London’s first wines go on sale

A quartet of wines from the debut vintage made at London’s first urban winery, London Cru, have gone on sale this week.

London Cru’s winemaker, Gavin Monery

Made by Australian-born winemaker Gavin Monery, London Cru’s first commercial vintage of Chardonnay, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Barbera can now be pre-ordered for £15 a bottle.

There is also the opportunity to by a sampler case, which contains one bottle of each for £60 with free delivery to anywhere in the UK on orders over £100.

The 2013 vintage will be bottled this week and the wines will be delivered to customers in September after they’ve had time to settle down in bottle.

“Our first wines are being bottled this week, so we’ll soon have our hands on the first finished bottles of wine made in London,” said London Cru’s general manager Adam Green.

“While we’re very happy that 12 months of hard work is finally culminating in a finished product, this is tempered slightly by the fact we’re only a month or so away from the whole cycle getting going again,” he added.

London Cru is currently keeping details of the wine names and label designs a secret but is due to reveal them later this week.

“We want to have a bit of fun with the labels to reflect the irreverent spirit of the owners,” Monery told db in an interview earlier this year.

London Cru opened in Earl’s Court, West London, last summer and opened to the public last November offering tastings, tours and supper clubs.

Some 13,000 bottles of wine were made last year and the company is aiming to double production this year.