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Time flies when you're having this much fun.
It's hard to believe that Top Drop Vancouver is into its fifth year now, though with the exceptional lineup of wineries and principals, it's obvious that this little festival of craft has become one of the indie must-do wine shows on the global circuit. The fifth year also saw Top Drop grow into Top Drop Canada with the addition of a Calgary component, which took place earlier this week. The fifth year has also attracted a new, major media partner in Wine & Spirits Magazine, which speaks volumes for Top Drop's lofty reach. Vancouver Top Drop takes place today and tomorrow, with the big trade and public tasting Friday at the Roundhouse, plus seminars and dinners scattered around various Vancouver restaurants leading up the the main event.
The festival's focus has remained crystal since year one: highlighting terroir-influenced, handcrafted wines, and the people behind them. As founders Kurtis Kolt and Jeff Curry summarize, "We believe in the importance in farming one’s own fruit and/or being constantly engaged with grape-growers to ensure sustainability and a high standard of viticultural practices. We believe in wines that reflect their vintage, and wines that aren’t suffocated by vinicultural trickery. We believe in winemaking decisions that are made by a winemaker, and not by a board of directors or marketing team. We believe in those who take chances. We believe these kinds of wines, honest wines of integrity, need a time and place to have their story told."
This year's lineup reads like a wishlist. It's bloody impossible to pick only 10 producers to highlight in this week's Top 10, so these are 10 memorable wines I've recently tasted from producers and wineries you get to meet personally on Friday. Plan on spending as much time at the main event (trade and/or public) as you can, talking and tasting and taking it all in. It's a real priviledge, and we've all Top Drop to thank. See you there ~
