The highly-coveted Vancouver International Wine Festival returns to the city from Monday February 24 – Sunday March 2, 2014. Featuring a series of wine tasting events, winery dinners, seminars and minglers, it’s no surprise that it’s an anticipated thing to do in Vancouver. With just under two weeks until the festivities begin, many events are sold out, or are selling out quickly! Full details can be found on the VIWF website.
International Festival Tasting
That being said, it’s certainly worth noting that the International Festival Tasting featuring 780 wines, 178 wineries, and 14 countries; is still up for grabs at $89/ticket. If you haven’t celebrated the festival before, catching one of these IFT days is touted as the best introduction to the Vancouver International Wine Festival.
Photo Credit: Judith Lane
The neat thing about the International Festival Tasting that wine-lovers appreciate is the winery principal at each table. This person is a senior member of the winery, intimately involved in the wine-production process as a winemaker, proprietor or senior executive. It’s a unique opportunity to chat over wine with the experts!
There are International Festival Tastings on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Here’s what we’ve heard about the perks of each night:
Thursday night’s capacity is guaranteed to be 30 percent lower than the other two evenings, attracting wine collectors and trade professionals who appreciate more room to interact with the winery principals.
Friday is great for groups and the after-work crowd looking to kick off the weekend in style.
Saturday night is perfect for couples and friends wanting to enjoy a night on the town. And Saturday afternoon is the perfect introduction to the Tasting Room – or a great way to taste those wines you missed on Thursday or Friday!
~ Vancouver International Wine Festival
5 Fun And Creative Things To Do With Wine
If you’re something of a foodie and you’re looking for things to do in Vancouver, the Vancouver International Wine Festival just might be the place to visit! Should you come away with a bottle (or ten) from the the VIWF events, we leave you with five fun and creative things to do with wine:
1) Wine gummies.
Have you heard? I’m not talking about dropping gummy bears into some wine and watching them expand. I’m talking MAKE YOUR OWN WINE GUMMIES. Check out this recipe from Thrive Style. Goddess status to you, Lisa!
2) Wine glasses can make for super-cute, do-it-yourself lights.
You need 12×12 paper, a wine glass, and a little tea-light candle. Though this craft may look simple, I’ll let you in a little secret; unless you have a template or are really good at drawing with a compass, it’s not. So if you’d like to try this one at home, leave me comment and I’ll send you my cut-out.
3) Wine can be baked into a cake.
Yes. Two of my favourite things in one beautiful creation. For many Vancouver food blogs, the Smitten Kitchen site is an inspiration and model. Though her recipe has a lengthy preface, I highly encourage you to give it a read. It’s a really touching story…that ends with red wine chocolate cake!
Photo credit: Smitten Kitchen
4) This almost never happens, but, what do you with leftover red wine?
Freeze it in ice cube trays, of course! Hint: if you have popsicle trays = winesicles for the summer!
5) Wine will take your pasta sauce to level 2.0.
If you haven’t tried this already, simmering red or white wine with your pasta sauce is a fantastic way to elevate the sophistication your dish. Though it can be done with both homemade and store-bought sauce, one of my favourites is from the talented and sassy food blog, Pioneer Woman!
In the next few weeks, I’m excited to see Vancouver food and wine lovers will alive with inspiration. If you have a wine recipe, fact or recommendation to share from your escapades, leave me a comment below! Wine is best served with company!
