Vancouver International Wine Festival is on - see you there!

Christopher Gaze, founder of Bard on the Beach, and Harry Hertscheg, executive director of the Vancouver International Wine Festival, launch the 2013 event

The Vancouver International Wine Festival is on - and what a great event it is!

Even better - there are still tickets left if you want to attend - tonight, Friday or Saturday.

I will be at Thursday night's major wine tasting event and will give you some don't-miss suggestions for your visit to the Festival if you are attending Friday or Saturday night's tastings, which run from 7 to 10 p.m.

The tasting is huge -  It features 175 wineries from 15 countries pouring 1,850 wines at 55 events to a projected 25,000 admissions!

Follow me on Twitter - @BillTieleman - for instant updates or look for me if you are there tonight or Saturday night - and check back her at The Wine Barbarian for a list of my favourites!

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Even more Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines available in BC Liquor Stores!

Get them while you still can - some fabulous, top rated wines still languishing on BC Liquor Store shelves - won't last long with Vancouver International Wine Festival on!

The Wine Spectator's most eagerly awaited edition is the one where it lists the Top 100 Wines of each year - and those wines immediately disappear from the shelves of wine shops all around the world.

But not in British Columbia you say?  Apparently not.  

But with the fabulous Vancouver International Wine Festival already now underway - tickets for many tastings still available by the way - including the major tastings Thursday Friday and Saturday nights - that may soon change.  Some of these great wines are going to be showcased there. 

I grabbed several choice wines from the 2012 Top 100 list since it came out in November of last year - but amazingly, quite a few are still available - and some of them at very reasonable prices.

I am a big fan of all New Zealand wines - and their Sauvignon Blancs are stupendous.  So why is there any Astrolabe 2011 Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, NZ left in BC?

Beats me - it's a 91 point wine, it's Number 59 on the list and it costs just $23.99 in BC Liquor Stores - where there are 645 bottles left - including 154 in Vancouver alone!

The Wine Spectator says - and I agree - that the Astrolabe this "bright, juicy white delivers succulent notes of passion fruit, honeydew melon, Key lime and Asian pear".

Also still available is the superb Alvaro Palacios Petalos 2010 from the Bierzo region of Spain - scored at 91 points, ranked Number 57 of the Top 100 and for sale in BC at $29.99, there are still 180 bottles left - all in Metro Vancouver.

I have enjoyed this wine as well - simply delicious!  Made from Mencia grapes, it is complex and layered.  The Wine Spectator says it has plush black cherry, liquorice, mineral and smoke flavours.  I say - go buy some right now!

And make sure to check The Wine Barbarian as the week goes by for top wines to taste at the Vancouver International Wine Festival - or just to buy.

Looking forward to the deep research!

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