I have mixed feelings about telling you about The Wine Show. Let me caveat this by saying that I feel like crap at the moment–definitely coming down with something–so maybe it was just my general malaise. But then again, the place was so jam-packed in parts, you couldn't move, you couldn't taste any wine, you couldn't anything. And this was just the Preview evening.
By shelling out £25 for tickets instead of the £11 you'll pay the rest of the week, I expected something more. I did get a pork sandwich, which was nice. (But not a £14 pork sandwich.) But I never got the "goodie bag courtesy of ViniPortugal including complimentary miniature
bottle of Tagus Creek wine, a 'pocket connoisseur' tasting booklet and
some fantastic wine offers." (But maybe I just wasn't looking.)
I did enjoy visiting a large booth of Italian wines, where Feathers and I picked up two nice bottles of Chianti for £5 each on the recommendation of the very nice woman working the stand. (That's a photo of some of their wines above.) And then Feathers and I did get a great walk-through of Hungarian whites (although it was really too fast) from the very small Hungarian stand on the upper level.
But all in all, there were just way too many people. And I don't think my preview evening ticket got me anything more special than what you will get through the rest of the weekend. Go at your own risk.
The Wine Show is at the Business Design Centre in Islington this weekend at these times:
Friday 24th – 12.00 – 21.00.
Saturday 25th – 12.00 – 20.00.
Sunday 26th – 12.00 – 17.00.
3 comments
I went a couple of years ago on a ‘normal’ day (well, a Saturday) and found it absolutely jam-packed. We didn’t get to do half the things we wanted (I think there was a wine & cheese tasting). I think you have to head to the event being quite clear about what you want to achieve!
Were those moody Burgundy growers there? The ones who try to charge you further for tasting their precious wines. Not even cracking a smile….why I oughtta…
I don’t think it’s just your general malaise – the wine show really was as you described it: over crowded, over priced, over hyped. I went on the Saturday and it was nearly impossible to get anywhere near the tasting booths and harder still to ask questions once you were there. I went to one of the tasting sessions (£6 extra) – Robert Joseph on the Rhone Valley – and it was really rushed, largely uninformative and they forgot to give everyone a wine list/tasting sheet so everyone was confused over which wine they were tasting and where to jot down their notes. As soon as it was over the cleaning staff were on our heals literally clearing the glasses as we were getting up.
There are far better ways to taste and learn about wine in London. This was more of a wine ‘trade show’ – clearly more for the exhibitors than for the guests and more for profit than for education.
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