The Vancouver International Wine Festival is a major food and wine event. It features wineries from around the world at various Vancouver venues in the spring.
In 2025, the festival runs from February 22nd to March 2nd and the theme is Wines of the USA. The festival showcases 122 wineries from 15 countries. Fifty of those wineries are from the United States.
The festival celebrates its 46th year in 2025! It’s a landmark event in the city.
Visit vanwinefest.ca for the event’s official website.
This article features information about the following topics:
The Festival | Wineries | About the Festival | Admission Prices | | Festival Video Festival Events | Bacchanalia Gala | Trade Days Conference | Tasting Room Events | Other Festival Events | Tips & Advice | Other Information
Click on any of the above topic links to jump to specific information, or continue reading to learn all about the festival.
The Vancouver Wine Festival
The Vancouver International Wine Festival takes place in the spring each year. It typically features over 1,000 wines from around 15 countries. As many as 25,000 attendees participate in the dozens of events throughout the festival!
Each year the festival has a special focus on a different wine-growing region of the world. The festival’s theme for 2024 was Italy. In 2025, it’s the USA.
Click Vancouver International Wine Festival for the event’s official website.
2024 Festival Wines & Wineries
In 2025 there are 122 wineries representing 15 countries. Participating countries and the numbers of their wineries are as follows (with exact numbers subject to change):
USA (50), Canada (20), Italy (16), Australia (6), Greece (6), Japan (6), Croatia (4), Spain (4), Argentina (3), France (2), Chile (2), New Zealand (2), Brazil (1), Hungary (1), and Portugal (1).
TIP: Make a night out of your Vancouver International Wine Festival experience and spend a night at a downtown hotel. StayVancouverHotels.com has been a proud sponsor of the wine festival and offers exceptional deals.
About the Wine Festival
The Vancouver International Wine Festival is an event that exists to do three things. Its purposes are to (1) educate and entertain the public with wine experiences; (2) promote the wine industry; and (3) financially support the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare festival.
The wine festival is an impressive event. From humble beginnings in 1979, it has grown to become, arguably, Canada’s best and most prestigious wine show. It’s also one of the largest and oldest wine festivals in the world.
The festival features some 50 or so events each year, of which about 40 are open to the public. Another 12 or so are for people in the wine, wine-related and hospitality industries.
Dozens of hotels and restaurants participate each year, and 120+ wineries serve over 1,000 wines. Tens of thousands of bottles of wine are typically opened and/or purchased annually at the festival.
For a list of wineries that are participating in 2025, click Festival Participants.
Admission Prices
Tickets to events at the wine festival usually range from about $50 to $575 or so. Prices include wine, of course, and food when it is a food event. Also included in the prices, though, are tips, taxes and service charges.
Tickets are generally purchased for individual events, but multi-passes are also available. Tickets for the general public go on sale well in advance each year and by mid-February most events have typically already sold out. Click Wine Festival Tickets for further details.
Click Vancouver International Wine Festival for the event’s official website.
Vancouver Wine Festival Video
To give you an idea of what to expect at the festival, check out the following video. It shows scenes of the Festival Tasting event (in 2020) and a Wine Seminar (in 2019) at the Vancouver Convention Centre. It also shows a scene of people socializing at the auction event just before the Bacchanalia Gala Dinner (from 2019).
Wine Festival Events
The wine festival features a number of events and it usually runs for nine days. Events include the Bacchanalia Gala Dinner, International Festival Tastings, wine seminars, winery dinners, wine parties and more. Not all events sell out every year, but most do!
In a typical year, seven out of the nine days of the festival are open to the general public. All nine days, including the first two, are open to participants in the wine and hospitality industries.
The Vancouver International Wine Festival features numerous food and wine-tasting events. Some of the most popular are listed below. For more details see our article about the Wine Festival Events or visit the official VIWF website at vanwinefest.ca.
Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction
February 22nd, 2025
The Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction is a grand event that sells out early every year. In 2025, the black tie affair takes place on Saturday, February 22nd, at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver at 900 West Georgia Street.
The event in 2024 cost about $600 per person, and 2025 prices should be similar. It’s one of Vancouver’s premier evenings of the year. The night includes a fancy five-course dinner with wine pairings, live music and dancing.
At the event the live and silent auctions generate up to around $225,000 (which was the case in 2019). In 2023 the festival raised almost $130,000, which was still pretty good. Including individual donations, the total was $160,000 that year, with net proceeds benefiting the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.
Click Bacchanalia Gala Dinner for more information about the event.
Click Vancouver International Wine Festival for the event’s official website.
Trade Days Conference
February 26th to 28th, 2025
The Trade Days Conference takes place over three days during the festival most years. It’s usually open to people in the wine, hotel and restaurant industries. The Conference features seminars, networking events and access to a few extra wines not available at festival events open to the general public.
The Trade Days Conference usually runs on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of the festival and it comprises nearly 12 of the festival’s events. In a typical year as many as 7,000 people attend. In 2025 there are at least five Trade Days events scheduled, and there will likely be more. The Trade Day Pass cost $340 at the 2024 festival.
The Tasting Room
February 27th to March 1st, 2025
The main attraction at the Vancouver International Wine Festival is the Tasting Room. In 2025 it features hundreds of wines at three International Festival Tastings events.
The International Festival Tastings took place at the following times in 2024. The exact times and ticket prices for the 2025 event are to be confirmed as of October, 2024.
- Thursday, February 29th, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm ($115)
- Friday, March 1st, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm ($125)
- Saturday, March 2nd, from 2:30 pm to 5:00 pm ($125)
- Saturday, March 2nd, from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm ($135)
The Tasting Room events take place in Ballroom C at the Vancouver Convention Centre‘s VCC West location at 1055 Canada Place.
The International Festival Tastings are usually all pretty much identical, although the Thursday event is typically the least crowded. Prices for each also vary slightly.
Click International Festival Tastings for more information.
Other Events at the Festival
Other popular events at the Vancouver International Wine Festival typically include the Delta Air Lines Tasting Lounge and various dinners and parties.
Several different wine seminars also take place over the course of the Wine Festival each year. They provide exceptional opportunities to learn about wine. Over 12 different winery dinners also happen, not including the Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction headliner event for which tickets are about $600.
Click Vancouver International Wine Festival for the event’s official website.
Tips & Advice
Below are some tips and suggestions to help you make the most of your experience at the Vancouver International Wine Festival.
TIP #1: If you’re a wine enthusiast and can afford the tickets, go! It’s not every city that hosts one of the continent’s most prestigious wine festivals! It’s a great event!
TIP #2: Reserve your tickets early. Popular events can sell out weeks in advance!
TIP #3: Make a note of which wines you like so you can remember them for another time. You’ll get to sample many, so don’t forget which ones are your favourites!
TIP #4: The International Festival Tastings at the Convention Centre are the festival’s main events. Book your tickets to these extra early. Also, if you can, go to the one on the Thursday evening as it’s the least crowded and will offer the best opportunity for chatting with the vendors.
TIP #5: Wines are available for sale at the Wine Shop at the four International Festival Tastings events. Just don’t forget to plan in advance how to carry all your purchases home afterwards!
TIP #6: There are always great food samples at the International Festival Tastings. You still need to eat before you go, but there is a nice selection of gourmet items to try. One of our favourite treats at the event in 2022 were the samples at ARC Iberico Imports. This local company specializes in Spanish meats and delicacies and it attends the International Festival Tastings most years.
Other Information
To learn more about the wine festival, see the Vancouver International Wine Festival‘s website.
For a list of other things to do in the Lower Mainland, check out any of the following:
- Events at the Vancouver Wine Festival
- Vancouver’s Calendars of Events
- Vancouver’s Festivals & Events Calendar
- Lower Mainland Wineries
- Vancouver’s Best Restaurants
