Sometimes my schedule is so full of wine-related dinners and festivals that I can’t believe I thought it was a good idea to add yet another major event to Vancouver’s calendar.

Well, along with a small group of industry colleagues, I went ahead and did just that. The first edition of what we dubbed Top Drop Vancouver happened over two days last September, and more than anything, our mission was to be different. (The name, by the way, is an Australian slang term that riffs on good wine: “That’s a top drop, mate!”)

You see, I can’t even claim Top Drop Vancouver as my own idea. Over the previous few years I’d been involved in hundreds of conversations with sommelier, retail, and writer pals (often over craft beer, oddly enough) about how Vancouver could really use a small-scale wine event with a tight lens on terroir-focused wineries that are making wine in more of a handcrafted style.

While the majority of global wine is mass-produced and industrially farmed, the idea was to cast a light on sustainably-farmed, low-yield wines of nuance and quality. As a rough analogy, while Hollywood blockbusters dominate theatres, there’s also strong demand from film buffs for the type of fare you’re more likely to see at the Vancouver International Film Festival or the Sundance Film Festival.

Put simply, Top Drop aimed to be the Sundance of the local wine scene. There was a push to work with wineries that had a good story to tell, a large part of that being an honest expression of terroir.

It was imperative for us to keep the event on the smaller side, with only a few dozen wineries in the room for the Main Event, our grand tasting. That was so attendees could get a good dose of face time with those representing the wineries, learn about regions they hadn’t heard of, or explore themes like biodynamic farming or natural wines.

Long story short, our 2014 event went well, and we’re bringing it back this year, slightly bigger in order to share these stories with a somewhat larger audience. Top Drop Vancouver is happening September 10 and 11, and I can’t tell you how excited I am about the programming we’ve put together.

This year, we have a little sponsor support, and all proceeds will go to the B.C. Hospitality Foundation, which provides financial assistance to those in the hospitality industry facing a major medical crisis. With incredible folks like Puddifoot supplying (awesome, proper) glassware, Everything Wine offering a retail store on-site at our grand tasting, and the Georgia Straight sponsoring us (woo-hoo!), we can wave the flag of our artisan producers even higher while supporting a charity close to many hearts.

So what can you expect this year? First off, the 33 wineries, all with principals in attendance, are key. Attendees can meet Frank Cornelissen of Sicily and chat about his natural wines made from indigenous varieties, swoon over bubbles from Champagne Philipponnat, explore the world of Lebanese wine with Château Musar, and get to know the legend of Inglenook, from the Napa Valley. Of course, we’re ensuring the home team gets a little spotlight too—the bright and lively wines from Naramata’s Lock & Worth Winery (do try their sunny Semillon) will be poured alongside the kick-ass Rieslings from Synchromesh Wines and many more.

As mentioned above, it’s not uncommon for wine folks to splash into the world of craft beer or cider, so we’ll have purveyors of those on tap as well, from Strange Fellows Brewing of East Vancouver to the Naramata Cider Company.

Dinners, yup—we’ve got those too, but rather than plated meals hosted by a single winery, we’ve put together a bunch of collective, family-style dinners at restaurants like Wildebeest, Cinara, and Edible Canada, each featuring a handful of wineries coming to the table.

Projects like this can be a labour of love involving many a sleepless night, but we believe smaller, hands-on wineries, breweries, and cideries like these need a time and place to tell their story, and I hope Vancouverites enjoy tasting their wares.

For tickets or to learn more about what we’re doing, see the Top Drop Vancouver website.