Top Drop’s Thursday Night Wine Series is the Bomb

Want a deep dive on a set vinous topic—then Thursday night’s alright for drinking.

I’ve always sympathized with Derek Zoolander, the model who couldn’t turn left, because in what is a bit of a problem for a person who writes about food…I’m not a very good taster in the festival set-up, where there’s table after table. My sweet spot is a fewer number of wines and a little breathing room in which I try to get a handle on what the winemaker is going for.

We’ve long been fans of the Top Drop Festival—it’s simply the pound-for-pound champ of Canadian wine festivals: highly curated, illuminating and bringing the next big thing to your palate before it hits the big time. The main event, which is great, is sold out. But full honesty? Their new Thursday night events are where it’s at.

Each of the six events has a theme: Wildebeest has six producers from the Okanagan to Oregon to Champagne pouring to go with charcuterie and sausages. The American goes all natural with seven producers—like our own A Sunday in August to New Zealand’s Ular-Gladstone—showcasing their low intervention offerings going toe-to-toe with the famed Monarch burger. It’s all Iberian at Bodega and all Italy at Campagnolo.

Here’s the crazy kicker—it’s only $55. For grazing events and a deep dive on a vinous theme—are you kidding me? (The exception is the Boulevard event, which is $125, but it’s a sit-down event and they’ll be slamming Chablis and Brewer-Clifton. And it’s Boulevard.) The main problem with the events is that they’re all at the same time so you have some tough choices to make. Tickets are available here.