2019 London Wine Fair

The London Wine Fair is over 3 days and its said to have approx. 14,000 wines on offer to taste from all over the world.

There were a few countries wines I wanted to taste and I even put an order in for a box of English Sparkling Mead from the Wye Valley Meadery. Lets start with them –

Wye Valley Meadery is a new setup with a product that is very different. A normal mead is honey that has been fermented, in this case the guys have added elderflower, hops or rhubarb to their mead and made it slightly sparkling. Its not a full on sparkling wine style but very pleasant. I hope to enjoy in the garden when I don’t want to drink anything too alcoholic. At approx. £3 a bottle its not cheap but worth treating yourself too.

English wine
Winberri 2017 and 2018 Bacchus.
Winbirri won a Decanter Trophy at the Decant World Wine Awards in 2017, no mean feat for a winemaker. Their 2017 Bacchus vintage was light, aromas of citrus, lemon and gooseberry. The taste was more gooseberry with grassy notes. The 2018 vintage was a step up with aromas of grass, citrus and gooseberry, it was drier on the palate with flavours of gooseberry, citrus and minerals. lighter than 2017 and maybe a little bit more balanced. At about £14 a bottle its not cheap but decent value given the quality.

London Wine fair 2019, English Bacchus

2016 Plumpton College Sparkling
I tried the Rose and the Blanc sparkling wines. These were very dry with hints of red fruit strawberry for the rose and hints of grass & subtle citrus notes for the white, but both were light and easy drinking. It’s a little light for me, I tried Gusbournes sparkling white which was a step up on these.

Greek wine

White and blue label

Well, Greek Wine! Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Its pretty good, this was dry, with notes and hints of citrus, lemon, light and easy drinking. Not a great deal going on flavour wise but drinkable on a summers day, even in England.

Silver label
Another dry wine which tastes more off dry, rounded with a little more flavour and a decent length. Flavours of citrus and lychee in the background

Rose label
It’s a step up over the previous whites. Subtle hints of strawberry and freshness on the aroma and great flavours of red berries, strawberries with a longer finish than the whites. An excellent rose for the summer.

2012 red
In some ways a surprise of the show but that’s just old habits of not expanding my mind enough. The 2012 red had superb aromas of vanilla, spice with flavours of dark red fruits, cherries, Blackberries, blackcurrants. It has very well integrated tannins making it smooth and absolutely fantastic quality. Silver or Gold medal quality here.

Babylonstoren – South Africa

Babel
This is an entry level wine by the winemakers at the 2nd most visited gardens in South Africa (so I’m told). We visited in 2017 and loved the garden, food (most from the gardens) and the wine. Not much has changed, quality is still there. This re is dry with firm tannins, black fruits such as blackberry, blackcurrant and plum. There are spicy notes with a decent long finish. At about £13 a bottle its not going to break the bank and will impress dinner guests.

Shiraz
Red cherry, prunes with a hint of black fruits, pepper notes, silky smooth
with reasonable tannins, personally I think I like this the most as the tannins are lower and it’s a more fruit driven dry red. A reasonable priced bottle at about £15.

Nebukadnesar 2016
This is the flag ship Red from Babylonstoren. Dry with firm tannins, vanilla and spice notes. For me this is too young to drink now but give it 5-10 years to soften up and it will be outstanding. Not cheap at £20+ a bottle but if you can wait to drink it, a fair price for the quality. Do wait though to get the best from it.

Canada

Canadian wine is, on the whole, high quality, expensive and hard to get outside of Canada.

Burrowing owl vineyard has a reputation for high quality wines, their Merlot is dry, medium tannin red with well integrated red fruits and very easy drinking. Price is a factor on this and there are cheaper alternatives.

Cab Franc 2014 / 16
2016 is better than 2014, the 2016 has more concentrated fruit flavours, lots of redcurrant and cherry with reasonably firm tannins. The 2014 is a little washed out compared to the 2016. Both are very drinkable. At £30+ a bottle it’s a little too expensive for me.

Syrah
Aromas of vanilla, tobacco and spice and flavours of ripe black fruits, vanilla and
Spice. So very smooth and well integrated tannins, gorgeous but at a price. £30+ a bottle is pushing the higher end of what it’s worth. A special occasion can justify the price only.

Meritage
Lighter than the Sarah in some ways with slightly less fruit flavours. It’s the
tannins which you notice more, they are a little more grippier around the mouth. This is a Bordeaux blend and will benefit from laying down to soften the tannins and allow the fruit to come to the fore. Like the others this is not a cheap wine at £30+ a bottle

Wine Rascals stand
This firm specialises in Organic, Bio and Vegan wines, why? Well as they said it makes them stand out from the other wine merchants and there are excellent wines in these categories. The next shows how good these wines are. There are many vegan wines out there than don’t shout out vegan but for a vegan it’s easier if you can go to a wine merchant that makes the selection as simple as possible. What I liked about this firm is their enthusiasm, from the sales people to the marketing lady I first spoke too.

Henry of Pelham Old Vines Baco Noir 2017.
Aromas of spice and dark black fruits, very smooth tannins which just slide around the mouth. Absolutely amazing and one of the best of the show, esp at under £20 a bottle. Sure it’s not cheap but great value.

Pig in the House
This is a biodynamic red Shiraz which has floral aromas and faint hints of
spice and vanilla on the palette along with red fruits, cherries and plum. Tastes very smooth, not much in the way of tannins, a drink now wine. At under £10 its good value.

Wines of Germany
I like it when a country has an organisation to show case what it can produce, it make the consumers life easier (hint no wines of France), I only got to try 2 wines due to lack of time. It’s a shame as there are many excellent wines coming out of Germany, esp dry Rieslings.

Weigut Trossen 2017 Royal herb Riesling from the Mosel area of Germany is a dry quality with good concentration of citrus fruits, mineral notes and easy to drink. At about £10 a bottle good value and worth a try.

Wedekind, Roter Hang, Riesling
Another dry Riesling with soft ripe fruits with citrus but this has the typical aromas of petroleum that you find with many Rieslings.

Loire master class

Rebecca Gibb (MW) took a master class on Loire reds which was excellent. She was a judge at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards. She has so much enthusiasm and knowledge and this really helps makes the class seem to fly by and makes it so enjoyable. The reds were varied and showed off the different styles within the red wine  production area, not all of the Loire valley produces red wine. I really look forward to future master classes with her.

All in all a very successful wine fair.