We are pleased to announce the 2023 WIGA Viticulture and Oenology Conference, and Island Wines Showcase, to be held on Friday May 5 at the Cobble Hill Hall. This venue is a new one for us and looks perfect for our conference! A wonderful local caterer has been chosen for the lunch buffet and coffee/snack breaks during the day and the evening social canape buffet: Mensch Kitchen and Catering. You can see the delicious menus they’ve planned here.
We have seven presentations confirmed for conference day, covering a wide range of topics important to Wine Islands growers and winemakers. Registration for both the conference and the evening Island Wines Showcase is now open at the bottom of this page.
Despite the high inflation we’re all coping with, WIGA has decided to keep early-bird conference and social prices the same as in previous years: $75 (WIGA member, $125 non-WIGA member) for the day, which includes a lunch buffet, and $35 (members and non-members) for the Island Wines Showcase. Two weeks before the conference, these prices will increase to $90 (WIGA member; $145 non-WIGA member) for the day and $45 (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 $100 ($50 for WIGA supplier members). 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 (or click on detailed schedule)
8:00-8:30 Registration and Coffee
8:30-4:45 Presentations including a lunch buffet
4:45-6:00 supplier visiting, and chatting about the day
6:00-9:00 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 excellent Suppliers Showcase, displaying their vineyard and winery equipment and services. Please visit and support them during the conference! So far the following suppliers are confirmed, several of whom are generously providing conference sponsorship:
BosaGrape, Nutrien, TerraLink, CellarTek, Growers Supply–Ropana, Island Tractors, Vines to Vintages, Munckhof, Peak HydroMet, Zeller & Sons, 40 Knots Sustainable Solutions, Ripley Beverage, Corsica Equipment, Wince Once Services, Nuance, Okanagan Vineclusive-Knights Grapevine Nursery, Rollins Machinery, Scott Labs, Cellar Dweller,
Confirmed Speakers and Topics
Ken Kupperman, VP Vineyard Operations Oregon at Jackson Family Wines
Viticulture in the Willamette Valley. Applications to the Wine Islands
Chris Mark, Vineyard Consultant, founder of Vintality Tech Inc.
Getting Dirty. An edgy exploration of vineyard soil testing and precision viticulture techniques
Felix Egerer, Viticulturist Unsworth Vineyards
Growing More than Grapes. How cover crops can improve vineyard soil health
Lamont Brooks, co-owner Symphony Vineyard
The Wine Islands – A Unique Climate for Wine-Growing. How does our climate compare with that in the Okanagan Valley, Niagra Peninsula ON, and Annoplis Valley NS? Why was the 2022 yield so high? What do the past 50 years of Wine Islands climate and global warming trends tell us about the next 20 years?
Daniel Pambianchi, winemaker, author & consultant
Managing Oxygen Quantitatively from Crush to Bottling. Modern perspectives for enhancing wine quality and avoiding oxidative and reductive deviations.
Managing and Preventing Volatile Acidity in Your Cellar.
Mark Hopley, winemaker Hester Creek
Cold Stabilization Techniques
Registration and Payment:
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!
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 wi[email protected] well in advance so we have accurate attendee numbers.