Wine lovers’ cups runneth over this weekend Festival refocuses on vino, with special attention on sparkling varieties By: Ben Sigurdson Posted: 5:15 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 24, 2025

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Winnipeg Wine Festival organizers are hoping guests at this weekend’s public tastings leave feeling positively bubbly about the experience.

The public tastings, which take place Friday and Saturday at the RBC Convention Centre, see the fest narrow its scope back to all things wine, with the hopes Winnipeggers once again get excited about discovering new red, whites, rosés and especially sparkling wines — the theme of this year’s festival.

Sales of wine in the province have been relatively stagnant, and organizers are hoping this year’s festival can provide a bit of a spark for consumers and a boost in sales.

“The wine category is down, and we want to bring people back into wine and make it exciting again,” says Paul Rogers, manager of programming and experience at Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries.

With that in mind, festival organizers decided to forgo producers sampling ready-to-drink canned cocktails and coolers or beer.

“We’re trying to get back to that focus on wine, really make it a little bit more approachable,” says Rogers.

This year’s public tastings will feature more than 80 booths featuring over 300 wines, including dozens of sparkling wines such as Spanish cavas, Italian proseccos and, of course, French champagne. Sake and soju will also be poured at the fest, but the bulk of the focus will be on grape-based wines.

The renewed focus on wine also comes as Winnipeg’s eight private wine stores return to the Winnipeg Wine Festival after an absence of over 15 years.

“We want to really welcome them back to the festival,” Rogers says. “We know a rising tide raises all ships. The more people we can get involved in this, bringing more people into the festival, to get them excited about wine, is great for everyone.”

“We’re trying to get back to that focus on wine, really make it a little bit more approachable.”

The Winehouse is one of the eight participating private stores; general manager Marlies Tibbs agrees with Rogers that a wider show of unity could help boost wine sales and interest in the city.

“I think it’s a wonderful way for the Winnipeg Wine Festival and the wine stores to collaborate,” she says. “The genius of the private stores in Winnipeg is that we can all bring in different things — it’s such an opportunity for people who live here to try so many different wines you wouldn’t be able to get otherwise.”

Each of the eight private stores will be at oversized booths, where they will pour up to 10 wines per each — including a range of bubblies — adding dozens more wines for festivalgoers to sample this year.

“We have two festival exclusives we’re launching — a new sparkling wine from Vaporetto and the Anciano Brut Cava,” says Tibbs, adding The Winehouse will also be pouring their two “Tico” wines, reds named after the store’s late founder, Tico Cornejo, and produced in conjunction with Vińa Ventisquero in Chile. Wines sampled at the private store booths will be available for purchase from the respective store; all other products are available at the Liquor Marts on-site pop-up store.

In addition to the return of the private wine stores, this year’s festival also features a VIP lounge dedicated to champagne. VIP ticket holders are granted access to the lounge, where nine examples of the fine French bubbly will be poured alongside small bites and a cocktail bar making wine-based concoctions.

“We know the craft cocktail culture is very popular right now; we’ve got 18 handcrafted, wine-based cocktails that will be available on site,” Rogers says. Friday’s VIP tickets are sold out, and only a handful remain for Saturday evening.

Most importantly, the Winnipeg Wine Festival has served as one of the primary fundraisers for Special Olympics Manitoba for decades. “Liquor Marts have raised over $5.5 million dollars for Special Olympics Manitoba over the past 23 years,” says Rogers. “They’re an absolute pleasure to work with.”

ben.sigurdson@freepress.mb.ca