Reasons to visit the LIWF: part 2

Despite some woe-laden headlines there are still compelling reasons to visit the London Wine Fair.

Anyone reading the majority of the headlines surrounding the LIWF of late might be forgiven for thinking that the poor fair was on teetering on the verge of a catastrophic collapse.

It has certainly been hit hard but, as our preview pointed out last month, the LIWF still has its supporters and more recent news points to a new focus and sense of purpose.

With the UK set to retain its place as one of the largest wine markets in the world over the next few years, following on from the first five reasons, here are the last five reasons for attending this year’s show.

5. DB Awards

As always the drinks business will be holding its annual awards ceremony at the fair. Celebrating the great and the good of the trade with awards for Man and Woman of the year, best PR campaign, on- and off-trade personalities, best packaging, logistics and responsible drinking among others.

The event is invitation only but, even if you’re not up for an award but are lucky enough to be invited, it can provide a nice break from the fair floor and provides a chance to socialise with people you might not otherwise see and have a glass or two of fortifying Champagne.

The shortlist for the awards has been published and can be viewed here.

4. Seminars, masterclasses and briefings

The LIWF is well known for its diverse and comprehensive range of seminars and briefings, often given by some of the trade’s leading figures.

Highlights this year include: a presentation on counterfeiting given by KPMG and a Cobevco talk on bulk wine businesses.

There will also be several masterclasses and tastings surrounding German wines too.

Also new this time around will be the addition of “pop-up” tastings and “Speaker’s Corner”.

The former will include a beer tasting, English Wine Producers, natural wines from Les Caves de Pyrene and a Croatian restaurant with indigenous varieties and food from Dalmatia, Slavonia and the Danube to match.

3. Increased on-trade focus

There have been complaints that the show has lost too much of its on-trade focus in recent years, particularly since moving to ExCel.

However, this year, following on from several such initiatives, there is an even more concerted drive to boost sommelier numbers.

Most notable is the moving of the fair to begin on a Monday but a new advisory board is packed with on-trade figures and fair organisers Brintex have been bombarding leading sommeliers with pre-paid Oyster cards, exclusive seminars with the likes of Gerard Basset MS MW and tastings.

2. My Wine Fair

The fair may be smaller but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a fearsome amount of wine on offer. Any veteran of the world’s wine fairs knows that a degree of planning beforehand makes the whole experience much more structured and worthwhile.

Similarly though, great pleasure can be found in stumbling across wines and regions completely unexpectedly.

Stepping into the breach between the two is the My Wine Fair app. The app allows users to set up whole itineraries for the fair (which can be printed out at the information hub) from masterclasses to pop-up tastings as well as search for individual wines (colour coded to show which supply channel they are designated for).

1. The importance of the UK market

Ignore the UK market at your peril. It is still one of the largest in the world, eclipsed only by countries with much bigger populations such as the US, China and Germany or by countries with a wine-drinking heritage (France and Italy).

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) figures for 2012 show that the UK market accounts for 147,176,000 cases of wine, of all types, and 30 million cases of spirits.

It is a diverse market worth £37bn that embraces wine and cuisine from every corner of the globe and is set to grow exponentially over this decade.