Top Tables for the Vancouver International Wine Festival - Thursday, Friday and Saturday March 1 and 2, 2024

Wine Barbarian Top Table picks for the International Festival Tastings for 2024

The Wine Barbarian crew - Bill Tieleman, my wife Shirley Ross, friends Dan and Jenn

The heart of the fabulous Vancouver International Wine Festival every year is the International Festival Tastings - Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening from 7 to 10 p.m. and Saturday afternoon from 2:30 to 5 p.m. This is your chance to taste from over 1,000 wines from 147 wineries from around the world, with Italy as the regional focus this year!

And what fantastic choices you have!  It's impossible for anyone to try every wine available - so The Wine Barbarian comes to your rescue with some recommended wine tables to visit where you just know you will enjoy their wines.

This is a very subjective list of course, and every winery here for the Festival is pouring lovely wines - and many of these wineries I don't know - yet - so I encourage you to try any available table.  You might just find a new favourite wine! 

ITALY

With 71 wineries from Italy, there is a wealth of choices of great wines! I can most definitely recommend the following but many more are pouring great glasses:

Allegrini Table 2; Altesino Table 4; Tenuta di Arceno Table 5; Marchesi di Barolo Table 8; Azienda Abricola Bocale di Valentini Table 9; Carpineto Table 16; Damiliano Table 21Empson & Co Table 24; Frescobaldi Table 29; Castello di Gabbiano Table 30; Masi Table 41; Marchesi Mazzei Table 42; Pio Cesare Table 52; Ricasoli Table 54; Tua Rita Table 66

AUSTRALIA

Inland Trading Table 76; Majella Wines Table 77

Antonio Zaccheo, Owner - Carpineto Wines
& Bill Tieleman, The Wine Barbarian

CANADA

Burrowing Owl Estate Winery Table 85; Moon Curser Vineyards Table 97; Osoyoos Larose Table 100; Phantom Creek Estates Table 101; Spearhead Table 103; Summerhill Pyramid Winery Table 105

CROATIA

Stina Winery Table 112

SPAIN

Marques de Riscal Table 131

USA

Harvey & Harriet Table 136; House of Smith Table 137; Lingua Franca -Table 139; Louis M Martini Table 140; Robert Mondavi Winery table 144 and Signorello/Edge/Trim Table 145

And there's lots more - I will try to post additional Top Tables on my social media - X/Twitter @BillTieleman - Instagram - WineBarbarian.ca and Facebook - Bill Tieleman

Thanks and cheers!

TONIGHT - Saturday February 24, 2024 is OPEN THAT BOTTLE NIGHT! Do it!

Do you have a special bottle of wine sitting in your cellar or closet or kitchen that you have been saving for years, waiting for a "special occasion" to open it?

Do it TONIGHT!  Yes tonight, because this is international Open That Bottle Night - the last Saturday of February - when there's no more excuses, no more waiting for the perfect dinner, date, group of friends - whatever has kept you from opening that languishing bottle! '

Paul Hobbs personally signed 2011 Pinot Noir 

and yes I opened it recently

Believe me, you won't be sorry - unless that special bottle has gone off because you waited too long.  In which case, open another old one! 

The idea was created by two wine columnists from the Wall Street Journal in 1999.  John Brecher and Dorothy Gaiter found that the most common question they received from readers was "I have this bottle from my late father, or my wedding or an auction or a visit to a winery.  When should I open it?"  Their answer?  "This weekend - open it and celebrate the memories." 

But they also decided people need to band together to find the courage to open that long-waiting bottle, so the invented Open That Bottle Night -  and if you read this on Saturday February 24, 2024 - tonight's the night! 

If you read it later than Saturday, other night will do just fine too! 

Jim Robertson of Stonleigh in New Zealand with
Wine Barbarian Bill Tieleman at the Festival 

But don't hold on to it for another year - the odds just go up that it will go off!

Cheers - Bill Tieleman, The Wine Barbarian! 

PS - don't miss the Vancouver International Wine Festival running from February 24 to March 3, 2024 - there are still some tickets available for International Festival Tasting Thursday through Saturday and a few other events!  I hope to see you there!

Good News - a few Vancouver International Wine Festival 2024 events still have tickets available - but hurry!

It's good news for those of us who love wine - and a great time:  several of the Vancouver International Wine Festival 2024 events still have some tickets available as of February 18 - but you have to hurry to get them!  Click the link above to go to their available events and tickets page. 

All four International Festival Tastings still have tickets available - including Saturday March 2nd - to my surprise - from 7 to 10 p.m., as well as Thursday February 29th and Friday March 1st - also from 7-10 p.m., and the Saturday March 2nd matinee tasting from 2:30 to 5 p.m.

WineBarbarian.ca's Bill Tieleman at an International Festival Tasting

These wonderful tastings allow you to sample from about 1,150 different wines produced by 149 wineries from 12 countries - including 71 from Italy, this year's featured region.  There's literally more wine than anyone can possibly taste in one, two or more tastings - I know, I've been attending for over 30 of the Festival's 45 years! 

The Vancouver International Wine Festival is rightly described as the largest wine festival in the Americas - and with about 18,000 guests attending the 42 events - there's something for everyone who likes or loves wine. 

The other events still with tickets available also include:  

Discover Delle Venezie DOC - a Pinot Grigio Wine Mingler with delicious appetizers and some of Italy's tastiest glasses on Tuesday February 27th from 6 to 8 p.m.!  Details in link - tickets are $69 and the event is at The Loft in Earl's Yaletown. 

California Wines Sun Fest - from Orin Swift to Lange Twins to Trim to Harvey & Harriet and more, try some great California chardonnays, cabernets, roses, syrahs, zinfandels and more in North Vancouver's Shipyard District on Wednesday Ferbruary 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. Details in link - tickets are $69. 

Golden State Vineyard Visions - discover the essence of California's varied terroirs by tasting wines from across the state. Cabernet, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and more from some of California's best producers and many single-vineyard offerings - including Louis M. Martini, Robert Mondavi, Jackson Family Wines and Francis Ford Coppola Winery will be served - and you will not be disappointed!  Tickets are just $55 and the event is on Friday March 1st from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. at the Convention Centre. 

La Dolce Vita - life is sweet indeed when more tickets are made available for this delicious grazing lunch on Saturday March 2nd from 12 to 2 p.m. at the Convention Centre!  Several dozen great Italian whites, reds, roses and sparking wines will be featured from some of the top wineries, plus plentiful helpings of meat, fish, vegetarian and dessert dishes to match them!  Buon appetito! Tickets are $135. 

The Global Cru - last but far from least, a sit-down tasting seminar that features the wines that best exemplify some of the world's most famous wine regions, including Barolo, Chianti Classico, Napa Valley, Toro and more!  It's on Saturday March 2nd from 5:15 to 6:45 p.m. at the Convention Centre and tickets are $95. 

And for those in the wine, liquor or restaurant and hospitality trades, there are aslo some tickets left for those excellent events! 

Well, that's the best advice I can give you now on what's still available - I hope to see you at some of these and the other great events that are already sold out - Cheers! 

Bill Tieleman - the Wine Barbarian!