The City Tastings are strictly for trade and press, by invitation only.

Monday 11th January 2010
Newcastle-upon-Tyne at Jesmond Dene House

Tuesday 12th January 2010
North Cumbria at Sharrow Bay

Wednesday 13th January 2010
Alderley Edge / Wilmslow (venue tbc)

Monday 25th January 2010
Winchester at Hotel du Vin

Tuesday 26th January 2010
Bath at The Bath Priory

Wednesday 27th January 2010
Ludlow (venue tbc)

Manchester
Monday 14th June
11am – 5pm

Edinburgh
Wednesday 16th June
11am – 5pm

Sarah Ahmed receives the award for the 2009 Portuguese journalist of the year.

The 50 Great Portuguese Wines are always chosen by Portugal’s journalist of the year. This year Sarah Ahmed www.thewinedetective.com will present you with her personal choice of her desert island list of Portuguese wines. Sarah has spent weeks in Portugal over the last 12 months making her selection, which we can promise you will be absolutely outstanding. Join her at these prestigious events and discover for yourselves some iconic and very special wines from Portugal. Sarah will make brief a presentation about her selection at 12.30 and at 3.30.

This year, Portugal has been No. 1 in terms of this particular lady’s wine detecting. My mission? To select wines for next year’s 50 Great Portuguese Wines tasting. Five trips and still counting, I’ve travelled and tasted my way across the length and breadth of Portugal leaving no stone unturned. It’s an exquisite exercise – the palate truly never tires because Portugal has such a wonderful diversity of grapes, climate and soils. Can I offer any clues to my selection? I would have to kill you afterwards so no, but I can tell you that February’s denouement will excite and surprise. It won’t just be the usual suspects – there’s plenty of new talent which has yet to hit these shores…

Sarah Ahmed, The Wine Detective

Strictly trade and press by invitation only. Requests for invitations to viniportugal@jkmarketing.co.uk or call 01829 720130

Please fill in the registration form below:

Please Note: This is for trade only if you want to come to the consumer tasting the evening before then join in The Big Tasting. www.thebigtasting.com

Tuesday 13th April 2010 – 11:00am to 6:00pm
Lord’s Cricket Ground, Nursery Pavilion
St Johns Wood, NW8 8QN

Join ViniPortugal, the producers and importers of Portuguese wines at Lords Cricket Ground at their Annual Tasting of Portuguese Wines. Portuguese producers are exporting more and more wines to the UK. These wines offer the consumer something really different, and are great value for money. You will enjoy wine walks, talks, tastings and discover the diversity of this magnificent wine producing country.

At the tasting you will find

• Producers looking for representation in the UK, so here is your chance to pick up some wines that could be unique to your company.
• Importers and producers showing new brands, new vintages of old favourites
• Regional groups

Looking for anything in particular? We can make a wish list for you.

If your looking for new agencies, specific wines at particular price points, certain styles to suit your clientele – We can make a wish-list for you in advance of the tasting: please ask.

Taste wines with Sarah Ahmed on the hour every hour.

Sarah will be hosting ’short-burst’ tastings on the hour every hour; join her on a tour around Portugal – the regions and the grape varieties – and enjoy her pick of the tasting (from 12 noon).

Vini Portugal: We’re here to help

• Find wines for your business
• Offer busaries for your Portuguese promotional activity
• Promote your business on www.viniportugal.co.uk
• Give you a Point of Sale material

The Exhibitors

• Taste wines with the producers
• Meet the UK’s leading importers
• Discover new producers looking for UK representation

Themed Tables

Focussing on some areas of current trade and press interest, you’ll find 3 themed tables at this year’s tasting:

• Moscatel
• Touriga Nacional
• Alvarinho

Portuguese wines have gone through an amazing revolution over the past ten years, and they are now at the Vanguard of the wine producing world. A refreshing mix of fascinating indigenous grape varieties, international varieties & both new & old winemaking techniques, Portugal offers amazing diversity & Value For Money.

Ben Stephenson, Hangingditch Wine Merchants

Please fill in your details below to register for the Annual Tasting of Portuguese Wines.

Monday morning e-mails will never be so exciting again…

The ViniPortugal office received an unlikely e-mail from the Chief Executive Officer of the Urban Music Awards asking for a donation of 45 bottles of wine for the VIP reception at the event in London.

In return for the wine, ViniPortugal would have their ‘where to buy’ logo on the Urban Music Award website (which has 1.5 million unique hits a week) point of sale material put in to goodie bags for the guests, and 2 VIP tickets to attend the Urban Music Awards in London… This is when I got excited about my e-mails!

As the co-ordinator, I was the lucky person to become the owner of the VIP tickets for the music awards, and to say I was excited was a complete understatement!! (The award category line up was sent to me and acts such as Calvin Harris, Dizzy, Radio 1 and Mr Hudson were all up for nominations)
After about 15 minutes, when I actually remembered how to breathe, the planning began.

Wine Sorted were fantastic and ensured that the requested wine was packed up and sent to the venue in time for the award show on Sunday.

Waiting for the award day to arrive seemed like forever, and I really didn’t know what to expect from the whole event and set up, but I was not disappointed when we arrived. We went straight to the VIP reception where there were free drinks, including some brilliant Portuguese wines (of course!) and some celebrity spotting to be done. We saw soap stars, Frank Bruno, Levi Roots, Egypt, Big Brother housemates and bizarrely George Galloway!

There was a vibrant atmosphere in the reception area, and after half an hour or so (and a few alcoholic drinks later) were lead into the theatre for the award ceremony. The theatre was fairly small as the event was by invitation only, but it made it far more personal and enjoyable to watch. The awards lasted about 3 hours in total, with various acts performing in-between the awards.

I was very happy to see Levi Roots win an award for a new category ‘entrepreneur of the year’ for his Reggae Reggae tomato ketchup as I love the stuff. It got even better as I managed to meet him, and I admit I did get a photograph with him.

After the quickest 3 hours, the awards were over. ViniPortugal got a mention at the end of the show for their support so we certainly made our self’s known in the theatre!

I have to say, it’s the coolest thing I have been too in a very long time, and I wonder what next Monday’s e-mails have in store for me…

The inaugural Boutique Wineries Tasting was a huge success for both exhibitors and visitors. To find out why this tasting was so exciting read some of the blog posts on this site.

The Boutique Wineries Tasting offers on and off trade buyers, along with press visitors, the opportunity to taste truly outstanding wines that are available in limited quantities. Importers, generic groups and producers will be exhibiting. It’s the perfect event to get all your pre-Christmas tasting done in one day.

The next Boutique Wineries Tasting is due to take place on Tuesday 21st September 2010, venue to be confirmed.

Click here to view the photos from the 2009 event.

Think Small

After the recent anti-alcohol rallying cry from the BMA, holding a wine tasting at the British Medical Association’s HQ might be thought of as akin to infiltrating Troy with a wooden horse. In this case however, the footsoldiers of wine were there not to bury their enemy but rather to praise the endeavours of winemakers around the world making quality wines from boutique wineries. There’s no precise definition as to what constitutes a boutique winery, but Judy Kendrick, who organised the event, Judy explained: ‘In these days of the “big brand”, talk of minimum prices for alcohol, and featureless bottles, it’s essential to remember that we’re in this business for the love of “real” wine made by producers …who are passionate about producing truly outstanding wines in limited quantities’.

The BMA knows the way

A first for the wine trade, it gave a number of the UK’s less-heralded independent wine merchants a platform from which to show that they can offer small volumes of quality wines that the big retailers can’t or won’t touch. That may mean not just a walk or drive to your nearest store to pick the wine up, but the growing efficiency of the internet and mail order makes it every bit as easy and often more convenient to use an independent wine merchant. So, for Gauntley’s of Nottingham (www.gauntley-wine.co.uk) for instance, it was a chance to showcase the excellent champagnes of their Ambonnay-based grower Eric Rodez, whose Blanc de Blancs, £34.95, is a chardonnay fizz of great finesse, while his Grands Vintages, £49.95, curiously semi-anglicised in name, is a magnificent blend of seven vintages from 1992 to 2000.

SWIG Wines (www.swig.co.uk) used the opportunity to show off growers from both Europe and the New World. Australian winemaker Tom Carson, ex Yarra Valley’s Yering Station, was on hand to show his new brand Yabby Lake, whose elegant cool climate raspberryish pinot noir from the Mornington Peninsula £14.50, was matched by an exotic, pineappley Yabby Lake Chardonnay, £21. Pyramid Valley is a tiny winery in New Zealand making excellent pinot noir, and its 2007 Eaton Vineyard Pinot Noir, £28, is a model of intensely flavoured mulberry and loganberry-filled fruit, £28. Closer to home, a northern Rhône syrah stood out, the 2007 Les Hauts du Monteillet Syrah, £13.50, from Stéphane Montez, for the sweet peppery aromatic quality of its smoky-peppery Côte Rôtie-like fruitiness.

Piantate Lunghe vineyard, Rosso Conero

A new name to me, Colosanti (www.colosanti.co.uk) is a small wine merchant bringing in distinctive Italian wines. Among their small winery offerings, I was impressed by a polished, beautifully oaked modern dark cherry and damson-fruity barbera, the 2005 Tenuta Olim Bauda Barbera d’Asti Superiore Nizza, £16.25. From Le Marche, I loved the excellent 2005 Piantate Lunghe Conero DOCG Rossini, £20.65, an ultra- stylish red made from the montepulciano grape in Ancona’s Monte Conero vineyards. It was full of vivid plum and mulberry fruit flavours with savoury fresh acidity and oak bringing roundness and richness of texture.

If growers’ wines of character excite you as much as they do me, I hope you’ll come to The Wine Gang’s Christmas Fair at Vinopolis on 7 November, timed to fulfil all your Christmas wine needs. I’ll be on hand with my fellow gangsters to walk you round to some personal favourites from over 600 wines and 50 exhibitors.

The word “boutique” makes me shudder as it conjures up images of eggs and fragile baskets, cooks and badbroth. Boutique wine makers often seem to me like pushy parents, creating a product that looks to have all the credentials, but is utterly charmless and not worth the high price paid.

Although it seems I was wrong. Perhaps the after-school polo club and the Mandarin lessons were worth it, because the wines on offer at Tuesday’s tasting were truly outstanding and positively premium.

I started at Maisons Marques et Domaines and I sampled the Louis Roederer Brut Premier NV. I know this wine back to front, but I needed to start strong. It smells oft he caramelised nuts sold on Waterloo Bridge, but is as fresh on the palate as lemon verbena tea, with the most gentle, creamy mousse.

My mood lifted and the Pinot Gris Kitterle 2007 from Domaines Schlumberger glowed in the glass. It tasted of papaya. I love a wine that heralds from the northern hemisphere but offers hope of more exotic climes.

My morning continued to improve with the wines from Swig. They have some fantastic Roman whites, I thoroughly enjoyed the Greco Moro/Greco Giallo 2008 blend from Marco Carpineti. The acidity was a little lacking, but it was so robust on the palate that I got carried away with thoughts of deep-fried zucchini flowers and salty carbonara.

My favourite white was undoubtedly the Lismore Estate Viognier aoo8, from South Africa. I usually struggle with Viognier – too fruity, too alcoholic, too fat – but this wine straddled the Old World and the New. On the palate sweet and savoury flavours mingled delicately and lingered while I scribbled.

Staying with Swig, the Barbera 2006 from Renato Corino, was a joy. It reminded me of Madonna’s video for Like A Prayer – starts off dignified and holy (a nose of cold stone and incense) but then turns into something intensely sexy with flavours of Amedei ,chocolate, baked plums, rose and violet.

Lastly, a wine I have long been a fan of, the wonderful Donatella Cinelli Colombini Brunello 2004 from Ellis of Richmond. A strong frame of tannin, with taut acidity and robust flavours, woven together by an all female team. A rather formidable wine to finish an unexpectedly exceptional tasting.

Emily O’Hare
Sommelier at the River Cafe
Boutique Wineries Tasting

Facebook is free market research

The future is already here with regards to new media, and it’s very easy to promote businesses freely online, said media consultant Ryan Opaz at the Social Media in Action seminar, held at the Boutique Wineries Tasting.

Opaz, who writes wine blog CataVino and lectures in internet marketing, conducted the seminar on September 22nd at BMA House and advised businesses to “get on to Facebook as it’s changing very quickly”.

“It’s very easy to create a fan page for a product and share a huge amount of information” he added. “Plus without them really knowing what’s going on, you’re collecting everything you need from addresses to demographics. It’s free market research,” he said.

“Today’s media is all about reaching out to people and having them reach out to you,” he added. Opaz also recommended Twitter as “the most powerful tool on the web today” and a valuable marketing strategy with live wine tastings already taking place online.

Wine blogging is also changing and expanding, said Opaz and there are currently 1000 wine blogs in 12 different languages. He said one of the main advantages of blogs are that they are “naturally bouyant” and rise to the top of Google.