London programme
About the Festival | List of Exhibitors (2018)
12:30pm to 5:00pm – THE LONDON FESTIVAL OF WINE 2019. TICKETS £25.50. BUY NOW
Over 400 superb quality wines from you to chose from, being poured by some of the country’s top retailers and the world’s best producers. The range of wines will emphasise quality and diversity, and we’ll also have some fun elements like a blind tasting competition. Many exhibitors will be offering exclusive discounts on the day, and remember – your festival admission ticket includes all of the above.
The 2019 Masterclass programme will be announced in due course. Festival ticket holders will have priority booking. Meanwhile, the 2018 programme below will give you a flavour of the quality of sessions to expect.
12:30pm, 2:00pm and 3:30pm – TUTORED MASTERCLASSES (2018)
12:30pm – Champagne Deutz – the Pinot Noir Heritage.
Founded in the village of Aÿ in 1838, Deutz is one of the most illustrious Grand Marques, a significant proportion of their production comes from their own vineyards and the top crus of Champagne. The house style is all about finesse and precision, with wines of beautiful purity. We are particularly thrilled that Jean Marc Lalliere Deutz will join us to present the wines, and what a mouth-watering line-up it is.
Founded in the village of Aÿ in 1838, Deutz is one of the most illustrious Grand Marques, a significant proportion of their production comes from their own vineyards and the top crus of Champagne. The house style is all about finesse and precision, with wines of beautiful purity. We are particularly thrilled that Jean Marc Lalliere Deutz will join us to present the wines, and what a mouth-watering line-up it is.
The word Tom Cannavan has used to describe the Champagnes of Deutz is ‘beautiful’. These are wines of rare refinement, from a quality-obsessed house that neighbours Champage Bollinger in Epernay. Owning 275 hectares of their own vineyard, they also source fruit from top Cru vineyards. One of only a handful of houses to use only the most delicate first-press juice, around 40% of reserve wines also contributes complexity and depth. Arguably their most famous deluxe Champagne, William Deutz, has siblings in the form of Amour de Deutz, a blanc de blancs Tête de Cuvée harvested only in years of exceptional quality from Le Mesnil sur Oger and Avize, and Amour de Deutz Rosé, it’s fine colour coming from an added 8% Pinot Noir red wine from old vines on the Aÿ hillside. But a special new project is exciting Champagne lovers: the Hommage à William Deutz 2010 is highly unusual for Champagne, a new deluxe cuvée are from single parcel of Pinot Noir, which again will be made only in exceptional years. Wines to be tasted:
13:30pm – NEW! Pop-up wine tasting game – Wine Options.
Wine Options is a fun and light-hearted blind tasting game that anyone can join in, whatever their level of wine knowledge or experience. Master Sommelier, Matthieu Longuère, of London’s Le Cordon Bleu wine school, will host a fun session where everyone will be poured the same unidentified wine, and offered a series of two options as to what’s in the glass. Simply take a guess at each stage, and the last person standing wins the prize.
Wine Options is a fun and light-hearted blind tasting game that anyone can join in, whatever their level of wine knowledge or experience. Master Sommelier, Matthieu Longuère, of London’s Le Cordon Bleu wine school, will host a fun session where everyone will be poured the same unidentified wine, and offered a series of two options as to what’s in the glass. Simply take a guess at each stage, and the last person standing wins the prize.
Invented by Australian wine guru Len Evans, Wine Options really is great fun, because there’s a 50/50 chance you will get it right as each pair of options is presented. While wine knowledge certainly helps, a bit of intuition and some lucky guessing can see you through to the final few players with a chance of winning. After the winner for each wine has been settled, Matthieu will describe what clues you should have been looking for at each stage, so the game builds your knowledge of how to assess and identify a wine if presented with it blind in future. The session is light-hearted and will last for around 20 minutes, but you are bound to learn a lot from participating, and Matthieu’s knowledge as one of only 249 Master Sommeliers in the world. Who knew learning about wine could be such fun?2:00pm – Bodegas Roda of Rioja, Vertical Tasting of Roda I.
One of the superstars of modern-day Rioja, Roda celebrated their 30th anniversary last year with a series of spectacular tastings for the world’s top wine critics comparing pairs of vintages of their flagship wine, Roda I. We are thrilled that Roda has agreed to recreate the tasting for us. This truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity to taste along with Victor Charcán of bodegas Roda, and understand the importance of vintage variation.
One of the superstars of modern-day Rioja, Roda celebrated their 30th anniversary last year with a series of spectacular tastings for the world’s top wine critics comparing pairs of vintages of their flagship wine, Roda I. We are thrilled that Roda has agreed to recreate the tasting for us. This truly is a once in a lifetime opportunity to taste along with Victor Charcán of bodegas Roda, and understand the importance of vintage variation.
Roda I is an all-Tempranillo ‘super-Rioja’ Reserva, matured in French oak barrels and described by MW Sarah-Jane Evans as “the essence of fine-tuned classicism.” Roda acknowledges that each vintage is influenced by the Atlantic, Continental and Mediterranean weather patterns that have dominated the growing season, and the tasting gives an extraordinary opportunity to taste the phenomenon in action. Pairs of excellent vintages will be poured, and we will discover how the climate and landscape have left their mark. Each layer of flavour in the wines mirrors the vintage in the greatest details. Full details of the wines to be tasted will follow.3:30pm – Cheese and Wine Matching, Dos, Don’ts and Maybes.
For this tasting and nibbling session Tom Cannavan will select a diverse selection of wines from the superb portfolio of Rude Wines. Tom will also choose four different cheeses, and lead a tasting of each cheese, paired with two contrasting wines, including white, red, sparkling and sweet. In the session we will explore the ‘rules’ of cheese and wine matching – and how it can sometimes be worth breaking them.
For this tasting and nibbling session Tom Cannavan will select a diverse selection of wines from the superb portfolio of Rude Wines. Tom will also choose four different cheeses, and lead a tasting of each cheese, paired with two contrasting wines, including white, red, sparkling and sweet. In the session we will explore the ‘rules’ of cheese and wine matching – and how it can sometimes be worth breaking them.
Of all food and wine matches, cheese is the one that many think of as ‘made in Heaven’. From Port and Stilton to goat’s cheese and Sauvignon Blanc, there are ‘classic’ matches that have been proved to work, but are the rules really so simple and, sometimes, is it worth going a little off piste? For this session Tom has selected four delicious and very different cheeses, and we will try each with a pair of wines chosen by Tom to match – though with some unconventional thinking and a few surprises guaranteed. Details of the eight wines to be tasted to follow.