New Zealand and Argentina the theme at largest wine festival to date
The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival will mark its 32nd year with a celebration of the wines of Argentina and New Zealand and a global focus on rosé. The festival, which runs from April 19th to 25th 2010, will bring a record 197 participating wineries to the new Vancouver Convention Centre and top Vancouver restaurants and hotels for a total seven days of tastings, seminars, and wine focused events. A full list of participating wineries is now available online at www.playhousewinefest.com.
“2010 is all about altitude, latitude and attitude,” says festival executive director Harry Hertscheg. The combination of these two very different cultures and countries will provide both strength and sex appeal to this year’s festival (think Haka and Tango dancing) while the newfound confidence of rosé wine in the global market will add a counterpoint to the Pinot Noirs, Torrontés’, Sauvignon Blancs and Malbecs that will be poured.
“We see this as an opportunity not only to support a worthy cause but also to provide a platform for people to discover more about our premium wines and regions,” says Philip Gregan, CEO, New Zealand Winegrowers. With 41 New Zealand wineries from varying degrees of latitude participating in the 2010 festival, visitors can expect to find a wealth of diversity thanks to world class sauvignon blancs and terroir-driven pinot noirs, refreshing aromatic and fruit driven chardonnays, and complex fuller-bodied reds. Kim Crawford Wines will present a selection of wines, many of which have consistently scored 90 points or higher over the past 7 years with a special recognition in 2008 of 40th place in Wine Spectator’s Top 100. At Two Paddocks winery – located in the central Otago region and helmed by Sam Neill – the age-old techniques of Burgundian vintners are followed. Two Paddocks produces just 5000 cases per year from hand-tended low yielding vines, handpicked grapes, and small batch wines aged in French Oak barrels.
On the Argentine side, the dizzying altitudes and snow capped Andean mountains produce grapes that are ripened to perfection year after year. “We are very excited to participate in the 2010 Playhouse Wine Festival and to bring our wines to the Canadian and US market,” says Lis Clément, Wines of Argentina’s Marketing & Communications Manager. “The alliance with New Zealand is also very important since we view our two countries as being complimentary to each other.” From rich Malbecs to the distinctive Torrontés, the 36 participating Argentine wineries in the 2010 festival will include the renowned Viña Doña Paula. An estate winery, Viña Doña Paula has an incredible combination of climates and soil types and utilizing hand-tended methods, generates a vast diversity of terroir-focused wines.