“Give sight and sound a break. Just smell it and taste it – let it be an emotional thing,” said Hertscheg, executive director of the VIWF Society, which produces the popular annual event. “Shut your brain off and just be a part of the action.” Hertscheg first attended the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, the precursor to VIWF, in 1987.

Back in 1979. the festival began as a fundraiser for Vancouver’s Playhouse Theatre Company. The first event was a single supplier tasting of Robert Mondavi wines, growing to feature multiple wineries from California in 1982. The first multi-national event was in 1987.

Fast forward to the pre-COVID-19 years, when the festival regularly attracted 25,000 attendees and stretched over eight days with 55 separate events. Hertscheg says the show is gradually building back to those numbers. He projected that the 45th annual show, being held Feb. 24 to March 3, 2024, at the Vancouver Convention Centre and other venues, will hit about 85 per cent of 2020 attendance numbers; the 2020 event concluded prior to Vancouver’s COVID-19 lockdown.

This could be your only chance to taste some of these wines.

Harry Hertscheg, Vancouver International Wine Festival Society

This year, VIWF will feature 149 wineries from 12 countries, including 71 vintners from the featured country, Italy. In total, the program includes 42 events at 23 different venues over eight days. Thirty-two events are open to the public, while the remainder are trade-only, catering to industry professionals. The kick-off Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction is a fundraising event for Bard on the Beach, the festival’s chosen performing arts charity. The format has been so successful that VIWF made it onto the Wine International Association’s list of top wine trade shows for 2024.

Under Hertscheg’s leadership, the VIWF Society has three mandates: provide an informative, educational and entertaining wine experience for public and trade; be a premier marketing opportunity for the wine industry and festival partners; and raise funds for the city’s performing arts community. Its staff grows from two full-time and three part-time members year-round to a team of 25 leading up to the event.

“There is such an appetite to grow this show,” Hertscheg said. “It started with one winery, and we have built relationships over the years. One thing that really developed the festival is that Vancouver is close to California. It became the first international market for California wines. Vancouver is also a port town. If you look at Toronto and Montreal, those markets are dominated by France and Italy. But Vancouver being an outlier, we were the go-to place for Chile, Australia and New Zealand. We built a market where countries can compete on a level playing field.”

As the festival has grown, its program has expanded to include a week of consumer wine-related events, including winery dinners, lunches, mingles and the International Festival Tastings, which will feature nearly 800 wines from around the world. Festival-goers can purchase wines they like at the onsite BC Liquor Store. Of all the wines offered on the tasting floor, three-quarters are not usually in the marketplace, so the festival provides an excellent opportunity for wine connoisseurs to stock their cellars.

“This could be your only chance to taste some of these wines,” said Hertscheg. “These wineries bring their good stuff. The number one reason people attend our show is to discover new wines.”

He says this year’s featured country, Italy, will be well represented. “People don’t know much about Italy – each region has its own grapes and its own history of making wine,” Hertscheg said. As well, he says 29 local wineries will be on hand to showcase B.C.’s best wines.

Spotlight on the wine trade

VIWF is also well-known for its Trade Days, which bring global wine industry professionals together for networking, learning, an awards ceremony and two trade tastings. In 2024, the Trade Days will run from Feb. 28 to March 1.

“Those days are all about the industry, including master classes, seminars and a Principals Welcome Lunch which every rep of every winery must attend, plus participating agencies, sommeliers and other trade members – it’s a very important lunch,” said Hertscheg. “The tasting room opens after that lunch. Trade buyers get an hour’s head start, then the rest come in at 2:30 p.m.”

While there’s no doubt VIWF is an important off-season economic driver for the City of Vancouver with the tasting rooms generating $400,000 to $500,000 on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday alone, Hertscheg says the show’s true value is found in the connections it fosters.

“Festivals are an amazing way to build community and connect people,” he said. “And a trade show is a great way for people in the industry and the business to connect. You are building your brand and making important social connections with people. Wine is one of the great civilizing things that connects people over a meal together.”

After each festival, he asks himself if the show was better than the previous year’s in some way. “I’ve always been able to say yes,” he said. “We have tried new and different things to keep it fresh. Last year, our theme was South America. We’d never done a continent before. We had four participating countries in a continental theme.”

Looking ahead, Hertscheg says he is focused on how to engage the next generation. “We need to make it fun for young people. We rely on volunteers,” he said.

Since it was founded, VIWF has grown organically, one connection at a time. “The festival has grown together with the community; it embraces consumers and the trade,” said Hertscheg. “We combined the two and have done it well – we have the excitement of community-building alongside a trade festival. What ties it all together is the sensory experience: wine is the number one thing for the art of smell and taste.”

In fact, she believes the can is a canvas to showcase a brand, facilitate a consumer connection and generate brand loyalty. “Craft beverages in general have so much personality, from people to beer (or other drinks) to branding,” said Lee-Travis. “This area offers some of the best branding and can design in the beverage space. The design on a can is sometimes the first interaction with a consumer and brand personality is key.”

From its operations centre in Guelph, Ont., BSG Canada supplies North American brewers and beverage makers with high quality brewing ingredients. When the opportunity arose to lead its packaging division, Lee-Travis jumped at it. “I had 20 years of experience in packaging and sales, and joined CanCraft as employee number one in 2016,” she said. “I was really excited. The craft beverage community is really connected and communal, and that meshes with my personal values of service and creativity.”

Every day, Lee-Travis is supercharged by the entrepreneurial spirit of her customers. From start-ups to established brands, she noticed there was a gap in the way craft brewers and beverage makers were being serviced by the can industry, and she wanted to offer them a better experience. That involved bringing her service-oriented nature and personal touch to what had been a largely impersonal sector of craft brewing. “Yes, we sell cans and lids,” said Lee-Travis, “but it’s more about the great canvas we bring people to take their designs to the shelves.”

Her approach was clearly on target. Since she assumed her role at CanCraft, its customer base has grown from 30 beverage makers to over 500. To serve those clients, her team has increased to 50 people, including graphic designers and operations specialists.

Yes, we sell cans and lids, but it’s more about the great canvas we bring people to take their designs to the shelves.

Johanna Lee-Travis, CanCraft

“There is a wide scope of expertise [at CanCraft],” she said. “We have a commercial sales team that expanded into Western Canada and into the United States. In Guelph, we label cans and do contract decorating. We do distribution for printed cans and offer design services to our customers. We’ll also assess a customer’s design and do a print assessment to help them decide on the best label type. It’s such a pleasure to show up every day and work shoulder to shoulder with some really brilliant people.”

Yes, we can

When it comes to selecting the perfect can for their creative concoctions, beverage makers have three options. Traditional press-printed cans are the most economical choice, but they are only available for large batches of 200,000-plus cans at a time. For smaller orders, there is a choice between a shrink-sleeve and a pressure-sensitive label. Either of the latter options can be ordered for as few as 3,000 cans. No matter which can is selected, they all have unique characteristics to consider.

“Press-printed cans only come with six colours and traditional label styling,” said Lee-Travis. “You can do anything with shrink-sleeve and pressure-sensitive labels – textured finishes, any colour, metallic inks.”

She is also very excited about the industry’s newest innovation, direct-to-can digital printing, which she says ticks all the boxes. “You can print any quantity, print directly to the can with excellent image quality and have an expedited lead time of two to three weeks. We’ve invested in state-of-the-art digital technology and expect to be selling our first commercial cans early in 2024,” she said.

Lee-Travis says CanCraft has a full pipeline of brewers and beverage makers ready to order digitally-printed cans. “It solves a lot of pain points for them. Digital is emerging and it will lead the charge as far as a serviceable option for craft beverages of all types, including functional beverages, ready-to-drink mixtures, coffees, teas and waters,” she said.

As she sees it, CanCraft’s value is in softening some of the interactions between beverage makers and can manufacturers, cushioning the impact of supply chain challenges in a dynamic marketplace. “We love the quintessential craft entrepreneur, wearing so many hats at one time,” she said. “We are here to help.”

Since opening, NWT Brewing has steadily expanded, refining its repertoire of beers while increasing its footprint to 6,400 square feet, including new brewery operations, as well as The Woodyard Brewhouse & Eatery, a 112-seat restaurant. There’s no doubt NWT Brewing is on a roll. Fletcher and his wife, Miranda, are co-owners of the business, which was founded after Miranda gave her husband a homebrew kit for Christmas in 2010. He says he was hooked.

“I’ve always realized there is great opportunity in the North,” said Fletcher, who moved to Yellowknife in Grade 8. “I became a Red Seal journeyman mechanic and met my wife while away at school in Calgary. We moved back and she realized how expensive beer was here. She bought me the brew kit and I made beer for our wedding.”

The wedding brew was well received, and people encouraged the couple to open a brewery. However, Fletcher wanted to do his homework first, entering several homebrew competitions and earning medals along the way. With that affirmation, he quit his job, and in January 2014, the pair began working on the business plan.

While NWT Brewing has always had 12 taps, its beers have been curated over the last eight years. Lighter beer was more popular back in 2015, but there has been a gradual move to hoppier IPA blends, as well as to sours. “We shuffle through seasonal beers, but Kicksled Cream Ale is our best seller,” said Fletcher. Other core brands include Turbid Wit Bier, Ragged Pine Pale Ale, Honey Bucket Nut Brown, and Bug Repellent IPA.

The brewery is in the heart of Yellowknife’s historic Old Town. Fletcher says NWT Brewing is likely the only brewery in the world that relies on trucked-in water. “It’s difficult if you are in the middle of brewing a batch and you run out of water,” he said. That’s why he’s pleased to have acquired another building just down the street, a former plumbing supply shop that is the last Old Town property on city services. It will be used as an additional brewing facility.

Challenge and opportunity

The Stevenses are forging a new path in Yellowknife as owners of the only alcohol manufacturing company in the territory. Fletcher tells Poured Canada that getting NWT Brewing up and running has been an exercise in patience. “There are a lot of government barriers to break through,” he said. “Laws are very outdated, and we have to do a lot of lobbying with [members of the legislative assembly]. It took a while.”

Other challenges to the brewery’s remote location involve staffing and logistics. What a southern brew pub might take for granted is a different story in the N.W.T.

“Everyone here is dealing with staffing issues right now and there aren’t as many people to choose from,” said Fletcher. “Also, it’s a 15-hour drive from Yellowknife to Edmonton. I feel like we might be one of the last places to get commodities. For example, we are using CO2 cylinders here and they have to be shipped in. We need to bring four pallets of grain in at a time. If there’s a mechanical breakdown, parts we need may not be in stock here. You could be down for a week.”

The brewery is producing around 125,000 hectolitres per year and heading towards 150,000. Fletcher thinks it’s time to target additional expansion and brand diversification. “Now that we’re at that point of production, I really want to get down to Alberta,” he said. NWT Brewing beers are available only in the Northwest Territories. By this summer, the Stevenses are aiming to have their product available in Alberta, and B.C. “There are some advantages of our brand when we get it there because NWT is brand new,” said Fletcher. “It will be tricky to know how much to send down in the first place.”

Ultimately, Fletcher wants to “put NWT Brewing on the map.” He’d like nothing more than to sell his beers coast to coast across Canada. “There’s not a lot of representation with the territories. There are so many untouched resources here and the cleanest water in the world. By the end of this year, we’ll have a really good game plan for how expansion fits into our overall growth plan.”

He says that NWT Brewing’s business taxes are calculated on certain production limits. For now, the brewery is targeting slow growth to avoid being hit with an unsustainable tax rate. Meanwhile, the Stevenses are appealing the prohibitive tax structure – one that penalizes growth rather than rewarding it. If they are successful, the brewery’s maximum output could be as much as 450,000 hectolitres per year.

Just as they carved a new path when they launched Yellowknife’s first brew pub, NWT Brewing is always looking for ways to innovate. For example, Fletcher plans to introduce a seltzer to the North to see if it takes off. He’s also looking into non-alcoholic beer options. Merchandise has always been popular with NWT Brewing hats, shirts, toques and glassware finding their way to points far and wide. Now they’re even offering dog toys, with everything available in the online store.

Building awareness and connections

Many of NWT Brewing’s customers come to Yellowknife to see the northern lights, which even make an appearance in the company logo. Fletcher feels that if he can send beer south and strike up collaborative partnerships with other breweries, brand awareness will build naturally. “More and more people will venture to Yellowknife and our little brewing outpost,” he said. Indeed, there have already been some notable visitors, including motorcyclists from Huntington Beach, Calif., and Sarnia, Ont. They come for the beer, but stay for The Woodyard’s top-notch menu.

Fletcher says it’s been a rewarding journey so far, with the past seven years flying by. He and Miranda are now busy with two children in addition to the brewery. Most of all, he loves connecting with his customers.

“I love to hear the stories of why people come to the brew pub,” he said. “I find connecting with the customers the most rewarding aspect of the job. Sometimes, we are short-staffed, and I have to fill in when needed, but I like getting out there and talking to our patrons. Sometimes they don’t even know I’m the owner.”