We’ve Scored a Major Discount for VanMag Readers at the Best Wine Festival in Town

Kurtis Kolt is a long time friend of the magazine. He was one of the wine judges in our Wine Awards, writes for us (like here and here), and frequently emails me when there are typos in my posts (meta). And the wine festival he founded, Top Drop, is our absolute fave place to be when we want to find out what’s happening in the wine world, both locally and internationally. Each year he and his team gather the coolest, most innovative, most passionate group of producers from all over the globe (this year has Mersel from Lebanon and Otronia from Patagonia to name but two) and the result is a perfectly curated group of all the wineries you want to know and zero dead weight. It’s so good I actually bought my own ticket to the seminars and—forgive me for the inside baseball moment—wine writers never buy their own tickets for anything. Ever.

The festival is so good that I frequently don’t promote it because it always sells out. I actually forgot to book my seminar—you remember that one I actually paid for—in the first week and by the time I went on the site nearly all the seminars were sold out. But, this year evidently there are still a few tickets left for the main event, which doesn’t make any sense given the stellar line-up with 15 killer Italian wineries, the absolute best of the Okanagan low-interventionists and legendary USA producers like Ridge and Stoller. And not only that—VanMag readers have been given a code — topdropvip — that gives $25 off. It’s a perfect little wine knowledge present for the Long Weekend (and you’re welcome folks!) We love you.

Top Drop

May 23 and 24
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
Tickets are available here.