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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Only in BC you say? Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2012 wines readily available!

Each year The Wine Spectator magazine posts its Top 100 Wines of the Year - and in most jurisdictions, those bottles immediately go on the endangered species list and disappear shortly thereafter.

In the wine jungle, the successful hunters are those who strike quickly and silently.

And count The Wine Barbarian as one of those!

Fortunately, I'm also willing to share - knowledge that is, not my wine!

BC government Liquor Stores currently have quite a few of the Top 100 Wines still available.  You may have to travel a little further and hunt a little more diligently than a simple visit to your local store, but you will be amply rewarded for your efforts.  And you may find some of them in BC private wine stores as well.

I have kindly linked each wine title below to its BC Liquor Store URL - click on it and you can find where these bottles are stashed anywhere in BC.  

But remember that it's always wise to call in advance because the website for consumers like us is about 48 hours behind reality - store consultants can tell you better what the situation is.

The Top 100 are NOT either the highest scoring or the highest priced wines tasted in 2012 by the Wine Spectator, by the way - they are chosen by editors based on this criteria:  

"In 2012, our list was selected from more than 17,000 new releases our editors rated in our independent blind tastings. More than 5,500 of these wines earned outstanding or classic ratings (90 points or higher on Wine Spectator's 100-point scale). 




We narrowed the list down based on four criteria: quality (represented by score); value (reflected by release price); availability (measured by cases made or imported); and what we call the “X-factor”–the excitement generated by a rising-star producer, a benchmark wine or a significant milestone for a wine region. But no equation determines the final selections: These choices reflect our editors’ judgment and passion about the wines we tasted."

Here are some of the key Top 100 Wines currently available in BC:

#16 - 96 points - Le Vieux Donjon - Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2010 - France

BC price: $59.94  [US price $66]  

Only 109 bottle left in the province but that's a miracle for a 96 point wine at that price! The Spectator talks about juniper, bay leaf, black current, blackberry and roasted plum flavours in a wine drinking from 2015 to 2030.

#30 - 92 points - Schild Estate Barossa Shiraz 2010 - Australia 

BC Price $29.99 [US price $20]

There are 1602 bottles listed available on the BC Liquor Stores website but in late December they had almost disappeared, so don't delay!


This is a bargain wine even if the last great vintage in 2008 only cost $20 and was also a Top 100 pick.  It's a big Barossa shiraz - what more do you need to know?  The screwtop makes it even harder to resist immediate drinking - and it is highly quaffable already - but should last nicely till 2018.






#87 - 90 points - Concha y Toro - Marques de Casa Concha Limari Valley Chardonnay - Chile

BC price - $19.99 [US price $18]

A fabulous white that's always on my personal Top 100 wine list because it is reasonably priced and super tasty every vintage - but it's also on the Spectator list!

They say it has "pineapple, citrus and spice notes...juicy acidity and creamy texture" - I say open this chardonnay tonight and then go buy lots more!


So that's all for now but there are still more Top 100 Wine Spectator 2012 wines in BC Liquor stores - stay tuned to The Wine Barbarian for another posting in the near future - after I've grabbed my share first!