London calling: what’s on at the London Wine Fair?
Olympia is the place to be this month as thousands of members of the trade come together to sample the many attractions of the London Wine Fair. Arabella Mileham gets the lowdown.
This month sees the welcome return of the London Wine Fair to Olympia. Taking place over three days (Monday, 20 May to Wednesday, 22 May), the show brings together the UK industry and global producers in London to discover new wines, meet new contacts and renew old ones. It’s also a chance to find out about new trends and opportunities – and to taste some fantasic wines.
As with previous editions of the fair, there will be a plethora of masterclasses and industry briefings to bring you up to date on the latest trends and research. Meanwhile, producers and importers from around the world will be on hand to showcase their wines to the thousands of buyers, wine professionals and journalists who attend each year.
Although show organiser Hannah Tovey notes that in many ways trading wine in the UK has become progressively more difficult as the year has progressed, the London Wine Fair appears to be bucking the trend of these declines.
‘We’re gaining a reputation for being the event where you’ll discover emerging territories’
Last year, exhibitor numbers rose by more than one-third on 2022, with 14% more visitors attending, and Tovey is confident that the 2024 edition will continue this upward trend.
Visitor numbers are still tracking quietly ahead of last year, she says, and the team anticipates in excess of 10,000 visitors this year, along with 400-plus exhibitors.
“All of the visitors and exhibitors who filled out our surveys after last year ’s show gave us incredibly strong statistics on which to sell and speak about this year ’s event,” Tovey tells the drinks business. “The biggest jump was in our net promoter score (which tracks customer loyalty and satisfaction, a key metric determining the fair ’s success), which jumped by 22 points last year – something I’ve never seen in 25 years of working in events and marketing.”
The tangible effect of this success has been to bring a number of exhibitors who have been absent for a number of years back into the fold. For example, Mentzendorff is returning for the first time in 12 years. Buckingham Schenk will also be there to celebrate its 50th anniversary, while Freixenet Copestick, Lanchester Wines, Origin Wine and logistics company Hillebrand Gori UK will also be returning to Olympia.
They will join regular exhibitors such as Hatch Mansfield, Awin Barratt Siegel, Richmond Wine Agencies, Ellis Wines, wholesaler EWGA, Félix Solís Avantis, H2Vin, Marcato Direct and Beyond Wine – who are all back for 2024.
But it’s not only the UK’s leading agents, importers and logistics companies who will be returning with a bang – Wines of South Africa is back after a sixyear absence with a large pop-up tasting on Tuesday, 21 May, bringing together producers such as Spier, DGB, Waterkloof and Springfield along with lesser- known wineries and those seeking representation. There will also be a dedicated area for South Africa’s traditional method sparkling wine, Cap Classique, and the Stellenbosch Cabernet Collective, marking the importance of these two categories to the UK market. There will be an area dedicated to Asia for the first time, showcasing an array of wine, spirits and sake producers. Japan is making its debut, with a generic pavilion featuring more than a dozen producers, while there will also be a pavilion for the Czech Republic, another first for the show.
“We’re gaining a reputation for being the event where you’ll discover emerging territories,” Tovey explains, noting an increase in wines from countries such as Georgia, Ukraine and Armenia.
Two of the key areas for finding up-and coming wines seeking representation are the popular Esoterica and Wines Unearthed areas, which will be on the main Trading Floor following the successful reorganisation of the layout last year. Another popular fixture, Drinks Britannia, will be promoting the booming growth of the UK’s home-grown wines, both still and sparkling – a topic that will be addressed with a panel debate on the Centre Stage. No and low drinks – another dynamic segment in the industry – will also be sited in the Mindful Drinking Experience area.
CONTENT IS KING
A key part of the London Wine Fair is the forum it presents for learning about key issues and developments in the trade, involving speakers from across the industry. Indeed, the positive experience of both visitors and exhibitors last year came in part from the fair ’s strong content – and 2024 is set to build on that even further. “Getting a number of associations, agencies and companies to work and speak collaboratively was something we really enjoyed,” Tovey explains. “We’ve tried to take that approach this year as well.”
Last year ’s sustainability theme continues to garner attention, but the buzzwords this year have slightly shifted, with the focus now on the circular economy and regenerative viticulture. This is reflected in sessions which range from looking at the benefits of regenerative practices in viticulture (Wednesday, 2pm, Centre Stage), working with nature to create a sustainable future for vineyards, hosted by the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation, to crafting an eco-friendly wine list (Monday, 3pm, Education Zone).
The findings from last year ’s Bottle Reuse Initiative will also be revealed – with the hope that the research can be extrapolated more widely to all sectors of the industry.
“It has been a much bigger project than anticipated in terms of time,” Tovey admits. “But I’m hoping this will be a really exciting and useful piece of research for the industry, in terms of what we need to do to improve our potential for bottle reuse.”
Diversity and inclusion are hot topics and will be given “their rightful space at London Wine Fair this year”, Tovey adds. The team has conducted an inclusivity survey for the UK wine industry, the findings of which will be unveiled at the show, and the WSTA, WSET and Drinks Trust will launch their new initiative on the centre stage on Tuesday at 11.30 am. Meanwhile, a group of experts in the field will lead a session in the Education Zone theatre, talking about what it means to be more invested in diversity and inclusion, and how that can be embraced and included in day-to-day working life.
“One of the sessions is about the bigger picture and how we as an industry all need to collectively get behind it, and the other is more what can we do individually to improve our situation,” Tovey explains. As in previous years, the WSTA will be giving its State of the Nation report, an unmissable briefing, given that the UK is facing a General Election within months, followed by a Q&A. There’s also been an increase in the products and services that support the industry, Tovey notes, pointing to companies such as The Green Chilly Company, which will be showing its new ecological, customisable wine-chilling wraps at the show.
“It demonstrates that there is a march towards companies that want to support and future-proof, grow and better the industry, whether that is through packaging, marketing, logistics or glassware – always with this ecological pillar in mind,” Tovey explains. The team has made a virtue of these types of services and products by putting the Discovery Zone at the centre of London Wine Fair, next to the Centre Stage where all of the key topics are discussed.
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JUDGEMENT OF LONDON
The highlight of this year is undoubtedly the Judgement of London, a homage to the historic 1976 Judgment of Paris organised by the late Steven Spurrier, which will see top Bordeaux estates blind-tasted against some of their New World counterparts. The panel of 20 judges – including db’s Patrick Schmitt MW and Jancis Robinson MW – comprises “the most powerful and exciting collective of palates that I know of in the UK”, Tovey says. Co-curators Ronan Sayburn MS and Sarah Abbott MW have put together the “most incredible list of wines”, pairing 32 bottles – one from a top Bordeaux estate alongside a New World counterpart
But, rather than pitting them against each other, the tasting is “an opportunity for wines from a much broader spectrum of regions and countries to be considered as iconic”, Tovey explains. “It’s certainly going to lend itself to some dramatic and exciting outcomes.” The results of the private tasting, which takes place on Monday, will be presented on the Centre Stage on Tuesday, 21 May at 4.45pm.
“We wanted to do something that was more in the fine wine sphere,” Tovey explains, partly due to the increasing calibre of visitors to the fair in recent years, in terms of their seniority and their wine buying power. In 2023, those with direct buying power increased to 43% from 36% in 2022, and the most represented job title was “director” at just under 10% of the audience, followed by sommelier, with 34% of the total visitor audience coming from the on-trade.
CONCIERGE SERVICE
A new matchmaking, hosted buyer programme has been rolled out to help visitors better navigate the show. It gives access to digital networking and the show planner platform, as well as a full concierge service for 50 of the UK’s top buyers, ensuring visitors, and indeed exhibitors, make the best use of their time for holding meetings. The concierge service includes a meeting lounge with power supply, plug-in devices and an internet connection, which makes it possible to hold meetings away from an exhibitor ’s stand for the first time. “We have been championing digital matchmaking for a few years now,” Tovey says. “But since the swing back to meeting in person, we wanted to bring back a human element to managing this. So we’re working with a company who are there to act as a human concierge service to our visitors and exhibitors. They are also supporting exhibitors in setting up their digital profiles, so that exhibitors are able to do it in a way that gives them the strongest results.”
This, she argues, brings together the best of the digital opportunity, giving 50% human support to make sure people are able to use it and can make the most of it.
KEY MASTERCLASSES
The Delle Venezie Masterclass (Monday, 20 May, 12.30 pm, Walk-Up Tasting Theatre). Explore the versatility of Pinot Grigio DOC delle Venezie with Patrick Schmitt MW, who will investigate how the combination of scale and stringent quality controls in this DOC yields a diverse set of wine styles with a high and consistent level of quality. Wines tasted will range across the DOC, from Veneto, Trentino and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which make up the historical zone of the Trevenezie.
IGP Mediterranean Masterclass (Monday, 20 May, 12.30pm, Masterclass Theatre). Hosted by Anne McHale MW, the IGP Mediterranean Masterclass is an exciting opportunity to discover the ‘Med Way of Life’ through eight wines from one of France’s most glamorous regions.
Attendees will learn all about why IGP Méditerranée wines are the perfect sip for Brits at this fun, engaging session.
Other events to look forward to include The Drinks Business Awards (a private event held on Tuesday, 21 May at 3pm, in the Gallery Suite); and The London Wine Fair Wine Buyers Awards.
PRODUCER HIGHLIGHTS
Bosco Viticultori (J39) will be showcasing its range of certified sustainable (SQNPI) wines, Pra dei Dogi, which are now available with screwcap closures for still wines. The company is also looking to promote greater understanding of its Pinot Grigio DOC delle Venezie and Pinot Grigio Venezia DOC wines, having switched from 12% ABV to 11% ABV.
Buckingham Schenk Family (B32) will be unveiling its new corporate identity at the LWF, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. On the stand will be a selection of the best wines in its porfolio, including the latest additions from producers such as Hatch Wines, Vinca, Cellier de la Crau, Monmousseau, Domaine de Sardelles, Masso Antico and its brand-new Primitivo icewine. Managing director Craig Durham says it is “incredible to be celebrating the company’s 50th anniversary this year and, although there have been many changes in both the industry and the company, “the principles of supplying excellent wines underpinned by high standards of customer service remain the bedrock and pride of the company and our team”.
Domaines Paul Mas (J57) will be bringing its large range of flavours and styles to LWF. From its domaines, which stretch the length and breadth of the Languedoc, come a host of new wines. Jean-Claude Mas has been developing a number of wines which feature disease-resistant varietals such as Souvignier Gris. There will be a full complement of Arrogant Frogs, including a brand-new Buttery Chardonnay variant. The popular and critically acclaimed Cuvée Secrète range of organic wines, made with no added sulphites, continues to grow. Look out too for an orange wine under the Côté Mas label – another brand-new addition – and don’t miss Mas’ personal project, the top-end Astélia cuvées.
Tbilvino (D54): One of Georgia’s largest and most modern wineries, Tbilvino will be showing its range of wines, including its unique qvevri examples, and wines made from the Georgian indigenous grape, Saperavi, which founder Giorgi Margvelashvili says is “making its mark with wine drinkers all over the world”. It will also offer a preview of its premium wine range, which launches later this year. Two of its wines, Aleksandrouli and Plot #4, will feature in a masterclass with Sarah Abbott MW.
Ucopia Wines (Esoterica, Z24 and Z25): Argentinian specialist importer Ucopia will be showing a number of new ranges this year from Argentina, as well as from Germany, Uruguay and Spain. Ucopia MD Laurie Webster says the team is excited to have Mendoza winemaker Estela Perinetti on hand to present new vintages and wines from her own project in the Uco Valley, Las Estelas, which he says is “the most successful range launch of my career”.
Gerd Stepp from Pfalz will also be on hand to present new vintages of his Mineralstein Riesling and Pinot Noir, along with a new Cabernet Franc and Pinot Blanc – wines that Webster highlights for their “dynamic freshness and varietal purity”.
Other producers represented include Mauricio Lorca (Argentina and Spain), Convento San Francisco (Spain), Ver Sacrum, Benegas, Matias Morcos, Aniello and Atamisque (Argentina), and Viña Progreso (Uruguay).
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