Taste of London 2011 - the best of the booze

Taste of London 2011 - the best of the booze

17 June, 2011
by: Tom Jeffreys

Taste of London is just as much about drink as it is about food. Tom Jeffreys selects his highlights from the 2011 festival. 

Taste of London may primarily be associated with food, but, in my humble opinion, it's just as much about the booze. Whilst the big name restaurants get all the attention – and charge you high prices using the inflated in-house currency of crowns – most of the booze stands are more than generous with their wares.

What's interesting for drinks aficionados about events like Taste of London is the fusion of a kind of trade event with an atmosphere of public enjoyment. This can be both a strength and a weakness, however. There's huge numbers of new brands or brands launching new products on the market, so it's a great place to discover little-known and unusual products, and you have the advantage of chatting directly with producers, people who are invariably madly passionate about what they do. Frequently you can find youself half-heartedly approaching a stand to get a quick swig of wine, and find yourself chatting away with the head wine-maker for twenty minutes about the pH of various soil types. Or maybe that's just me.

But there are drawbacks. The sales element of a public event is more obvious, and it's slightly irritating to have people trying to force their products upon you in exchange for a few crowns. In addition, a lot of of the goods on offer are either of not that high a standard or they're just plain weird (there's only so much wackily flavoured vodka the world really needs). Having said that, maybe it's not just the products; thimble-sized portions in tiny throw-away plastic receptacles are hardly the ideal context in which to taste wine (not to mention the amount of wastage involved).

In terms of new products, one of the highlights for me is Gin Mare, a recently launched Spanish gin featuring four Meditteranean botanicals – basil, thyme, rosemary and Arbequina olives. The result is hyper-modern, but also surprisingly soft and delicate. Served with 1724 tonic (so named as the quinine is harvested 1,724 metres above sea level in Argentina) and with a garnish of rosemary, it's a refreshing drink that revels in an array of subtle flavour tones.

Wine-wise, and it's good to see the folks from Chateau Civrac offering two different vintages of their Cotes de Bourg for comparison. Civrac are known for their modernist minimalism (their labels are seriously cool and the 100% merlot Element is a uniquely innovative wine), so it's interesting to observe a little more weight and classicism in the '06 compared to the '07.

It's also good to meet one of the guys behind DesignWine, an importer of wines from small-scale independent Italian producers. They won the new-for-2011 Taste of London Indulgence Wine Award for their Fèlsina Vin Santo 2001. Rather stupidly I forgot to try it, but we did sample a jolly little Prosecco Rosé, and a richly scrumptuous Barolo. I also tried a solid Pouilly Fumé, showing all the expected characteristics, and a decent Viognier, although clocking in at a surprisingly high 14% alcohol, both from Griffinwell Wines; as well as a light and supple red Sancerre from Frenchvines.co.uk.

There's a lot to get round at Taste of London, and there's a lot that's not very interesting or not very good. But in amongst it all there are some gems available, and that's why we keep coming back.


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Tom Jeffreys