Playhouse Wine Festival: Day 4

Like cycles of the moon, this is the time in the Festival week when I start to blur a bit. Days blur, events blur, eyesight blurs… Waking and sleeping hours overlap and I consume as much espresso as wine. I’m in the zone, my tastebuds are alive and senses in overdrive. Thursday kicks off the International Festival Tasting, the heart of the Playhouse and the centre of the action. I spent hours in the room yesterday and barely left Chile (few visits to Spain to visit with old friends and for appreciated cava refreshers). I’ll reserve my personal Tasting Floor highlights until I’ve made it through the room at the end of today. In the meantime, I wanted to share five simple points if you’re planning on coming by Friday or Saturday.

1 – DON’T WEAR PERFUME

In this industry, perfume is worse than BO. Wine geeks understand Funk, not J.Lo’s latest scent. Remember, perfume is AKA cologne, scented lotion or deoderant or typhoon-resistance hair spray.

2 – DRINK WATER

There’s a handy Whistler Water booth at the show. Please make use of it. Even if you spit every drop, your body absorbs some alcohol and you’re on your feet. Water is the key to life and this week, you will die without it.

3 – DON’T DRINK (ALL) THE WINE

Ok – if someone pours me a 1995 Chilean Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon out of an unmarked decanter (thank you KN), I won’t spit. But this isn’t called the International Festival Drinking for a reason. Taste, spit, repeat.

4 – SPEAKING OF SPITTING

The big buckets on the table are meant to be shared, so please be courteous of your fellow tasters and move out of the way after you’ve used the bucket. Bonus – the volunteers are excellent about coming around to empty the spittoons regularly.

5 – TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS INCREDIBLE SITUATION

You will not have the opportunity to chat with these incredible winemakers and winery principals again, and they’ve travelled to Playhouse because they want to talk about their wine. So don’t be shy! Don’t be worried about asking a silly question – they’re here because they want to be and they love it when you want to chat about their wines and their region. Take advantage of this special and unique opportunity.

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The Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival  is one of North America’s largest and greatest celebrations of wine. This year from February 27 to March 4, the theme country is Chile and the focus is Cabernet(s). EAT will be on site for the whole week, with daily posts, DRINKs, tweets and updates live from the festival.