Portugal’s economic crisis isn’t expected to affect the 2011 Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (VPIWF), which starts today and runs until April 3.
Fears that Portuguese winemakers might drop out of the festival arose when the Mediterranean nation’s parliament rejected an austerity plan last week, causing its prime minister to resign and its banks’ credit ratings to be downgraded.
Fortified wine is the theme wine of this year’s festival, and Portugal is the home of high-alcohol port wines.
“This is not like the volcano last year when people were trapped in Europe and couldn’t get here,” festival director Harry Hertscheg told Business in Vancouver.
Because of the fortified wine focus, more Portuguese wine producers are attending than in previous years. The 2011 festival is hosting nine Portuguese wineries, which is almost double the number from last year.
About 180 wineries usually attend VPIWF.
While he’s not ruling out the possibility of something happening, Hertscheg is confident things will go as planned.
“I’m hoping it doesn’t affect us,” Hertscheg said. “They’re booked in, their wine is here and they probably need to do business.”
The festival’s geographic focus this year is Spain.
While sales in B.C. for Spanish wines are rising, British Columbians aren’t generally fond of fortified wines. Hertscheg hopes that this year’s festival will change that (see “Vancouver wine festival to highlight ‘misunderstood’ fortified wines” – BIV Business Today, March 14).