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It’s that time of year again when some of the most interesting winemakers from around the world gather in Vancouver for Top Drop.
Now in its sixth year, the little indie festival that could, has, and big time, expanding last year to Calgary, and now "popping up" this weekend for one day in Victoria. Once again, the exciting lineup of wineries and principals makes it a must-do event for anyone interested in Real Wine. The 2019 vintage of TOP DROP is welcoming wineries from Chile, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, California, New Zealand, Australia, Oregon, Hungary, and across BC along with this year's keynote speaker, Dr. Jamie Goode, noted UK writer, blogger and lecturer. Goode will present in all three cities.
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."
While it’s impossible to pick just 10 producers to highlight in this week's Top 10, these are 10 booths that should be on your hit list, along with memorable wines recently tasted from their portfolio.
Plan on spending as much time at the main event (trade and/or public) as you can this Friday in Vancouver, and Saturday in Victoria, talking, tasting and taking it all in because an all wines-of -place lineup like this year's entrants at Top Drop is becoming a rare event in the wine world.. we’ll see you there.
