And now for Blouge

 

What is BLOUGE? Apologies for the soft-focus photo but perhaps you can make out the full description BLOUGE/BLANC SUR ROUGE.

This rose wine is a blend of Chardonnay and Carignan. The 'proper' way to make Rose is to crush red grapes and remove the juice from the skins more or less quickly. There have always been wines whith red and white grapes in the mix but these have been frowned on to a certain extent. The term 'Promiscuous' was used although we haven't seen it recently.

What we have seen recently are more and more examples of wine from a mix of white and red grapes, and not only Roses. Time was that a little Viognier in a Cote du Rhone red was a rarity but now?

There's so much of it going on that there had to be a word for it. We rather like BLOUGE, don't you? 

Specialist Importers' Trade Tasting, spring 2026

 SITT

 

SITT was founded in 2005 and we have been covering the London tastings for quite a while now without really paying tribute to this excellent institution. The participation of Specialist and Independent Importers makes for an inspiring demonstration of how the UK importers are still imaginative and eclectic in the wines they bring in from all over the world.

 

Of course, not having a native production on the scale of the big wine-growing countries we have always inclined towards the eclectic in our imports throughout history and it is encouraging to see that we have not lost that diversity even though there remain plenty of wine styles that have yet to be seen in this country. Those in short supply include Croatina/Bonarda, Grignolino, Rossese, Schiava/Trollinger, Elbling, Cornalin/Humagne Rouge, Portugieser, Trepat and others meriting greater distribution in our view.

 

On the day and at the time of our visit the exhibition hall was quieter than usual but the intrepid exhibitors were there anyway. One has to pay tribute to their hard work and the range of their initiatives.

Now to those 'new' kinds of wine: 

Our first Karasakiz! Wine from Turkey has been making inroads into tastings in this country to be sure and there are plenty of native grape varieties to make things interesting. It helps that Jancis Robinson is a fan, no doubt. Found mostly on Turkish islands in the Aegean, Karasakiz has been used for Brandy and Raki and there is even a sweet version.

 

Next novelty - our first sight of Prieto Picudo at any show we have ever been to. We first discovered and fell in love with Prieto Picudo thanks to a bottle from Malaga Duty Free of all places. Then there was the fantastic 'Catedral de Leon' Priet Picudo on the bottom shelf at El Corte Ingles in Marbella for E. 1.69. Probably the best value wine we ever bought.  

Since then we have been trying to get a Prieto Picudo that tasted...well, of Prieto Picudo but to no avail. It seems as in the case of Grignolino for example that producers are letting their wine get ever higher in alcohol that just results in a generalised red wine deprived of the typicity of the grape. Pleasant enough but lacking in the strong personality these grapes should be showing. At 14% this Prieto didn't have much of a chance but was a lt better than some. 

 

We hope Ultra Comida keeps the faith and finds a Prieto Picudo that shows this grape's lovely resinous and aromatic personality to the full. Wine grapes mentions the words 'perfumed,' 'fruits of the forst and black pepper.' We wish. Anyway, full marks for initiative.

There was a Chinese table but only with international varieties. We long for anther go at the promising Beichun grape. 

 

Next a real find: another wine from the Ukranian producer Shabo. 

 

Their Merlot is being imported by Novel Wines. We found Shabo's Telti-Kuruk a couple of years ago but we hadn't seen any others from this producer. Novel Wines are now importing quite a few from the Shabo range - a sparkling wine from Pinot Blanc, Riesling and Chardonnay, straight Chardonnays, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Telti-Kuruk of course.

Novel Wines also import wines from Armenia, Austrian, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Moldova, North Macedonia, Romania, Slovenia, Switzerland and Turkey. Novel indeed.

 

Apart from well known names such as Chateau Minuty and Marques de Riscal, Richmond Wine Agencies have some interesting Portuguese wines.

 We spotted this Jaen from Caminho in the Dao. We had come across Jaen before but took the opportunity to try it again. We thought this one was rustic in a nice way. Later on checking Jaen in Wine Grapes, we discovered that Jaen is actually a synonym for Mencia. Now we know.

Next door was Orpheus Wine Sourcing. In conversation with the very personable Dave Murphy (left) told us the company had only been going for 18 months. We were impressed by their commitment and enthusiasm for Greek and Cypriot wine plus the professionalism and knowledge of their people including an MW, Demetri Walters and a business devellopement expert and an MD by the name of Antonis Sioulis.

 

 

Dave has a many and varied experience of working with Sainsbury's in their buying and category team, and with Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Diageo among others. 

 

We were intrigued by a wine made from a grape called Amoriano. The back label admits to Amoriano being a synonym of Mandilaria. itself being another of Greece's secrets. Mandilaria is grown mostly on Rhodes and on other eastern Aegean islands. It was good to find among others including Vidiano, Kotsifali, Athiri with Assyrtiko (of course), Mandilaria with Fokiano, Vlahiko, Savatiano alone and  with Assyrtiko, Malagousia and Moschofilero. What riches!

 

 

And now for the SITT piece de resistance as far as we were concerned. Our old friend John Thorne at the venerable Portal Dingwall and Norris company told us they have now become the UK importers of Italo Cescon. Italo Cescon's wines from the Veneto are some of the best and their Raboso has been our favourite for many years.

At SITT, there was no Raboso alas. However there was seemingly everything else and really outstanding they were too; 

Cescon's Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Noir were very refined.

Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Pinot Grigio back labels

                                                     Pinot Grigio and delicious Refosco

At SITT, there was no Raboso alas. However there was seemingly everything else and really outstanding they were too; 

Our first contact with John had been when he was importing the wines of Salena Estate (Australia). We had fallen in love with Salena's Bianco D'Alessano and John was kind enough to import a case especially for us. Since then he has always popped up at SITT and other wine fairs in his very hard-working life in wine. 

To our great surprise and delight we got a call from John soon after to say he had located Cescon's Raboso in their cellars. We felt as if we had won the pools and ordered 6. John had been rather hoping for an order of 6 cases he said with humour. We're sorry but our consumption has been going in the same direction as the rest of the world: down, so 6 bottles will have to do for the moment. You should order Italo Cescon wines from John though. It will be a treat for you.

 

 

 

 

 

Australia and New Zealand Trade Tasting

 

Rather than making a comprehensive tour of the tables we thought a better (shorter) way would be just to pick out a few salient items and not try everyone's patience.

For example, an overriding impression of this Australia and New Zealand tasting was the number of Aussie Zweigelts all of a sudden. There was also lots of grape diversity in general; 

Gruener Veltliner

 

Albarino and Chenin Blanc (3rd and 4th from left)

Nero D'Avola

 

 

Pecorino

Savarro = Savignin

Albarino, Chenin Blanc, Gruener Veltliner, Nero D'Avola, Pecorino, Petit Manseng and more. You don't get that elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere.

Then, in the surprises dept. Cienna Zero from Brown Brothers. When we first came across the alcoholic version of Cienna, we put it on the 'never again' list. Allowing for the indeed zero number of acceptable non-alcoholic wines, this takes poll position. OK, it's fruity as any Cienna would be but you don't get that tragic de-alcoholised taste which seems to come with all other efforts.

Finally Chateau Tanunda was there. This historic pile was built in 1890 and claims the oldest vines in the world - some planted in 1843. The property was at one time the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. 

 

Tanunda Grenache

Tanunda 50 yr old vines Shiraz

Like so many properties, Chateau Tanunda went through the doldrums but is now revived by the Gerber family. It was nice to be able to have a taste of the wines.

Gergovie Wines re-visited

 

 

Such freindy staff

We know it! We have never given Gergovie Wines their due. Why? Gergovie is a model wine merchant and wine bar. The staff are amazingly well informed, kind and helpful. In trendy Maltby St, Bermondsey they are not out of the way. Plus they always have bottles of interest even to the specialists of Slotovino.

Could it be that the first time we read the name Gergovie (a place Central France), the name of the controversial Russian conductor Gergiev sprung to mind? Somehow this clouded our image. What a stupid association. 

In fact Gergovie Wines are a thoroughly admirable company: no associations with dodgy musicians:

We import wines from a handful of winemakers eschewing the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers in their vineyards in favour of letting the land and the grape speak (sing even). In the winery, fermentation is the result of wild, indigenous yeasts and heavy-handed techniques are not used at any stage of the wine-making. These are not industrial products but a direct expression of grape, place and personality. 

By way of setting the record straight we paid our second visit to Gergovie and were stimulated as before.

 

 

First of all we wanted to buy a bottle of La Zafra 'Nu' made from 100% Valenci Negre 'Variedad casi extinta' - 'muy limitada' from Alicante, Spain. 

going to extremes to help

 

Valenci Negre is a table grape we were told on our last visit and we had enjoyed the wine very much indeed. It's rare but not unknown for table grapes to be used to make wine. There are some examples in Greece for instance and you could say that Moscato is as much a table grape as a wine grape. Fortunately Gergovie still stocks this wine.

 

Next, in our efforts to find a monovarietal Croatina in the UK, we saw that Gergovie has one from a producer called Mario Siragusa from Piemonte whose Bonarda (Croatina) is a sensible 12% alcohol which promises to allow the typicity of this grape to shine through (right). We also bought Siragusa's Grignolino but at 13% this is more of a risk in our experience (left). If you want to be sure of getting the Grignolino effect, under 13% is more sure. Vediamo.

 

shelves full of interest at Gegovie Wines.

Our visit to Forest Wines

 

Retirement is a wonderful thing; we heartily recommend it. No longer do you chomp at the bit over traffic delays or any of the minor inconveniences that life was full of when deadlines had to be met etc. Not only that but retirees can roam far and wide without a care and so it was that we decided to visit Forest Wines of Walthamstow, London E17. 

Actually, Walthamstow is not such a big stretch. Time was the Town Hall used to be used for recordings and 100 piece orchestras, choruses, soloists as well as recording crews, equipment etc would make the trek - sometimes working a session during the day with a performance in the evening. Also people live there.

 

First of all, Forest wines is a thoroughgoing neighbourhood wine merchant. There is everything you could ever want from a wine shop. No need to go anywhere else really. On top of that, the service is delightful and well informed. Vaut le voyage.

 

We were happy with our purchases: interesting and modest in alcohol.

Roc'Ambulle Pet Nat, Negrette, Domaine Le Roc. A rare sparkling version of Fronton's Negrette, one of our all time favouurite grapes. We're looking forward to this one with salivating mouth if that's not too gross. 9.5%

Folle Blanche. We've had this before and can't say we were too 'folle' about it. Let's see if this one can't win us over to this variety. 10%

A South African macerated Semillon from Franchhoek. At 12% this is not something you see often from that part of the world. Again, something to anticipate.

Lapierre Raisins Gaulois vin de France Gamay (from Beaujolais). 12%

 

Found at Valencia, February '26.

 

The label reads 'Vicente Gandia Viticoltores desde 1885 Bobal Blanco Blanc de Noirs'

We went to Valencia to visit the Todoli Citrus Foundation an hour away at Palmera. Vicente ("I love all grapes") Todoli has 500 species of Citrus fruit in his collection. We will repoort on his magnificent obsession anon.

Meanwhile, the night before, we had a delicious dinner at a restaurant in town where there was a Bobal blanco by Vicente Gandia on the winelist. Bobal really is the red wine grape of Valencia and as we shall see, Merseguera is the white. 

 

We have never been excited by any Bobals we have tasted but this example vinified white was absolutely outstanding so much so that we had a 2nd bottle right there and then.

 and later bought a bottle from 'La Bodeguilla' in the Mercado Central to take home.

  

At another, even finer restaurant called 'Yarza' we went for this Merseguera 'Las Travinas' from Bodegas Entre Aldeas which was in its way just as stunning as the Bobal Blanco. This was a pleasant surprise because 'Wine Grapes' has it that this variety is 'Uninspiring...generally lackluster...' Not in this case. Nicely aromatic and food-friendly, again we asked for an encore but this was the last bottle. Instead we drank a blend of Caino Blanco and a couple of 'friends' but although pleasant enough was nothing special.

Our last taste of Merseguera had been in 2013 when we tried Bernabe Navarro's 'La Vina de Simon' 100% Merseguera. This one had a bigger impact.

 

We had been to Valencia not so long before and hadn't realized that Merseguera was their signature white grape. On that occasion we had made a pilgrimage to the most venerable wine merchant 'Baviera' where we had bought a bottle of Miguel de Arcos which turned out to be Moristel. So this time we thought we wouldn't bother but then we remembered we have been searching for a good Prieto Picudo and maybe Baviera had something of interest?

 

We called and were offered this Prieto Picudo from Peregrino. At 13.5% the alcohol was below some of the disappointing PPs we had gone through recently and at less than 7 Euros, what could we lose? In the event the wine was pleasant enough. The search continues though.