Recession and the London Wine Show

There was a considerable emotional gap between the producers, on the one hand, and the UK trade and customers on the other. There seems to have been a good harvest in most countries in 2009, both for quantity and quality, and some of the major markets are beginning to pick up. The UK trade is seeing a cutting back in volumes and margins, as customers become more price and quality conscious, while the weakness of sterling is pushing up the cost of imports, especially from Euro-area countries.

The 2009 London Wine Show took place on 22-25 October, as usual at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Discounts and complementary tickets seemed the order of the show, but even so, the Friday afternoon session was quite sparsely attended. There were slightly fewer stands than usual, and the emphasis seemed to be as much on taking money via sales, or charging for samples, than on general promotion. Indeed, some of the retailers, particularly the internet operations, lacked both contact information and lists. This seems a strange way to persuade people to find them on line.

As time goes on, the wines at the supermarket level are becoming technically better, regardless of source, but they are also starting to become more homogenous. White wines are often pale and off dry with neutral fruit flavours; reds show moderate depth, bright red colour and slightly cooked fruits. All the wines are clean, strong and lacking any aftertaste. Judging the geographical origin or grape variety is becoming increasingly difficult at the commercial level.

Once the prices get to about £10, the wines have more character, although the effect of warmer and longer growing seasons, and a standardisation of wine-making techniques, is making it harder to tell whether a wine is made by a small producer in Australia or a cooperative in France . Some of the wines noted for their ‘rustic’ character are becoming more elegant. Grapes that would have been shunned as impossible to grow economically, or lacked a rounder flavour, are being nurtured in the vineyard and sympathetically treated in the winery to make what turn out to be fruity but often anonymous premium wines. Nevertheless, there are some new stars in this category, with the wines of Southern Italy and South Africa beginning to show well.

Unfortunately, there were very few top wines from noted areas this year, outside the special tastings (up to £35 for entry). There were a few good ones on the Wines from Spain stand, and one or two from Australian makers. Interestingly there were some interesting sweet wines, with two sets of Ports from small estates, and we had bottles from two important Australian Liqueur Muscat houses.