2024 WIGA Conference

We are pleased to announce the 2024 WIGA Viticulture and Oenology Conference, and Island Wines Showcase, to be held on Friday April 26th at the Cobble Hill Hall. We’re returning to this venue because we found it perfect for our conference! We could secure again the wonderful local caterer for the lunch buffet and coffee/snack breaks during the day and the evening social canape buffet: Mensch Kitchen and Catering

We have six presentations and a panel discussion planned for the conference day, covering a wide range of topics important to Wine Islands growers and winemakers. We chose the speakers and their topics according to your responses from our survey earlier this year. Registration for both the conference and the evening Island Wines Showcase is now open at the bottom of this page. 

WIGA has decided to slightly increase the prices: Early bird: conference $80 (WIGA member) for the day, which includes a lunch buffet, and $45 (members and non-members) for the Island Wines Showcase. Two weeks before the conference, these prices will increase to $100 (WIGA member) $175 (non-WIGA member) for the day and $55 (members and non-members) for the Showcase. We hope this will encourage prompt registrations, and allow us to plan accurately and spend your membership $$ as efficiently as possible.  Supplier tables are $150 (which includes the WIGA supplier membership). This page will be updated regularly as we finalize the program.

If you haven’t yet renewed your WIGA membership, it’s easily done on our Membership Info page. 

Program

8:00-8:30 Registration and Coffee

8:30-5:00 Presentations including a lunch buffet

5:00-5:30  supplier visiting, and chatting about the day

5:30-8:30 Island Wines Showcase and Canape Buffet: This event is a great opportunity for all of us to taste the impressive state of our industry in the Wine Islands! Local winemakers will pour samples of their 100% locally produced wines, accompanied by canapes presented by Mensch Kitchen and Catering.

Suppliers Showcase

We’ll have an updated list soon.

Confirmed Speakers and Topics

  • Nikki Callaway: “Creating Pinot Noir and how to embrace it’s multiple personalities”
  • Norman Cole: “Sparkles in the bottle – comparison of the methods”
  • Colleen Ingram: “Vineyard nutrition”
  • Graham O’Rourke: “Vineyard canopy management”
  • Gorgi Petkov: “Establishment of a new vineyard”
  • Karnail Singh Sidhu: “Running an organic winery – from grapevine to bottle”

Please register and pay by credit card using PayPal below. It’s easy and secure – you can specify how many attendees you’re registering after clicking the Pay Now button. On the next screen, click the Pay with Credit Card button near the bottom. Suppliers: use the drop-down menu under Conference Payments to reserve and pay for a supplier table. Thanks!

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Conference Payments
Attendees' Names:

Or, mail a cheque made out to WIGA (as soon as possible to get early-bird pricing), and a list of attendees, to:

WIGA
4512 Lanes Road
Cowichan Bay, BC
V0R 1N2

If you wish to attend and bring a cheque on the morning of May 5th, please email us at [email protected] well in advance so we have accurate attendee numbers.