After the past two years a return to trade shows has been a relief and a revelation. This was abundantly clear at the London Wine Fair where it took twenty minutes to walk straight down the main isle due to the number of familiar faces that just had to stop and say hello. People have in Covid-19 times forgotten the pleasure of meeting real people chatting and swapping ideas. 

The London Wine Fair has always been a place for the unexpected; that little bit of something different and this year that experience worked both ways. Wines of Georgia and Wines of Armenia both had wines made from native Indigenous grape varieties and talking with Rowton Vineyards (who joined the Vineyard Stand on day one) we agreed that whether you like something or whether you don’t there is much pleasure in the experience of the new and the unique. With that in mind it was great to see how many people had visited both the WineGB stand and also the Welsh Wine stand. 

The Welsh Vineyards had plenty of wines to showcase including an award winning red from White Castle. WineGB had numerous award winning wines available to try and on the Vineyard stand it was a great privilege to be able to show international visitors, who had never experienced English wine, a diverse selection including: Traditional method sparkling wines from Ridgeview, Hidden Spring and Rowton and still whites from Penn Croft (Pinot Blanc & Bacchus), Rowton (Solaris) and Flint (Bacchus) alongside a Charmat method rosé also from Flint Vineyard. 

The show was very successful show for WineGB: “We had a great line up of different wines and producers which really appealed to the trade visitors. We were busy throughout the whole as were the Welsh producers, showing just how much interest there is in the wine industry in Britain today. Great quality visitors this year too,” said Julia Trustram Eve, Head of Marketing at WineGB.

Thank you too all those who came and joined us on our stand and to the team at the London Wine Fair who made the event a great success under what were the most difficult of circumstances. 

This story was taken from the latest issue of Vineyard. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports for winemakers and growers in Great Britain, read our latest issue here and subscribe here.