.

At 10pm on the dot, the pouring stopped, the wine bottles were put away, and the festival wound down for the night. Some of the exhibitors had been there for a full 12 hours and were definitely ready to get some rest!

The exit is through the BC Liquor Festival Wine Shop. Many of the event-exclusive shelves were looking bare, so I was thankful that we had purchased the bottles we wanted very early on. The shelves are restocked with a limited quantity for each day of the festival, but unless you have another ticket for subsequent tasting days, you won’t be able to get back in!

We appreciated that BC Liquor had a Get Home Safe Booth that provided festival goers with a complimentary one-zone Compass card, since we were certainly feeling the happy effects of an all-you-can-drink wine fest! It was super easy for us to hop onto the sky train from Waterfront Station for the quick ride home.