The Vancouver International Wine Festival is Canada’s premier food & wine event. As a not-for-profit society, the festival has three mandates: to provide an informative, educational and entertaining wine experience for public and trade; to be a premier marketing opportunity for the wine industry and festival partners; and to raise funds for the Bard on the Beach Theatre Society. The 2026 festival will take place March 7-14.
VanWineFest is Canada’s premier wine show and widely considered to be the best wine event in North America. With ~18,000 admissions and at 47 years of age, it is one of the biggest and oldest wine events in the world. Its slogan is “The Wine World is Here”. It has been voted the “#1 Food, Wine & Hospitality Event in Canada” for eight years running by New York’s BizBash. Trade Days, which runs March 11-13 in 2026, comprises 12 of the festival’s 43 events.
The heart of the festival is the Tasting Room, where the public can choose from ~700 wines at four International Festival Tastings, and industry professionals can sample those at two Trade Tastings. There are ~35 special events that orbit the tasting room (seminars, vintage tastings, winery dinners, lunches, brunches, wine minglers and more) at which ~550 other wines are served.
The 2026 festival will take place March 7-14 at the Vancouver Convention Centre East and other venues in Vancouver.
Advance tickets are now on sale:
Winery dinners will go on sale Wednesday, January 14, 2026 (ticket limits apply)
All remaining public events will go on sale Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Trade events will go on sale Wednesday, January 28, 2026