I like to consider myself a fairly advanced travel planner, but sometimes you just need to tip your cap to serendipity. A week or two after booking my flight to Vancouver for a short winter vacation in February, I came to learn I’d be in the city at the same time as an international wine festival. Quickly scanning the festival schedule, I bought a ticket for a wine tasting event downtown. Three hours, a world’s worth of wines, and now, me.

Before the wine tasting kicked off and after polishing off a very large early dinner to fortify me, I went through the tasting program to find the wines I was most interested in trying. In that process I realized I was going to be taking a trip down taste memory lane from many of my past travels. Wine moreso than food or other drinks can bring my mind right back to a specific place and time.

Like a lot of other attendees, I circled one wine in particular – the Laurent-Perrier Grand Siecle Champagne. Since coming back from France last spring and a magnificent trip to Reims, I have been more opportunistic in trying champagnes. Pushing close to $200 a bottle, there was a lineup for this wine most of the night. Anytime there was a break in the crowd I popped in for a sample. It was delicious on the first, second, third, fourth and I won’t say how many more tastings.

Early on I sampled liberally from all of the sparking wines, and in particular, those from the show’s featured country of Spain. Juvé & Camps had a number of lovely selections, in particular their Gran Reserva. They actually weren’t officially offering samples of this, but with my homework done and knowing they had brought some along to the event, I asked if they had any I could try.

A sly smile and a reach under the table produced an ice cold bottle freshly opened. With a very, very generous pour of that wine, I headed over to one of the food displays featuring the cuisine of Spain and loaded up on manchego cheese. If I closed my eyes just a bit, the tastes put me back in the lively tapas bars of Seville.

Finishing out my tour of sparking wines was a taste of Nova Scotia. L’Acadie Vineyards used to sample their product at the Halifax farmer’s market so their rosé sparkling made me think of Saturday mornings and the smell of the sea. It also made me think of the wineries I’ve visited in Nova Scotia including a perfect evening last year attending my sister’s wedding at Planter’s Ridge Winery just outside Wolfville.

I took a short breather from wine sampling and loaded up a plate of food before moving ahead to the non-sparkling part of my tasting plans. The Vancouver convention centre was hopping, but for the Thursday night event, there were less tickets sold than for the weekend tastings and I didn’t find the crowds too bad.

Much of the post-sparkling wine exploring on this night continued being thematic to travel and places I have visited in the past. These wines by Feudi di San Gregorio took my mind to a night sharing a bottle of their aglianico with my wife in Sorrento on a perfect night on a park bench overlooking the Bay of Naples.

Rounding out my trip down travel memory lane was this pinot noir from Burgundy. It was tied for my favourite wine of the night with that earlier pricey champagne. I kept coming back to this tasting table throughout the night for samples, even telling a fib that I’d like one last taste before making up my mind on purchasing a case. That got me a full glass to savour, and savour I did. The earthiness of this wine connected to the taste memories in my brain from a day touring small independent wineries in Burgundy last spring… not a bad way to end a lovely night in Vancouver.