Wine Glass and Festival Crowds

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 2023 the festival happens from April 22nd to 30th. The theme for this year’s festival is South America and over 150 wineries are participating.

Visit the official Vancouver International Wine Festival website for tickets and full details about its various events.

This article features information about the following topics:

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 in 2023

The Vancouver International Wine Festival takes place in the spring each year. It features around 1500 wines from 15 or so countries at close to 6 dozen events over the course of the festival. In a typical year close to 25,000 attendees participate.

In 2023 the festival runs from Saturday, April 22nd, until Sunday, April 30th.

Each year the festival normally has a special focus on a different wine growing region of the world. 2017’s focus was Canada. In 2018 it was the Iberian Peninsula (i.e., Spain and Portugal), in 2019 California, and in 2020 France. In 2021 the featured region was going to be South Africa. Many of the wines at the 2022 event were from British Columbia.

In 2023, the festival’s theme is South America. The 44th annual series of events features 17 different countries and 152 wineries.

Click Vancouver Wine Festival for the event’s official website.

Wine Festival's California Beach Party — California Wine Beach Party in 2022

2023 Festival Wines & Wineries

In 2023 there are 152 wineries representing 17 countries. Participating countries and the numbers of their wineries are as follows (with exact number subject to change):

USA (27), Italy (26), Argentina (23), Canada (21), Chile (18), Spain (10), France (9), Australia (4), Greece (3), Japan (3), Uruguay (2), Brazil (1), Croatia (1), Germany (1), Hungary (1), New Zealand (1) and Portugal (1).

TIP: Make a night out of your Vancouver International Wine Festival experience and stay a night at a downtown hotel. StayVancouverHotels.com has been a proud sponsor of the event and offers exceptional deals.

About the Wine Festival

The Vancouver International Wine Festival is an event that exists to do three things. Its purpose is to (1) educate and entertain the public with wine experiences, (2) promote the wine industry, and (3) financially support the Bard on the Beach Shakespearean 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 on the planet.

The festival features some 50 or so events each year, of which about 40 are open to the public. Another dozen or so are for people in the wine, wine-related and hospitality industries.

Around four dozen hotels and restaurants participate each year, and 150+ wineries serve over 1400 wines. To give you an idea about the scale of the event, 42,000 bottles of wine are typically opened and/or purchased annually at the festival.

For a list of wineries participating in 2023, click Festival Participants.

Sampling Wines at the Festival — Wine Samples at the Festival

Admission Prices

Tickets to events at the wine festival usually range from about $49 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 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 VIFF website at vanwinefest.ca.

Christopher Gaze at Bacchanalia Reception — Bard Founder Christopher Gaze at Bacchanalia Gala

Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction

April 22nd, 2023

The Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction is a grand event that sells out early every year. In 2023, the black tie affair took place on Saturday, April 22nd, at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver at 900 West Georgia Street.

The event cost $575 per person. It’s one of Vancouver’s premier evenings of the year. The night includes a fancy 5-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 they raised almost $130,000, which was still pretty good. The raffle for two Delta Air Lines tickets also generated about an additional $20,000. Including individual donations, this brought the total to $160,000 this year, with net proceeds benefiting the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival.

Click Bacchanalia Gala Dinner for more information about the event.

Click Vancouver Wine Festival for the event’s official website.

Trade Days Conference

April 26th to 28th, 2023

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 a dozen of the festival’s events. In a typical year as many as 7000 people attend.

As of early February, there are 8 Trade Days events scheduled for 2023. The Trade Day Pass costs $340 and includes access to the events on April 27th and 28th.

The Tasting Room

April 27th to 29th, 2023

The main attraction at the Vancouver International Wine Festival is the Tasting Room. In 2023 it features roughly 740 wines at four International Festival Tastings events.

The International Festival Tastings take place at the following times in 2023. Regular prices are also listed below.

Thursday, April 27th, from 7 to 10 pm ($115)
Friday, April 28th, from 7 to 10 pm ($125)
Saturday, April 29th, from 2:30 to 5 pm ($115)
Saturday, April 29th, from 7 to 10 pm ($135)

The Tasting Room events take place in Exhibit Hall A at the Vancouver Convention Centre‘s VCC East location at 999 Canada Place.

The four International Festival Tastings are usually all pretty much identical, although the Thursday event is typically the least crowded and the one on Saturday afternoon is half an hour shorter. Prices for each also vary slightly.

Click International Festival Tastings for more information.

Wine Sampling at the Festival

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 a dozen different winery dinners also happen, not including the Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction headliner event for which tickets are about $575.

Click Vancouver Wine Festival for the event’s official website.

Vancouver Wine Workshop Attendees — Wine Tasting Seminar

Tips and Advice

Below are some tips and suggestions to help you make the most out 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 they attend the International Festival Tastings most years.