@The London Wine Trade Fair – Monday 18th May 2015

A massage Sir before the start of the Fair? Brett Crittenden relaxes!

The Benevolent Bus

 

The bus and the Benevolent Team headed by David Cox 

José Manuel Ortega tutoring the CWW O Fournier Master Class

Stephen Brook (above) and Steven Spurrier (below)

Ortega's 'godfathers'

Sarah Jayne Evans MW@CWW Master Class 

Colin Hampden-White 

Mathieu Fleuriet, Domaine Bernard Fleuriet, Sancerre

 Chanel and Denise Gitton, Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé

  Chanel Gitton

Pascal Gitton

 

Pascal Guilbaud, Guilbaud Frères (Muscadet)

 Aynard Clermont-Tonnerre, Touraine and Montlouis

Isabelle Clermont-Tonnerre, Touraine and Montlouis

 

Circle of Wine Writers Christmas Party hosted by Hungarian Ambassador and Hungarian Wine

 Péter Szabadhegy, the UK Hungarian Ambassador greeting an early guest

Péter Szabadhegy, the UK Hungarian Ambassador, and Hungarian Wine generously hosted the 2014 Circle of Wine Writers' Christmas Party. There were 23 Hungarian wineries, representing four of the country's six wine regions, showing their wines. Our grateful thanks to everyone involved in organising a very successful evening with many good wines to try.   

Hugh Johnson and Péter Szabadhegy  

Katalin Haás, Secretary Economic and Trade Commissioner

 

 Péter Szabadhegy:

"a passionate promoter of Hungarian wine, which are world class with 

a rich tradition that goes back to Roman times" 

Steven Spurrier, CWW president replies 

 Hugh Johnson, past president of the CWW and a 

long time supporter of Hungarian wine, espcially Tokaji

Zsuzsa Vámosi-Nagy, flutist

playing Saint-Saens: Romance with Anne Marshall

Anne Marshall

Felipe Tosso of Viña Ventisquero @Vinoteca, Farringdon, London

 Felipe Tosso in flight

Last night I was at a tasting and dinner run by Felipe Tosso, winemaker for Viña Ventisquero. The evening was dubbed 'the 'New' Ventisquero. Certainly the Ventisquero wines we tasted yesterday evening were not typical middle of the road Chilean. Balance, vibrancy and finesse ran through the ten wines as well as innovation and thinking 'outside the box'.  

Steven Spurrier and Felipe

Probably the most surprising wine was the 2013 Tara White (100% Chardonnay). This comes from a plot of vines in the Atacama Desert some 750 kilometres from the Ventisquero winery to where the grapes have to be transported. The vineyard is close to the Ocean, so is cool in the morning because of the coastal fog, which surprisingly makes this desert vineyard cooler than Casablanca. 

When I first saw the cloudy Tara White I assumed that we were being shown an unfinished wine until Felipe explained that the white Tara was unfiltered and so deliberately cloudy. The 13 Tara was delicious – a vibrant cool climate Chardonnay with attractive texture and zinging acidity. Felipe explained that they don't stir the lees until right at the end before bottling. Only 1200 bottles were made. 2011 was the first vintage and in 2011 and 2012 they included a proportion of Viognier. 

This delicious cloudy wine challenges wine drinkers' perceptions that wines should be crystal clear. I overheard one traditionalist at the tasting mutter something about a little bentonite fining...! Personally this cloudy wine doesn't worry me – it is good to be challenged, especially when this tastes so good! 

Other wines (actually the majority) that stood out: the vibrant and delicate 2013 Grey Pinot Noir from Leyda, 2013 Grey GCM from Apalta – a blend of 50 Garnacha, 25 Carignan and 25% Mataro (Mourvèdre) as well as the promising 2014 GCM, and the star red – the powerful, richly textured, vibrant and characterful 2004 Grey Carmenère.              

The 2013 Tara White is the cloudy wine on the right  

 2013 Tara White

A beatific Charles Metcalfe amongst a forest of glasses

An urbane John Downes MW and a worried looking Steven Spurrier 

Peter McCombie MW

John Downes MW – a career as a 
chat show host surely beckons..

Tim Hall iPadding

... and tasting

'This blogger' elected chair of the Circle of Wine Writers

Stuart Walton (retiring Circle chair), Steven Spurrier (CWW president), 

Jim (new CWW Chair) 

'This blogger' was honoured and delighted to be elected chair of the Circle of Wine Writers. Min will be a two-year term of office. This marks a first for the Circle electing the first Chair who is a regular blogger. It emphasises both that the CWW does evolve and that it certainly welcomes membership applications from regular bloggers as well as from people who communicate about wine in more 'traditional' media.  

I am lucky to take over from Stuart Walton, who has been Chair for the last four years.  

Macedonia: pics from party@Stobi Winery

Natalija Kuzmanovska, head of sales & marketing, Château Kamnik, Skopje

Our visit to Macedonia ended with a fun buffet supper@the Stobi Winery where we met up again with representatives from all of the eight wineries we visited.

Wines of Macedonia: the real power brokers!

Steven Spurrier and Filip Blazeski (Ezimit Winery)

 L-R: Dane Jovanov (Stobi) Venera Gelebesheva Krstik (Skovin)

Dr Klime Beleski, Ilija Malinkovski (Château Kamnik)

 

Zoran 'the Great' Velkoski + Gorgi Petrusev (Wines of Macedonia)

Stephen Brook