Over the course of living in Saskatoon, we have become part of a great group of friends who take pleasure in wine tasting. That’s a fancy way of saying a group of us gets together a few times a year to enjoy wine, usually with food, sometimes on someone’s patio and sometimes in a favourite wine store in Saskatoon. We open a few bottles, then a few more, and the laughs begin to flow. Over the pandemic, we turned our group virtual for a spell and those zoom wine tasting nights felt like nights out and kept us going until things returned to normal. In those zoom wine tastings, we talked a lot about wine travel and as a group have now attended the international wine festival in Vancouver on two occasions including last year.

For this most recent wine trip, my wife and I headed to Vancouver a day before our group activities started for a bit of “us” time. On a cold, rainy night, we tucked into the cozy Chickadee Room cocktail bar for a couple of happy hour drinks and the free gluten free fried chicken that comes along with your order. This was a great first stop – excellent cocktails, tender juicy chicken all in a retro vibes bar that warmed us up.

Across the street and one block away is a cocktail bar that is often named as Canada’s best – Keefer Bar. Honestly, I can’t argue with that. Dimly lit, great music, and a selection of amazing drinks and snacks – we had a great time here. Our trip was off to a wonderful start on night one.

The next morning I was off to a couple of my favourite craft breweries that I try not to miss when I visit Vancouver. First, Superflux. This is my favourite west coast brewery. While I am always drawn to their exceptional IPAs and pale ales, on this visit I shook things up by trying a coffee stout that was delicious. Both it and a double IPA paired well with a Japanese themed hotdog for lunch.

Around the corner from Superflux is another favourite brewery of mine, Luppolo Brewing. A Kolsch and a farmhouse ale (left, and middle) were my favourites from this tasting as I relaxed in their taproom reading a book.

After a well earned nap, our friends gathered at Giardino for our first wine event – a dinner that paired exceptional Italian dishes from the restaurant with the wines of Vietti. These wines were all amazing, and truth be told, they inspired our choice of a trip later in the year to northern Italy where we went in search of some of the food and grape varietals that we enjoyed this evening. Drinking incredible wines with our friends…. this was a truly special night.

The next evening we all attended one of the international tasting events of the festival – three hours and a convention centre hall full of wineries sampling their wines. The focus was on Italian wines this year and I loved trying so many high end wines – Prosecco, Barberra, Barolo… along with a great sampling of BC wines that are easily accessible from Saskatchewan to add to our collection. As you can tell by the photo below, we were having a grand old time.

While three hours of wine tasting is difficult to distill (or remember), the excitement we had exploring so many wines and all the laughs are something that made this night so much fun. I already have next year’s festival blocked off in my calendar.

On our last night in Vancouver, my wife and I headed to Vij’s for their outstanding Indian food. This is a must visit place for us on every trip. Great cocktails and a feast of gluten free dishes put smiles on our faces. I can hardly wait to get back.