We got a lot of things done past Saturday – after the successful purchase of our cowboy and girl wear we went to Calgary WineFest. http://www.celebratewinefest.com/calgary.html It was held at the Stampede Grounds in a Big Four building – it is a very big building.  We had got the tickets to the Saturday afternoon session and from 2-5pm we could go around and taste all the wines that were on offer. And there were lots: wineries from Australia, Argentina, US, Canada, Spain, Portugal and other traditional wine countries and also from Moldova and Greece.

After we gave away our jackets and backpacks, we were each given a nice glass for wine tasting and ushered into the main hall where the wine tasting could begin. Snacks were also served in the middle grounds and there were quite many who made the beeline to the snacks first (wise choice). We started with white wines first. We stopped at a winery table that we wanted to sample, asked about the wines and got to taste around 1 oz. That was enough to get an idea whether we liked the wine or not. We also had been given a book with all the wines listed, where we could mark down the ones we liked (or not). In between we tried to get hold of snacks as much as possible. The girls kept filling the trays, but people had a good appetite at the show. Plus the snacks were really tasty as well – our favourites were little puff pastry filled with pulled pork and Szechuan beef on a bread. In addition there were cheese and bread tastings and olive oil and bread tastings. There was even an apple tasting – Ambrosia apples from BC – really juicy and sweet.

There were lots of people and as the tasting progressed everyone got merrier and kinder and we were also getting happier and happier as the tasting went on. What a wonderful event!

Happy wine tasters

We discovered lots of new wines for ourselves and after we had finished the round of reds, we just did not have it in us to go for dessert wines any more. Instead we went and purchased as many of the wines that we liked and that were still available.

Our favourites were: Spy Valley wines from New Zealand – their Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir, Santa Julia Pinot Grigio from Mendoza, Argentina, Cedar Creek Pinot Gris and Cabernet Merlot from Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada.

We’ll be definitely signing up again next year and in between try to go to some smaller wine tastings that also take place quite frequently as we’ve heard.