The Vancouver International Wine Festival is returning Feburary 24th with Italy as its focus. In its 45th year Canada’s premiere wine trade show and the largest consumer wine show in the Americas, it’s a highlight for many who love wine.
Join Gismondi on Wine Editor-in-Chief Anthony Gismondi and find out what to expect at the festival from VIWF’s Executive Director Harry Hertscheg, including the number of wines, events and countries this year and where to get your tickets. Wine writer and educator, and the 2024 VIWF Keynote Speaker, Filippo Bartolotta, joins us from his home in Italy to explain what makes the current Italian wine industry so interesting and exciting, unlike ever before.
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Hello, Gismondi on Wine? Uh, subscribers, newsletter subscribers. Thanks for joining us today, uh, to preview the 45th International Wine Festival in Vancouver. Joining us is Filippo Bartolotta. He’s the he’s a writer, educator and will be the keynote speaker in Vancouver during
The festival. And also Harry Hertscheg, the executive director of the uh 45th, which is impressive. Vancouver International Wine Festival. Harry, welcome back. Uh, we’re back in Vancouver. We’re back in VCC East. Uh, we’re back in February. Uh, we’re back to
Normal. We’re back. It’s our third festival since. the pandemic, our 45th since we started this whole journey way back in 1979. We’re back in the convention center, the West building, with all the great windows, with 149 wineries, 42 events. Italy is going to
Be the star at the end of February. Let’s go. Yeah. So well let’s talk about those numbers. So 12 countries are coming. How many wineries and wines are going to be in the room do you think?
Well the way I look at it is how how exciting is it to be able to have 71 Italian wineries, the most we’ve ever had, plus 29 from British Columbia. What a great opportunity to compare Okanagan, Cowichan and Fraser Valley and Italy, and then another 49 wineries from
Ten other countries. It’s going to be an amazing experience in the tasting room. Of the 42 events, more than half are focused on Italy. 12 dinners, a Gala dinner with all Italian wines, four seminars including with Filippo Bartolotta, lunches, seminars, parties. It’s going to be an Italian celebration at the end of February.
Get some sleep folks. There’s always a huge buzz in the room. But Filippo, it’s my impression that that Italy is having a moment internationally. What, what what’s your feeling about what’s going on in Italy at the moment with wine? Well, it’s a great moment. Um, and I’m totally
Excited because this is the BC-Italian Wine Festival. Uh, it’s going to be my third time round coming over to to British Columbia and I, And I’m loving it. I really can’t wait. Uh, Italy is in, um, how should I put it in a sort of a, uh, very contemporary Renaissance, uh, moment,
Like, uh, Italy has been making wine for 3000 years. Uh, there was a moment, uh, after the war, where everything started off again about quantity, quantity, quantity. Then there was a switch towards quality in the 80s, just a few very famous wineries. Uh,
Then the big, bold, uh, super attractive, uh, bit of a Robert Parker rides, style wines, uh, kind of standardization in the early 2000. And now is the full swing of indigenous varieties. Uh, uh, tiny vignerons on that get together with the the big established brands,
Uh, uh, all the regions of Italy from Sicily, uh, which is basically Africa is closer to the rest of Italy, all the way up to Alto Adige, which is a mountain region close to Austria, is just, uh, like, uh, 20 different languages. And as a result, you have 400 different grape
Varieties. Italy is hell and Paradise at once. It’s hell if you want to learn all about it, quickly it’s Paradise if you have, you know, a life journey ahead of you and you want to enjoy it. Yeah.
Uh, well, I was thinking about the room with the 71 wineries. Now, of course, we always hear about Tuscany and Piedmont, but what would be some of the other regions you would push people to, to just think about when they’re there, and maybe some of the grapes that that are grown there?
Yeah. As I mentioned, you know, uh, Italy has got 80% of the Italian appellations are made with 80 different grape varieties. There are thousands, but there’s 80 major varieties. Sangiovese is the king variety. Nebbiolo, of course, in, uh, in Piemonte. But then you come across varieties,
Even for somebody for a senior, uh, wine taster or journalist like myself, I’ve been I taste 5000 once a year, and I’ve been doing that for the past 25 years. And still I go to, I was in Abruzzo recently. We’re going to taste some fantastic wines from
Abruzzo, a region that is protected by the Apennine mountain range. Looking at the sea, um, and there is varieties like Mantonico or, uh, Pecorino, Passerina, and not just the Montepulciano or Trebbiano. And so this is what Italy is about right now. It’s about contemporary
Style winemaking, which means that all the new generations are most of these winemakers are actually, uh, professional winemakers. They’re going through university to get to that point, but they have the experience of the, uh, you know, family behind them, and they are sharing
More best practices, practices that they’ve ever done in the past. So kind of like, uh, Yeah, it’s an interesting moment because there is more cultural identity shown in the wines, less as over extractive styles, less internationally made wines. Um, but at the same time,
It’s the moment when it’s easier to read Sicily, uh, versus Campania or Abruzzo or Alto Adige. And within each region there is a more specific dialect, uh, that for any wine lover is going to be easier to identify. Of course, it’s a large, uh, country. I mean,
It’s in terms of wine, it’s it’s bonkers. But that’s what we’re going to do in Vancouver. We’re gonna we’re gonna demystify Italy. Yeah. We love Bonkers in Vancouver. So, Filippo, there’s some interesting underlying themes that you’re thinking about. I know that you’re doing,
Uh, a few talks and seminars. Tell us about these themes that you’re thinking about. Well, in a nutshell, the the most important, uh, theme would be the contrast between the lighter style wines that are produced in Italy in the past. There was a moment about all the wines
Needed to be big and bold and, you know, uh, bodybuilders. But the idea that we’re going to bring with the lightness is the fact that there is strength and, uh, uh, depth in light wines from, uh, you know, think about, uh, each swallow, for instance, from Abruzzo
Or from Alto Adige or even a light Sangiovese or a beautiful, uh, Corvina from Valpolicella. So that is the idea. And then when you go, of course, the contrast is how are the Titans, the Super Tuscans, the Amarone, the barrel and the Brunello doing right now? Are they still like the
Supercharged wines, or is there a more trace of elegance that is actually coming into these wines as well? And so the reinterpretation of Italy will be all along. Wines like uh, Sorbara, Lambrusco di Sorbara, which is a super light Japanese Katana, super refreshing, uh, sparkling wine.
A lot of people know the Lambrusco, the the saturated, super dark Lambrusco. So we’re going to show our, uh, British Columbia guests our different sides of Italy. So that’s why I’m actually very excited myself. I can’t wait to be there.
And it’s going to be fun to try some BC wines. Uh, you know, we have some Sangiovese here. We have we have some similar styles. It’d be fun to contrast them with everything that’s coming in from Italy. Yeah, absolutely. I’ve, uh, I had the opportunity to visit last October. Uh, British Columbia,
The Okanagan Valley. I went on a canoe. Uh, you know, like bareback horse riding and then tried everything. You know, I’ve seen it all. It’s so beautiful. And I tried a lot of the Italian wines. I love the wild and free attitude that there is in that region. And so I can’t wait
To do a compare and contrast tasting, uh, uh, matching food and wine, uh, with a very brand new country like British Columbia and a very old one like Italy is going to be exciting. Harry, how about a couple of tips for the people that are getting into the room,
Some of the things that are set up. What about this Italian booth? How is that going to work? That’s a great place to start because that’s where our swamis and porters are going to be pouring a selection of Italian wines. But more importantly,
They’re going to know what’s at the 71 table. So you can use that. Italy’s tasting station as a launching pad to the different regions, the different grapes they can steer you to table 36 or number 47 or 68 or number four. And then when you go to those 71 Italian tables, that’s,
That’s like over 250, about 250 to 300 wines. Every one of those wines that are poured, every wine that you can taste is available for sale. You can buy it at the onsite BC liquor store. And get it shipped to your close to your house so you don’t have to
Carry it home. It’s a very simple process. Oh, I love that. Hands free at the end of the night, go to the restaurants, have the wines shipped free of charge anywhere in the province, and if you are somewhere else in the province, stay Vancouver Hotels.com. Book your hotel
And get a free ticket to those 71 wineries. Yeah, okay, but you got to have a ticket to get in. Harry, how is that all going and where can people go right now to get make sure that they can get somehow get into this festival. Vanwinefest.ca Tasting room tickets are on sale
Now. Special events are on sale in January. Get organized. Talk about it with your friends and family, and we’ll see you at the end of February. Okay. Well thanks, Harry. Thanks, Filippo. And, uh, to our, uh, thank you, viewers. Uh, we’ve got a lot of Italian content planned in February. Uh,
That will be running in Gismondi on Wine. And, of course, uh, like Filippo, we’re tasting wines every day and posting notes up through the festival. There’ll be a lot of Italian content available for you. What to taste, where to go, and who to meet inside the room. Thanks for joining
Us, gentlemen, and we’ll see you inside the room at the 45th Vancouver International Wine Festival. Arrivederci. Arrivederci. Ciao