The Natural Wine Fortnight
The Natural Wine Fair takes place mid-way through National Wine Fortnight, which runs from 9th - 22nd May 2011 and involves tasting events and offers in wine shops and restaurants around the country.
The Natural Wine Fair - 15th May (consumer day) 16th & 17th May 2011 (trade days), Borough Market - is the brainchild of Isabelle Legeron MW and five wine importers who, between them, represent dozens of different natural wine producers here in the UK.
The fair is all about giving people the opportunity to taste and find out more about natural wine.
Natural wines are wines that have received little intervention in the winery, are produced without chemicals and additives and are made with grapes grown in a natural environment without the use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.
Awareness and sales of natural wine have been growing in the UK and it’s an ideal time to launch Natural Wine Fortnight and the Natural Wine Fair.
Isabelle Legeron says "All of us involved in the fair share the same love of this extraordinary drink. Believe it or not, most wines are mass-produced and chemically manipulated to give a safe, predictable result. We love wine made with grapes and nothing else. So we thought why not do something together, and here we are."
Speakers at the fair will include, Isabelle, Alice Feiring (author of ‘The Battle for Wine and Love’), Monty Waldin (winemaker, author of ‘Monty Waldin’s Biodynamic Wine Guide 2011 and star of Channel 4’s Chateau Monty) and Nicolas Joly widely regarded as a leading expert in biodynamic viticulture.
The fair will host over 100 wine producers for three days including:
- San Polino in Tuscany. Their farm was certified organic in 1992 and they have stuck with it, largely as a consequence of their belief that the environment must be safeguarded and that nature has to be respected. San Polino's wines are pure class with great depth and structure. Katia and Gigi are setting really high standards in Montalcino.
- Jasper Hill in Heathcote, Victoria. Ron Laughton is one of Australia's original wine pioneers, whose dry-grown, organic wines are the reference point for New World Shiraz.
- Domaine D'Aupilhac in the Languedoc. Winemaker, Sylvain Fadat works a few hectares that he inherited from his grandparents. He believes in minimal intervention, from the vine to the bottle, using only natural substances to protect against pests and disease and the result is delightfully sturdy and ripe wine with great ageing potential.
- Domaine La Grange Tiphaine, in the Loire. Damien Delecheneau's future is bright. He is respected widely and thought of as one of the most promising young vignerons in the Loire Valley. This Domaine, which he farms without the use of chemicals, has been growing grapes for 5 generations. They plough the land regularly to help the vine roots dig themselves deep into the cool sub-soil.
- Cantina Giardino, near Napoli. Cantina’s vines cling to the side of Mt Vesuvius, of Pompeii fame. Their resulting wines have an intense minerality and depth, thanks to the volcanic soils. All wines are unfiltered, unfined and made entirely without added sulphites, and their gorgeous labels are created by artist-friends of the winemakers.
Restaurants, bars and pubs have joined in for NATURAL WINE FORTNIGHT - which is all about getting natural wines out there for you to try in the UK.
All those involved have agreed to carry at least one red and one white natural wine by the glass - a good few have a lot more.
Hopefully this is just the beginning of a natural wine takeover of our streets.
For a full list of everyone taking part, visit www.thenaturalwinefair.com/natural-wine-fortnight
