Playhouse Wine Symposium touts alternative packaging

In my role as internet marketer, I was honoured to be asked by the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival to help them promote their prestigious Wine Symposium event geared toward wine industry representatives.

The 2007 Wine Festival Symposium focused on wine packaging, during an event labeled "Message in a Bottle…or in a Box". The panel was moderated by eminent Vancouver wine writer Anthony Gismondi, who led a discussion about the future of alternative packaging for wine.

Participants were asked how much they would pay for a wine with a screw top, a plastic bottle, or (gulp) a TetraPak box. The survey results, and an interesting video demonstration by Global TV, are all featured now at the Playhouse wine festival website.
It's definitely worth a read, and makes you wonder whether popping a cork will someday no longer be part of the romance of wine.

Author

  • Mike Klassen is a Vancouver city councillor, communications professional, and long-time advocate for British Columbia’s wine industry. He co‑founded BC Wine Lover in 2007 with his wife Stacey, sharing stories from their travels through the province’s wine regions and spotlighting the people and places that make B.C. wine distinctive.

    In 2015, Mike led the BC Wine Appellation Task Group, guiding a province‑wide consultation that produced recommendations—later endorsed by industry plebiscite—that strengthened B.C.’s appellation standards and helped establish today’s sub‑GIs.

    His writing has appeared in the Vancouver Sun, Huffington Post, and Daily Hive, blending history, policy insight, and personal experience. Alongside his work on Vancouver City Council, Mike continues to explore vineyards across the province, champion local producers, and celebrate the evolving culture of B.C. wine.