Five thousand visitors at London Organic Wine Fair

The RAW alone, organized by Isabelle Legeron, Master of Wine, counted 3,000 visitors, 1,900 of whom being professional visitors from the wine and gastronomy business, as well as 1,100 wine lovers. The two-day wine fair, which is - by the way - supported by the “Biodynamic Organisations la Renaissance ds Appellations and VinNatur” and by the “Sud de France”, took place on the Old Truman Brewery on the Brick Lane in London East End.

“We had 206 producers, predominantly from Europe, with France and Italy on the top. Georgia was represented by six vintners. Only five vintners came from the southern hemisphere – further 50 vintners were on the waiting list”, Isabelle Legeron reports. The seminars offered at the RAW were led by Nicolas Joly, Claude Bourguignon, Monty Waldin and Julia Harding, MW.

In parallel, the “Real Wine Fair” took place in Victoria House, Southampton Row, London, with more than 180 producers from 14 wine nations. Over 2,000 visitors were registered – wine consumers, and above all traders. The striking thing was the large number of visitors from countries like South Africa, Norway, Canada, Japan and Australia, who were allowed to taste over 800 organic, biologically dynamical and natural wines. Among the experts, there were well-known wine journalists and wine critics like Alice Feiring, Jamie Goode, Monty Waldin and Max Allen; they were supported by producers like Olivier Cousin, Tom Lubbe, John Wurdeman and Craig Hawkins.

Will Lyons, wine critics at the Wall Street Journal, who – before the two competing wine fairs - had presented himself skeptically, was impressed by the huge number of visitors and, above all, by the quality of the wines: “I liked it. First, I thought natural wine to be nonsense but I enjoyed the tastings very much. The intelligence which the producers produce their wines with is inspiring. They are wine growers that earn their living by this -it is their vocation.” (red.yoopress)