After eight days, 57 events, 163 wineries, and 1,450 wines from 16 countries, featuring 42 producers from the 10 wine regions of France, we take stock of the 2020 Vancouver International Wine Festival. Three significant themes stand out.

One: The Keynote Speaker partnership between VIWF and Tourism Vancouver is raising the bar at the Festival.

Begun three years ago with Paul Wagner (@rickandpaulwine) of San Francisco, the Festival followed up last year with Jon Bonné (@jbonne) of Brooklyn, and this year with Andrew Jefford (@andrewcjefford) of London and the Languedoc, who delivered a series of thoughtful, reflective and engaging remarks (at an imposing array of events) on France in the world of wine.

The very special thing about the Keynote Speaker partnership is that our preceding keynote speakers keeps coming back! It was a delight to see Paul Wagner return for his third VanWineFest, and Jon Bonné for his second. Here’s hoping Andrew Jefford is able to return next year. In my view, the Theme Plenary Tasting “Vin Tour de France”, was more informative and engaging because the co-moderators, Andrew Jefford and Jon Bonné had met for the first time at the beginning of WineFest week.

Vin Tour de France, co-moderated by Andrew Jefford and Jon Bonné

The addition of out-of-town sommeliers to the program over recent years is also paying dividends, establishing new relationships with international and local sommeliers, writers/keynote speakers, and wine producers. Some of the most influential custodians of wine lists outside of North America were in Vancouver for their first or second visit, tasting and being turned on to Canadian wines (some for the first time), and taking that knowledge home.

All of this serves to reinforce the Vancouver International Wine Festival’s 42-year history of convening – after all, the Wine World is Here – and its ability to advance wine connections and knowledge among an expanding community of wine professionals, locally and around the world.

Two: Awareness and action on climate change is becoming ingrained in the global wine industry.

This year, the Trade Days Symposium turned the spotlight on climate change, and moderator Michelle Bouffard (@michellebwine) took a diverse and expert panel through various pressures and responses to a changing climate, from historical temperature changes tracked by meteorologist Michael Fagin (@faginweather); adaptation and mitigation strategies by leading producers Jackson Family Wines, Angove Family Winemakers and Lenz Moser Winery; a detailed look at the emissions profiles of various modes of transporting wine by Pierre Corvisier of JF Hillebrand (see accompanying images); and perspectives on how climate change is covered and how the wine media (at least in Europe) tackles emissions from travel for stories by Felicity Carter (@FelicityCarter), editor of Meininger’s Wine Business International.

In particular, the practices and experiments by large wineries like Jackson to reduce their climate and environmental impacts (e.g. shifting to lighter weight bottles, reducing water use, commissioning renewable energy to power facilities, and conducting soil management trials to reduce carbon emissions) are being shared and can be applied by producers at different scales and geographic zones.

My takeaway on this is that while global wine industry initiatives and standards have been established, such as the Porto Protocol (founded by Taylor’s Port) and the International Wineries for Climate Action (co-founded by Jackson Family and Torres), regional wine bodies (working with expert providers for greenhouse gas metrics and accounting) have a significant opportunity to establish region-specific objectives and greenhouse gas reduction strategies. Perhaps more important, such regional initiatives can guide transparent and standardised audits so that wineries can benchmark their emissions profiles, which in turn can guide their pathways to reduce direct and indirect GHG emissions and improve operational efficiencies (usually a contingent benefit when embarking on a structured GHG emissions reduction program).

Three: France (still) offers many lessons for the wine world.

Andrew Jefford delivered remarks at Wednesday’s Keynote Speaker Lunch on the topic of “French Lessons in a Warming World.” While he notes that France is a “lucky land” and that the French are “divinely dissatisfied” – pursuing and endless quest for quality and the ultimate expression of terroir – he also observes that France has recently experienced some of the harshest climate-related weather events, with dire consequences for its grape production. In the coming decade, how will the global wine industry prepare? How is France positioning itself to respond?

Andrew Jefford, addressing guests at VIWF’s Festival Toast.

Jefford outlined four unwritten rules that can be taken from the long history of French viticulture:

1. Know your vineyard, intimately.

Be sensitive to the details (e.g. heat units, soil types) and micro changes that occur. Knowing what separates the good from the great vineyards is what the French excel at. They know you can’t simply replace a vineyard or “move it up the hill” in response to hotter temperatures at an existing site, you can only abandon it.

2. Respect the natural.

There is integrity to raw materials. The season and place are inscribed in the raw materials provided by nature at harvest.

3. Difference is everything.

A response to climate change that will erode difference among wines of place is a step backward. “Erode difference at your peril.”

4. Embrace change, slowly.

Be thoughtful in response to external shocks and experimental responses. Taking a measured approach can result in new variety/place combinations we can’t even imagine yet.

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The 42nd Vancouver International Wine Festival IS all about the wine, and the International Festival Tasting hall buzzed with excitement (for all six sessions) over the array of wines and producers spanning the globe. VanWineFest also brought together an impressive array of wine personalities and professionals, whose insights, knowledge and enthusiasm generated a buzz that expands the community and will last beyond the eight days that the Wine World was Here.

Santé! to the special guests, producers, organisers, volunteers, and attendees who made 2020 an outstanding VanWineFest!