The London Wine Fair, 2024

 The 2024 London Wine Fair was reduced yet again. This time the gallery was closed as you may be able to see in the photo above. There used to be perhaps half as much wine up there as on the ground floor.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of interesting wines on show.

Ukraine provided some important examples of these but we have combined the large Wines of Ukraine exhibit at this LWF in our post of July 7th with those shown at the SITT Spring Tasting earlier this year.

So the unheard-of variety first; Mouhtaro (Greece)

Previously noted but not tasted were Aleksandrouli/Mjuretuli blend. (Georgia), Cabernet Moravia (Czech Republic) and Romeiko (Greece), all very good.

 

 

 

The Cabernet Moravia was developed to resemble Cabernet Sauvignon as closely as possible and according to this sample, it does so very well indeed, much better than any of the other Cabernet Somethings we have tried.

The strong Greek presence yielded a true rarity, Mouhtaro. Mouhtaro is not to be found in 'Wine Grapes.' Google provides us with this information;

Until recently it could only be found in Askri Valley, where the old bush vines produce low yields of concetrated grapes. The high demand for white instead of red wines and the low yields that the variety tends to produce in the arid slopes under the mountains, are responsible for its near extinction, as growers favoured other local varieties. As a grape that can withstand the heat, more and more producers of Central Greece turn lately to Mouchtaro.

The revival of Mouhtaro or Mouchtaro is thanks to Athanasios Zacharias of the Muses Estate. He was the  first producer to revive this variety bringing it back from near-extinction and producing the first vintage in 1998. This one was from the Katrisiosis family.

 

The Georgians were out in force but once again they were playing it safe with lots of Saperavi, Kisi, Mtsvane, Tsolikouri and so forth. 

 

Aleksandouli + Mujuretuli = Kvanchkara

This Aleksandrouli caught our eye as an odd man out but we would have drunk it previously in Kvanchkara, a semi-sweet wine popular in Georgia. As here, it usually comes in a blend with Mujuretuli. This bottle was Aleksandrouli 50% and Mujuretuli 50%.

 

 

Interesting also to Black Muscat is also grown in Georgia. Black Muscat is probably Muscat of Hamburgh, aka Schiava Grossa, a very well-travelled grape. 

And now for something completely diffierent. The organic Dourakis winery of Alikampos, near Chania, Crete ('The greenest winery on Crete') specialise in Romeiko as well as other Cretan varieties. According to the blog on the Dourakis website

"When their father Andreas established the winery in 1988 it was not as popular to grow indigenous grape varieties, but Andreas believed that it was important to keep Greek grape varieties alive and show the world why these unique grapes are so excellent. Today, the winery grows almost all of the 11 indigenous Cretan varieties as well as a few international grapes."

Cretan varieties apart from Romeiko include Dafni, Muscat of Spina, Malvasia di Candia (on the basis that Candia is an old name for Crete), Plyto, Vilana, Vidiano, Thrapsathiri, Kotsifali, Liatiko and Mandilaria.

 

Dry Red

  

Orange de Noir

 

 

Sparkling

Brut

Dry White

This was quite a Romeiko-fest reflecting the grape's versatility and also a certain indecision as to what it does best. 

1, Spontaneous fermentation followed by deliberate oxidative treatment. Modernised to elevate its identity without compromising its rusticity. (Red).

2. Orange wine

3. Sparkling (white) wine.

4. Dry white wine.

How about that?

Other highlights of the fair were provided by China/Yunnan and England. 

 

At a stand with the name 'Vinum Eurus' we met Dr. Zhen Tian Xie, an extraordinarily intelligent and well-informed person as well he might be with degrees and at least one doctorate from various universities around the world, currently at Cambridge,

The poster says 'Explore the mystery of Chinese terroir' 

 

 Amazingly Dr. Zheng was talking about the Himalaya and specifically Tibet or what is called 'Tibetan Area.'

'Allofme' is the rather gauche name of this wine dedicated to the Women of Tibet with the promise that part of the profit will go back 'to the local women, children and elderly people.' The wine. a Cabernet Sauvignon is actually from Yunnan, a province bordering on Tibet. However, there are vineyards in Tibet proper including one which has been recognised by the Guinness book of records as the highest in the world, not surprisingly.

Also from Yunnan is 'Celebre,' another Cabinet Sauvignon. This one bears the words Hauts Plateaux de l’Himalaya and has been hailed by Julien Boulard MW as one of the only world class Chinese wines.

The Celebre white is a Chardonnay.

Julien Boulard's notes include the following statements;

"Yesterday, during the Xige forum, I said that the best Chinese wines aren't on par with those from Western countries. I take back these words." 

and

"I’m convinced that this wine will finally put China, and especially the “Hauts Plateaux de l’Himalaya” region, on the world map of fine wines. 94pts"

Coming back down to earth as it were, we noted that Wine GB had a small presence bringing together 9 producers mainly of sparkling wine of course.

Concentrating on the still wines we noted progress in the wines of Giffords Hall who fielded a Pinot Noir and a Pinot Noir/Rondo blend.

Then a new one on us, Burnt House. The name is intriguing but nowhere can we find out the derivation. Burnt House is a farm in Suffolk of which a part has been planted to the three principle Champagne grapes plus Bacchus. As with an increasing number of sparkling wine producers, Burnt House offer a straight Pinot Noir.

As an older producer, Halfpenny Green has a different repertoire of grapes: Bacchus, Chardonnay, Divico, Huxelrebe, Madeleine Angevine, Ortega, Pinot Noir, Regent, Reichensteiner, Rondo, Seyval Blanc, Siegerrebe and (cue drum roll) Triomphe D'Alsace. 

Divico? Yes! Halfpenny Green is one of the very few British winegrowers to have planted this variety. We once imported 6 Divico vines from Switzerland but they all died.

 

The blend in Penny Red is Rondo, Regent, Triomphe d’Alsace and Divico.

Finally, another new one for us - Radlow Hundred. This is a farm in Herefordshire going back eight generations. Radlow Hundred is an administrative area noted in the Domesday Book (1086). Here, they grow Solaris and Rondo.