Moncton wine festival poised to set new sales record
Moncton's World Wine and Food Expo is celebrating 24 years of pairing Maritime oenophiles with exclusive wines from around the globe.
The wine expo, which is the second-oldest festival of its kind in Canada, started last week and is preparing for a busy two days of tastings.
Festival organizers have been busy hosting seminars, dinners and fundraising events since the annual event officially began last Saturday.
At each of these early gatherings, there has been plenty of food and wine. So far, 2,000 plates of food have been served already along with 3,000 glasses of wine.
Bill Vance, the event’s chair, said the festival has been growing continuously, setting attendance records each year.
"People are realizing that the Moncton wine show is different than the other wine shows in Atlantic Canada,” Vance said.
“We do things differently, we emphasize telling of stories, memorable stories, as opposed to just filling someone's glass.”
There are four tastings spread over Friday and Saturday. The expo's chair said roughly 5,000 people visit the wine festival during the two days of tastings.
There are still some tickets left for the tastings on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. But Vance said tickets for the popular Saturday tasting sold out in less than two minutes.
Some of the wines sell as quickly as the tickets to the tastings, according to Vance. Many wines will sell out within 30 minutes of the doors opening.
"It is a thrill, it's kinda like throwing a kitchen party for 5,000," Vance said.
For sale: 76,000 bottles of wine
Starting on Friday afternoon, the wine expo is offering 76.000 bottles of wine for sale, many of those are exclusive to the wine festival.
Last year, wine sales from the event surpassed $500,000 with bottles ranging from $10 to $110.
The annual event, which is now hosted at the Moncton Coliseum, draws representatives from wineries and wine lovers from across the globe.
Anna Manchon represents a winery in Spain and is in Moncton for the event.
She said the size of the wine festival has eclipsed her expectations.
"I didn't expect something like this, I was thinking that it would be a very small show, something like that,” she said.
“But I've seen that it's so huge. We have wineries from everywhere in the world"
The wine festival’s visitors have come from far and wide as well.
Carmelle Cormier-Sirois, who has travelled to Moncton from the Magdalen Islands, is preparing for her fourth wine festival in the city.
"I enjoy wines, I find I'm learning each year that I come here,” she said.
She said she enjoys the "easygoing" atmosphere of the Moncton wine festival.
The wine festival’s organizers are making it easier for wine enthusiasts to remember their favourite glasses.
A free wine app that helps you keep track of your favourites is being rolled at this year’s event.
