The month of May saw us attend the London Wine Fair held at Olympia in West London, UK. The sunshine was out and it was a wonderful opportunity to discover new wines and new producers from all over the world. The LWF has been going for over 30 years and this year hosted more than 10,000 wines from 40 countries over 3 days. It’s a “trade only” fair and as in previous years there were many big names present, as well as a large range of independents, all showcasing wines for both the on and off trade. We’re sure that customers will have the opportunity to try these wines via retail outlets, online retailers, bars or restaurants across the UK very soon.
So what actually happens at LWF? Well it’s not all about tasing wines! There are seminars on a range of topics, for instance, detecting and identifying wine faults, creating a successful wine list and wine industry key issues, for example how the trade association is lobbying the industry’s interests regarding the current Brexit negotiations.
Many customer and supplier meetings take place at this event, existing business relationships are continued and new relationships are formed, all of which helps create supply routes to customers for wines from all over the world. It is exactly events like this that ultimately provide an increasing choice of wines for customers in the UK. To give a real example for Woodshire Wines - the crisp, aromatic Clare Valley Ministry of Clouds Reisling is just one new wine we identified through a tasting meeting at LWF this year.
What would we like to see more of? Well we’d of course love to see more opportunity for increasing the presence of independent winemakers, providing more access to smaller scale boutique wines, handcrafted wines, organic wines and biodynamic wines from innovative and creative winemakers. This in turn would help drive greater access to and enjoyment of these unique and special wines for UK wine lovers.
As you know, here at Woodshire Wines we are passionate about our wines and the great winemakers that make it possible for us all to enjoy them. Please feel free to leave a comment on the blog. Indeed if there is a topic you’d like us to blog about or a particular wine you’d like us to consider adding to our range just let us know.