Raw Wine Week hits the capital

#RawWineWeek, the annual celebration of low intervention and sustainable wines that promotes biodiversity, kicks off today, culminating in wine show Raw Wine London on Sunday.

The week-long celebration of organic, biodynamic and natural wines features an array of tutored tasting, glass offers, raw wine takeovers, winemaker dinners and talks, and runs from 6-13th March, with businesses taking part across London and Edinburgh.

Highlights include a pop-up of Austria’s two Michelin-starred Taubenkobel restaurant – dubbed one of the ‘coolest places to eat’ by Forbes – in Bermondsey’s Dynamic Vines Cellar, a vinyl Dj and Italian wine takeover at Enoteca Rabazzena, by four Italian wine producers, the Grape Escape, an evening with three natural winemakers hosted by the Riding Wine Company, and #RawWineWeek at Timberyard in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town.

The week culminates in Raw Wine London, which opens its doors on Sunday 10 march at The Store at 180 The Strand, for two days.

This year, over 160 producers from around the world will gather in London to showcase more than 800 top organic and biodynamic rose, red, white, orange and sparkling wines, some of which are not yet available in the UK.

As well as offering tastings, the show will feature curated talks on natural wines, including a talk and taste with The Drinks Business’s editor-in-chief, Patrick Schmitt MW on Understanding Bubbles, and an afternoon dedicated to US winemakers including Californian producers Hiyu Wine Farms.

The show’s line up includes Austrian producer Gut Oggau, Château Le Puy and Domaine Tawse, orange wine trailblazers Gravner and Radikon and Mount Etna wine producer Frank Cornelissen. The show’s tempting food offer is provided by Sager + Wilde (comprising a ‘fancy cheese on toast selection’), The Marksman (whose iconic Savoury British buns were described as “the best lunch to be eaten in Britain right now” by Jay Rayner), Walnut & Spice and Provisions.

The lively after-party will see The Laughing Heart take over Raw Wine, offering Cantonese food, a cellar poured by guest sommeliers and music from DJ Al Doyle, while London’s first natural wine bar, Terroirs, is also holding its own after party.

“By buying low-intervention, organic, biodynamic and natural wine, we’re helping to protect the planet and ourselves,” the organisers said.