Yesterday marked the official launch of the 2015 Vancouver International Wine Festival Kick Off, held at Joeys Restaurant downtown at the Bentall Centre. We had Harry Hertscheg, Vancouver International WIne Festival executive director, start off the Kick Off telling us about the wine festival, its many participating wineries, dinners and other events this year, and about Bard on the Beach, who this Festival supports. Harry introduced us to a representative from Bard on the Beach (sorry I didn’t get her name), who spoke about Bard, and then the mic was handed over to Mr. Brian Wash, the Chair from Wine Australia, to talk to us a bit about Australian wines and to warn us of more Australians arriving by the day. The speeches ended with an official count down, from 10 to 1, as lead by Brian, bringing out his most Aussie accent for us all.
Joeys was a great host, pouring Janz sparkling wine from Tasmania, Yalumba Viognier (very aromatic, and round in the mouth), Howard Park Chardonnay, Teusner Shiraz Mataro, and Louis Bernard Crozes Hermitage (the last one is a Rhone wine, not from Australia). Together with wine pouring, Joeys supplied us with a wide variety of appetizers, from charcuterie, cheese, vegetables, sliders, seared tuna, and more. One of the highlight dishes to sample was a mixed seafood paella, which I hear was the first time it was presented to the public by Joeys. From my review and others at the event, the paella was a great hit, and I look forward to enjoying it again at Joeys across Canada.
Dinners have started as of yesterday, with more continuing throughout the week, along with many other events. As shiraz is the theme grape, make sure you try out all that are available to taste from Australia and elsewhere at the big Public Tasting room at the Convention Centre. Keep checking back on mywinepal.com to find out what I have been up to, and post your comments, if you attended, as I’d like to hear your thoughts too. Cheers!
