World's Wine Stars at Playhouse Winefest

WORLD'S WINE STARS AT PLAYHOUSE WINEFEST
(Directly from the press release)


Vancouver, British Columbia (February 25, 2007) – When wine enthusiasts tour the big tasting room at next month’s Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival they’ll find some of the world’s most famous names on the bottles. And holding the bottles, pouring their wines.

One of the central tenets of the Playhouse Winefest is that each participating winery must have a senior principal (winemaker, proprietor, family member or executive) on hand to pour and discuss his or her wines. The winery principal can be identified by the royal blue lanyard holding the name tag. The 29th annual festival, which takes place March 26 to April 1, features 180 wineries from 17 countries pouring 1,550 wines at 60 events.

“This year’s festival boasts a particularly strong line-up of international winery stars,� says festival director Harry Hertscheg. “Our theme region, Australia, is bringing some of the legends of the business – Stuart Blackwell, the senior winemaker at St Hallett, Robert Hill Smith, owner and fifth generation descendent of the founder of Yalumba, Doug Lehmann, managing director of Peter Lehmann Wines and Bill Hardy of Hardys, to name a few. Other countries are sending their best too: Serge Hochar of Lebanon’s legendary Château Musar, the innovative Telmo Rodríguez of Spain, Germany’s Ernst Loosen of Dr. Loosen and Rupert Symington of Portugal’s Symington Family Estates are among the international wine personalities headed this way. And a maker of another kind, Maximilian Riedel, an 11th generation member of the glassmaking family, will be here to conduct two seminars.�

The Australian line-up also includes Sue Hodder, winemaker for Wynns Coonawarrra Estate; Bruce Tyrrell of Tyrrell’s Winery; Peter Barry, managing director of Jim Barry Wines; and Phillip Casella, winemaker and a sixth generation member of the family behind Yellow Tail, one of the world’s most successful brands.

They are part of the 54-winery contingent from Down Under, which includes previously-announced luminaries Michael Hill Smith, MW, keynote speaker at the festival’s opening trade plenary; senior winemaker Wayne Stehbens of Katnook; Philip Laffer, group chief winemaker of Jacob’s Creek; and travelling winemaker Jane Ferrari of Yalumba Wine Company.

Look for them and their peers in the Discover Australia – A World of Difference section of the International Festival Tasting room (March 29-31, 7-10 p.m., Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre) and at 20 Australian special events throughout the city.


The international wine stars can be found in the main section of the International Festival Tasting room and at special events featuring their wines. Some of the visiting wine personalities are featured presenters at the festival:

Stuart Blackwell, senior winemaker, hosts St Hallett Old Block Shiraz Vertical (March 28, 4-5:30 p.m., The Sutton Place Hotel). Blackwell, the 2003 Barossa Winemaker of the Year, conducts a vertical tasting of eight premium vintages going back to 1990. This event is sold out.

Jane Ferrari, the travelling winemaker for Yalumba, heads Aussie Blends Explored (March 29, 5-7 p.m., VCEC,). Her panel members include Phil Laffer (Jacob’s Creek) and Karen McWilliam (McWilliam’s).
Michael Hill Smith, MW, is keynote speaker at the opening trade plenary, Australian Wine: Beyond Boundaries (March 29, 9:15-11:15 a.m., VCEC). Hill Smith is the first Australian to pass the rigorous Master of Wine examinations in London. He is the winemaker at Shaw and Smith, regional chair of the Decanter Wine Awards, and a contributor to other international wine publications. This event is sold out.

Serge Hochar, co-owner of Château Musar in Lebanon, hosts one of the festival’s most anticipated events, The Perfect Case of Château Musar (March 28, 4-5:30 p.m., La Terrazza). Hochar, who was the inaugural Decanter Magazine’s Man of the Year in 1984, has personally handpicked 12 wines (white and red) from his favourite vintages from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. This event is sold out.

Ernst Loosen, head of the 200-year-old family-owned winery Dr. Loosen in Germany, leads The Timeless Mirror of Terroir with Dr. Loosen (March 30, 5:15-6:45 p.m., VCEC), an exploration of Riesling’s amazing ability to express the unique character of individual vineyards. Loosen is Decanter Magazine’s 2005 Man of the Year. This event is sold out.

Maximilian Riedel, an eleventh-generation member of the Riedel glassmaking family of Austria, moderates two events: trade seminar Maximize the Extreme (March 30, 10:15-11:45 a.m., VCEC) and public seminar Riedel Generations (March 31, 5-6:30 p.m., VCEC). Riedel, who launched the popular “O� Series of stemless wine glassware, speaks fluent English and French, and, in addition to wine, collects automobiles, rare watches and art. Both events are sold out.

Telmo Rodríguez, owner of Spain’s Compañía de Vinos Telmo Rodríguez, and Portuguese winery proprietors Miguel Roquette of Quinta do Crasto and Cristiano van Zeller, Quinta do Vale Dona Maria, host The Iberian Criterion (March 30, 5-7 p.m., VCEC), a tasting that “takes you from the Duero to the Douro and beyond.� This event is sold out.

Rupert Symington, joint managing director of Symington Family Estates and a fourth generation member of the Symington family, hosts Symington Ports – A Family Affair (March 31, 3-4:30 p.m., VCEC). Renowned for its Vintage Ports, Symington is the oldest family owned Port shipper and the largest landholder in the Douro Valley.

Tickets to the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival are on sale now. The five events in the International Festival Tasting room at VCEC are the heart of the festival (two afternoon Trade Tastings and three evenings of International Festival Tastings for the public). In addition, there are 53 special events such as dinners, lunches, brunches, seminars and trade events that orbit the tasting room and take place at venues throughout Greater Vancouver.

At press time, 40 (of 53) special events are sold out. Sales for the big tasting room events are very strong; wine lovers are urged to move quickly to avoid disappointment. To see available events, visit www.playhousewinefest.com and click on Search All Events. Tickets to all available events may be purchased at Playhouse Audience Services at 604-873-3311. To buy only International Festival Tasting tickets (no special events, in other words), the fastest route is via Ticketmaster online at http://www.ticketmaster.ca/artist/893891 and 604-280-3311.