Tickets for the Saturday evening IFT are now sold out – a limited number of tickets will be available for purchase in person one hour prior to the event for $119.

The Wine World is Here
If you attend only one of the festival’s events, make it an International Festival Tasting. The Tasting Room at the Vancouver Convention Centre is the heart of the festival, where all participating wineries and their principals gather to pour their select wines. Discover exciting new wines, or return to your favourites, sipping from premium wine glasses. The room will also feature Regional Tasting Stations from Australia, California, Napa Valley, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain and Washington State, as well as many wine and food-related exhibitors.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TASTING ROOM

Dream Big: California Style
The 2019 festival features 53 wineries from the Golden State. Discover the passion and energy of California’s vintners and growers in a special section of the Tasting Room, where some of the most dynamic personalities in the industry will be showcasing their award-winning wines.

Vine Stars
The stars of the global wine scene – winemakers, proprietors, senior execs – come to Vancouver every year to pour and discuss their wines with festivalgoers. That’s what makes this festival unique. Each winery will be represented in the room by a principal, someone closely involved in the wine-production process, there to share their wines and knowledge. You’re quite likely to find that the person serving your wine has their name on the bottle. Identify the vine star by his or her royal blue lanyard. Chat them up!

BC Liquor Stores Festival Wine Shop
Free bottle check and wine delivery
All wines served in the room are available for purchase there but some are in VERY limited supply. When you discover a wine that you want to enjoy at home, don’t wait until the end of the session to buy it as it might be sold out – put it in the handy bottle check, and then continue your tasting session. Repeat as necessary. When you’re ready to leave, check out your wines. And if you live in British Columbia, whether you’ve bought one bottle or several cases, your wine can be shipped free of charge to your nearest BC Liquor Store. Very convenient! Note that you must show your tasting room ticket for admission to the shop.

Words to the wise
This is a wine tasting, not a food event. Be sure to have a meal before you arrive. That said, food samples are available to enhance your tasting experience.

Pace yourself. Have a game plan – you can’t taste every wine in the room. And don’t swallow everything that’s poured into your glass. Have a taste and then make use of the spit buckets at every table, by spitting or pouring out the rest. And if you do want to taste a lot of wines, we offer four tasting sessions over three days, so repeat as necessary!

Please don’t wear fragrance! (Nothing shouts wine newbie as loudly as perfume or noxious after-shave.) All the noses and palates in the room will thank you.

Must be 19 or older (No Minors) to attend Vancouver International Wine Festival events. Two pieces of ID are required. Infants and babies are not permitted.

Don’t Wine and Drive!
Don’t even think about bringing your car or bike.

• Take transit. BC Liquor Stores offers a free transit ticket at their Get Home Safe booth as you exit
• Assign a designated driver
• Take a cab or limo
• Walk