Top Drop Wine Festival is Back

It’s been a long time coming, three years since the last edition in fact, but Top Drop Vancouver is back!

Our little series of terroir-focused wine tastings and events were slated to run again in the spring of 2020, but then Tom Hanks fell ill in Australia, and things went sideways from there.

BUT.

We’re up and running again, and on May 10 and 11 at the Roundhouse in Yaletown, my industry colleague partners and I (I’m both a Top Drop co-founder and regular VanMag contributor) are outright stoked to present our grand tasting with wineries from Barolo, Burgundy, Champagne, Oregon, Australia, and beyond.

When we started hedging bets in November, putting out a call for winery applications from around the globe, one of our mandates – as always – was that principals would have to be attendance. Hey, there are plenty people around town more than capable of pouring you some of the good stuff and telling you about it, but there’s no comparison to proprietors, winemakers, those managing vineyards, and so on to give you the skinny of what’s in your glass.

Since that time, we’ve had a remarkable amount of enthusiasm from those in our global wine community who took a chance on booking travel. It’s not easy for many; the vast amount of wineries we work with are boutique or family operations where it can be tough to spare someone to travel. We’ve been crossing our fingers for months.

A couple COVID waves later, we have 40 of them descending on our shores next week. Pinch us; it’s really happening! Conscious of comfort levels with the desire of many of us to get back to in-person tastings with nary a Zoom log-on in sight, we’ve expanded our event from one to two nights so we can reduce the crowd and keep things comfortable and breezy. That means attendees will have more time to taste the nuances of a Blanc de Noirs Champagne, to hear tales of Barolo Castle from a multi-generation family proprietor or dig deep into single vineyard Napa Valley Cabernets.

Hey, there have been many a curveball and obstacles to getting here, and (yup) enough Zoom calls to fuel a ‘making-of’ Netflix series. In these days leading up, our little team behind this have already begun our 3 A.M. panicked awakenings trying to recall if we have ordered enough glassware (we have).

But when that room’s in full swing, and some of the best and brightest in the world of wine come together, all those obstacles and crossing of fingers will have been worth it.

Tickets and information are available at TopDrop.ca – we hope to see many of you at this long-awaited edition of our show, where you’ll be able to clink glasses with the following producers:

Aldegheri, Valpolicella, Italy         
Anselmi, Soave, Veneto, Italy       
Ashes & Diamonds, Napa Valley, California, USA         
Averill Creek Vineyard, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada          
Azienda Agricola Bruna Grimaldi , Piedmont, Italy     
Bella Wines, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada      
Benjamin Bridge, Gaspereau Valley, Nova Scotia, Canada   
Bisol Desiderio & Figli Societa’ Agricola, Valdobbiadene, Italy           
Bruno Paillard, Champagne, France      

 
Champagne Gardet, Champagne, France       
Chappellet Vineyard, Napa Valley, California, USA     
Chateau De Pommard, Pommard, Burgundy, France          
Chateau Dereszla, Tokaji, Hungary        
Chiorri Perugia, Umbria, Italy
Creek & Gully Cider, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada    
Elk Cove, Gaston, Oregon, USA   
Fitzpatrick Family Vineyards, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada
Free Form by Okanagan Crush Pad, Okanagan Valley, Canada         
Gekkeikan, Folsom, California, USA        
Hedges Family Estate, Red Mountain, Washington, USA     
Lightning Rock Winery, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada         
Long Shadows, Columbia Valley, Washington, USA  
Marchesi Di Barolo, Piedmont, Italy       
Martin’s Lane Winery, Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada 
Medici Ermete, Reggio Emilia, Italy       
Mirafiore, Piedmont, Italy 
Montes, Colchagua, Chile 
Orofino, Similkameen Valley, BC Canada         
Pere Ventura, Penedès, Spain     
Salcheto, Tuscany, Italy     
Susana Balbo Wines, Mendoza, Argentina       
Synchromesh Wines, Okanagan Falls, BC, Canada    
Tenuta Di Trinoro + Passopisciaro, Tuscany + Sicily, Italy      
Tenuta Valdipiatta, Montepulciano, Italy          
Terravista Vineyards, Naramata Bench, BC, Canada  

Troupis Winery, Mantinia, Greece
Ursa Major Winery, Okanagan, Canada            
Weingut Thörle, Rheinhessen, Germany          
Xanadu Winery, Margaret River, Australia