First Natural Wine Fair 2011

I had 3 full days of tasting in London at the beginning of May, which believe it or not is tough going! One day at the Natural Wine Fair and two days at the International Wine Show.

My first stop was the Natural Wine Fair in Borough Market, London Bridge. Any foodies out there this is a must visit market! Take a good bank balance and an appetite.

Borough Market, early morning start for the wine fair

This was the first natural wine fair that has been held, it was open to the public on the Sunday and trade on the Monday and Tuesday. Natural wine isn’t widely known about even within the wine trade itself. It won’t be found on supermarket shelves so if you do fancy a tipple, either look at your local independent wine merchants or contact me direct.

So what is natural wine? You may have read a previous blog where I talk about natural wine. So what were the wines like?

As with many wines there are many styles, good and bad and there is lot of debate on the distinct style natural wine appears to give. Some professionals say its a fault in the wine where as others state that is the style of the wine, grape and terroir. So what is this style? On wines I tasted some had more elements than others and some had no traces of this oxidised characteristic.

I attended a seminar taken by Nicholas Joly a pioneer in biodynamic wine making and natural wine making. His talk was inspirational and made sense, I bought his book to enable me to continue my research and knowledge. The logic behind it makes sense, you put pesticides in the land you kill it, you work with it and nurture the land, you receive quality grapes! This is a very crude and basic way of looking at it and other factors need to be taken in to consideration.

So where do I stand? I feel its exciting and although I tasted several wines at the show its not always that easy to put them in context. My palate needs to taste more wine and my brain cells need to consume much more knowledge! Its a tough job but I’m happy to do it!

Don’t be afraid about opening a natural wine, do it with an open mind and enjoy the experience.