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TOP DROP 2019 / FIRST TIME IN VICTORIA

The press release came in loud and clear.

For the very first time Top Drop was coming to Victoria.

Frankly, that’s all I needed to know.

I’ve been happily covering this small wildly successful wine gathering for
Six Years but Top Drop in Victoria is a whole other event. Why? Because
Victoria is a great wine town.

TOP DROP is Vancouver based so they needed a Victoria Host. Turns out the
Vessel crew have been watching this independent, craft wine festival seed
and grow in Vancouver, and spread to Calgary in 2018. This was their year to
launch it in Victoria for ONE DAY .

Victoria International Marina

Top Drop is an opportunity to celebrate authenticity in farming, terroir
and wine, with winery principals from around the globe.

Mirroring Top Drop Vancouver and Calgary’s flagship experience, the public
event is a walk around, grazing-style tasting where attendees enjoy sips
and stories from the principals of international and local wineries. There
has never before been a wine tasting of this scope and caliber in Victoria.

For me and TRR, the voice and face of Top Drop has always been Kurtis Kolt.
Wine educator and Wine writer for the Georgia Straight.

Kurtis and TD

Because of the foul weather, Kurtis and his partners were delayed in
Vancouver and could not attend while I was there.

Once again Kurtis Kolt and his partner Jeff Curry and a sensational team
have convinced some of the very best winemakers to pour at Top Drop.

What they have in common is craft and care!

In Kurtis’ column in the Georgia Straight he said this:

“Each year, our process begins the same. Our team casts out a wide net to
British Columbia-based importers and wineries, asking for winery
applications to participate in the event. First and foremost, Top Drop
wineries must fit with our general philosophy: that wines, indeed, express
terroir or offer a sense of place.

Whether we’re talking vines grown in mineral-rich soils or under
cool-climate growing conditions bringing bright acidity or in sun-drenched
regions offering generous, opulent fruit and so on, we want those elements
to be notable in the glass and for them to have arrived there authentically,
rather than via heavy-handed additions in the winery.

Sustainable farming is also key. There is a high priority on those who
employ these methods while farming their own fruit or who work with growers
who fit the mold.”

Winemaking Guests in Victoria:

(Check them out – Winners All!!)

Ross Borland Managing Partner/Vessel Liquor Victoria www.vesselliquor.com

Mitch Renaud Asst manager Vessel Liquor Victoria www.vesselliquor.com

Rhys Pender (MW) Little Farm/Similkameen Valley
http://www.littlefarmwinery.ca/

Angus Thomson Urlar/ Gladstone NZ http://www.urlar.co.nz/

Kelsey Rufiange – Echo Bay/OK Falls www.echobayvineyard.ca

Grant Biggs – Kitsch wines/Kelowna www.kitschwines.ca

Tyler Knight = Lightening Rock/Summerland www.lightningrockwinery.com

Larry Gerelus – Stags Hollow/OK Falls www.stagshollowwinery.com

Michael Shindler – A Sunday in August/Similkameen Valley
www.asundayinaugust.com

Dan Wright – Unsworth/Cowichan Valley www.unsworthvineyards.com

https://topdrop.ca/

STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON:

Ann Sperling Making new direction wines at Sperling Vineyards

Tofino Food and Wine

Charles Smith and Rose Gathering/Jet City Seattle

A special feature on “field blends”

Fire Season in The Okanagan

The Wickaninnish Inn opens a spectacular cellar

Tofino mid-week experience. Chefs and more chefs

BC Shellfish Festival / Courtenay-Comox

Cowichan Valley Wine Festival

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BC’s VQA Wineries showcase Spring/Summer wines at Bloom 2019 in Victoria

THE SHOW

Wine fans across Canada and now around the world are increasingly aware of
what British Columbians have known for years – BC produces some
of the world’s most unique and in some cases very best wines

* Each year BC wineries contribute $2.8 billion
annually to the provincial economy and welcome more than 1,000,000
visitors.

* There are more than 10,499 acres under vine in British Columbia with
nine geographical indications (GIs) and two sub-geographical indications
(sub-GIs): Okanagan Valley, Similkameen Valley, Fraser Valley, Vancouver
Island, the Gulf Islands, Thompson Valley, Lillooet, Shuswap, and Kootenays.
Two sub-GIs include Golden Mile Bench and Okanagan Falls, and fall within
the larger Okanagan Valley GI.

Every Spring the wineries select their showcase wines, hit the road and
gather in Vancouver and Victoria. It’s the perfect opportunity for wine
lovers to kick off the season, celebrate new wine releases, meet the actual
makers of these wines and reconnect with those who share the same passion.

This feature is for those who attended and wanted to make further notes on
their experience.(which can be a busy blur)

However, it’s really for those of you who didn’t get to taste and make
notes.

As a public service and for “research purposes” we hit the floor of the
Crystal Ballroom in downtown Victoria and tasted our way through some 40
wines.

As always, we simply didn’t have time to talk to everyone. So we sought out
winemakers, owners and growers who took the time away from home and vines to
join us.

The Team

Very much appreciated.

If you are confused by the growing number of BC wines available we truly
hope this week’s show helps you find your Wine of the Year or at least The
Summer.

There is one special story here.

Michael Mosny was winemaking in Slovakia when he became a fan of Hollywood
and Vines TV co-hosted by Jason Priestley and myself. When he and his wife
Martina saw Jason and I visiting vineyards in The Okanagan it helped inform
the decision to move here. Years later we finally get to meet.

Michael and Martina Mosny Winemakers Cut

Thank You to
Kimberly Hundertmark – BC Wine Institute

www.winebc.com

Guests  this week include:

Joe Luckhurst – GM. Road 13 (Golden Mile)

2018 Canadian Winery of the Year

Joe Luckhurst

www.road13vineyards.com

Stefan Arnason – Head Winemaker Poplar Grove/Monster Wines (Naramata Bench)

www.poplargrove.ca

www.monstervineyards.ca

Michael Mosny Winemaker and Co-Owner Winemakers Cut (Oliver)

www.winemakerscut.ca

Bobby Gidda – Owner and President Volcanic Hills (West Kelowna)

https://volcanichillswinery.com/

Jeff Hundertmark – Head Winemaker Mt Boucherie (West Kelowna)

Jeff Hundertmark Mt Boucherie

https://mtboucherie.com/

Tim Turyk – Proprietor Unsworth Vineyards (Cowichan Valley, Vancouver
Island)

Tim Turyk Unsworth

www.unsworthvineyards.com

Bob Johnson – Owner Baillie-Grohman (Creston Valley/Kootenays)

www.bailliegrohman.com

Richard Da Silva – Proprietor and Vigneron Da Silva/Misconduct (Naramata
Bench)

Richard Da Silva Da Silva Wines

www.dasilvavineyards.com

Jody Switt – Hillside Wines (Naramata Bench)

www.hillsidewinery.ca

STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON:

Tofino Food and Wine

Top Drop 2019 Victoria

Charles Smith and Rose Gathering Jet City Seattle

A special on “field blends”

Fire Season in The Okanagan

The Wickaninnish Inn reopens a spectacular cellar

Tofino mid-week experience

BC Shellfish Festival

Cowichan Valley Wine Festival

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THE THIRD ANNUAL BC CIDER FEST… BIGGER AND BETTER!

The third annual BC Cider Week, took place from April 27th to May 5th.

This week long craft cider celebration saw many cider events, tastings and
festivities throughout British Columbia with tasting events from Kelowna to
Vancouver Island, including tap takeovers, cider pairing meals, and much
more throughout the week.

The highlight for me and many others is the final event. The gathering of up
to 40 Cideries at The Pipe Shop foot of Lonsdale in North Vancouver.

It’s one of the buildings my father Pat worked in during WW2.

The first interview had to be with Shawn Pisio, who co-founded the B.C.
Cider Festival three years ago.

Glenn Ennis, Lynn Colliar and the Geo Team

Just how popular is this event? It sells out within minutes.

Cider is going through the very same revolution that craft beers did 10-15
years ago.

The opportunity to grow more cider apples in B.C. is unlimited, but BC is
already home to many excellent craft cideries.

One of the cideries we interviewed was Twin Island Cider on Pender Island.
They were voted most popular Cidery at this event.

Finally, for those of you who still think that ciders are not for you
because they’re too sweet or something…FORGET ABOUT IT..

It’s a whole new world out in the orchard.

Enjoy!!!!

Our guests are:

Shawn Pisio – Txotx/ Co-Founder

Russ Johnson – Owner/Cidermaker Truck 59 Kelowna

Sydney Bottomley – Asst Cidermaker Broken Ladder Kelowna

Nick Farrer – Founder The Bricker Cider Co Sechelt

Mike Lachelt – Co-owner/Cidermaker Salt Spring Wild SS Island

Mathew Vasilev Co-Owner Twin Island Cider Pender Island

David Schneider – Persephone Brewing Gibson’s BC

Kathleen van der Ree – Northyards Cider – Squamish

Mike Petkau – Nomad Handcrafted Cider – Summerland

Glenn Ennis – Owner Geo Cider Co – Squamish

Lynn Colliar – Geo Cider Squamish

Jeff Nairn – Co-Founder Windfall East Van

http://bcciderfest.ca/

Photos by Linda C

STORIES WE’RE WORKING ON:

Melissa Etheridge and Cannabis infused wine

Bloom in Victoria

Top Drop in Victoria

A special on field blends

Fire Season in The Okanagan

Rose Day June 8th

Charles Smith in Jet City Seattle (Rose all day)

Tofino Food and Wine festival

The Wick reopens a spectacular cellar

Tofino mid-week