Gambero Rosso returns to Vancouver on Friday, May 3 with trade and consumer events highlighting the best in Italian wine. iStock / Getty Images Plus / Andreyes photo

The leading authority on Italian wine, food and travel, Gambero Rosso returns on Friday, May 3. Vancouver is one of 15 cities around the globe chosen for the multimedia platform’s Tre Bicchieri World Tour.

Every year since 1988, the organization publishes a wine guide, Vini d’Italia, identifying the most impressive new releases from across the country. The selection is made by a team of more than 50 Italian wine experts who blind-taste approximately 50,000 wines annually. The highly coveted top award, Tre Bicchieri (three glasses) was granted to 498 exceptional wines in 2024.

To give Vancouverites a broad demonstration of this year’s winners, the Consulate General of Italy in Vancouver in collaboration with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada West will be hosting Gambero Rosso for a one-day event. The festival style, walk-around tasting features over 35 Italian wineries presenting more than 100 wines. Among these, Winery of the Year Umani Ronchi will be showing its Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi Classico Superiore Historical 2018. Other Tre Bicchieri winners on display include Barone Pizzini Franciacorta Dosaggio Zero Bagnadore Riserva 2016, G.D. Vajra Barolo Baudana 2019 and Casale del Giglio Bellone Radix 2019, just to name a few. The line-up will be rounded out with laudable ‘two glass’ winners as well.

The tasting is an all-inclusive, self-guided tour of Italy that will stretch from the northern reaches of Friuli-Venezia Giulia to the southern region of Puglia by way of Emilia-Romagna Umbria, Sardinia and beyond. Rest assured that well-known classics like Prosecco, Chianti Classico and Amarone will be flowing alongside hip sips such as Lambrusco di Sorba, Pelaverga Piccolo and Carricante.

This year’s edition also features special guest ‘Made in Vicenza’, an association of food and wine producers from the agricultural-rich province in Italy’s northeastern region of Veneto. Cantina Zoe and Tenuta Mancassola will be on hand pouring specialties made from local grape varieties like Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso and Tai Rosso.

The exhibition takes place in the heart of downtown Vancouver at the sophisticated Sutton Place Hotel. Trade and media can sign up for the 1pm-5pm tasting.

Attendees will be able to purchase the English language edition of the 2024 Vini D’Italia at the event.

Limited seats are also available for an exclusive trade Masterclass at 11:30am. Senior Editor of Gambero Rosso’s Vini d’Italia, Marco Sabellico will guide participants through all 12 Tre Bicchieri Special Awards of 2024 which include the red, white, rosé, sparkling and value picks of the year. Sabellico will also lend insight into what makes Marinella Camerani of Valpolicella’s Corte Sant’Alda Grower of the Year, why Le Marche-based Velenosi Estate took the Solidary Award, how Tenuta Ceri in the Carmignano zone of Tuscany came to be chosen as Up-and-Coming Winery – and more.

A Wine Lovers special event will be open to consumers in the evening (6:30pm-9:30pm). Celebrated chefs Alex Chen of Boulevard Kitchen and Pino Posteraro of Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill & Enoteca have concocted Italian specialties to nibble on between sips. General admission is $149.

Attendees will be able to purchase the English-language version of Gambero Rosso’s Vini d’Italia 2024 for $20 cash. Along with the Tre Bicchieri winners, the guide includes over 25,000 wines that merit discovery making it an indispensable reference to country’s top wines.

Vitis Magazine

Vitis is is an indispensable seasonal guide for vintners, sommeliers and weekend imbibers alike that is dedicated to British Columbia’s rapidly evolving wine culture.