Holy Heck: It’s Top Drop Time Again, Wine Fans

Anyone who pays much attention knows that the wine world has no doubt read plenty of doom and gloom headlines about how consumption is down, costs up and things don’t look so hot (colloquially that is—literally things are quite hot and that’s part of the problem).

That take isn’t wrong: many of the large wine conglomerates are in a bit of a jam with more wine than customers these days. But it’s not the whole story. There are plenty of producers, small and mid-size, who are thriving in large part because they’re finding their audience.

These are wines that aren’t made by committee, and no one is doing a focus group to decide which grapes to plant. Instead, these are wines made by passionate people, committed to making something as special as they can, and it turns out, there’s no shortage of consumers who are equally passionate.

This mini-diatribe is courtesy of me reviewing the list of producers at next weeks Top Drop festival, because they really represent the best—and the future—of the wine world. They’re not all small (Alto Adige’s amazing Alois Lageder is one of the larger wineries in its region) and they’re not all quirky (Burgundy’s Bailly Lapierre is a solid purveyor of a lot of Cremant de Bourgogne), but they all have that vein of passionate focus running through them. The tasting room is like a jukebox that just plays under-the-radar hits that are just waiting to be discovered.

It’s the mix that’s so magical. There’s always going to be a few stars at any wine festival that will attract the peeps, and if you’re willing to stand endlessly in line, you’ll be rewarded with your dram of BOLD NAME California Cab. But the key to Top Drop is the unexpected—like when the hardcore natural-wine acolyte ends up trying a malbec from Finca Decero, and it totally blows up their wine worldview of what Argentina can offer the curious wine drinker.

It works in reverse too, when the Wine Spectator subscriber who loves Catena takes a stray belt of Pamplemousse Jus from Summerland and ends up joining their wine club. Alchemy! Tickets for the Main Event (May 12) are available here.

And in addition to the Main Event, this year’s fest features something called the Euro Plaza on Monday, May 11, where Yaletown’s Helmcken Plaza will cosplay that quaint European piazza from your fave trip, with the help of more than 30 wineries pouring 60-plus wines with small bites being passed around as ballast. I’ll be honest: this format appealas to me tremendously, as my process of falling in love with a glass of wine generally involves me moving around and socializing and eating meatballs and pizza. Tickets are available here.

That’s it. There’s no point in me giving you a list of wineries to seek out, because there are no duds. That oenonlogical safety net should encourage you to dive right in. Whether you stumble across sake, German Riesling, vermouth from Nanaimo or sparkling Foch, you’re going to come away a more interesting wine drinker and maybe have a liquid road map of the future of the industry.