London Wine Fair – 2023

London Wine Fair – 2023

London Wine Fair 2023
London Wine Fair 2023

The 41st London Wine Fair 2023 at Olympia, London, was well attended with over 10,000 visitors and more than 400 exhibitors. In this review, I will be mainly featuring wines from Ukraine.
Continue reading “London Wine Fair – 2023”

The Big Hospitality Expo 2022

The Big Hospitality Expo & Low2NoBev 2022
Dutch Yellowtail Fish workshop
Dutch Yellowtail Fish workshop – The Big Hospitality Expo 2022

September 2022 saw the return of The Big Hospitality Expo at London’s Olympia venue. Co-located with Big Hospitality Expo was the Low2NoBev trade show.  In this article, I will review a selection of the best non-alcoholic drinks showcased at Low2NoBev. In recent years, technological development of yeast strains and new production techniques have led to many new interesting non/low-alcohol drinks being launched. Here are a few products that I enjoyed:
Continue reading “The Big Hospitality Expo 2022”

London Wine Fair – 2019 Revisited

London Wine Fair – 2019 Revisited

London Wine Fair 2019
London Wine Fair 2019

The London Wine Fair 2019 revisited. A look back at a selection of wines and spirits from exhibitors at the 2019 London Wine Fair. This annual UK wine fair proved once again why it is the best!
Continue reading “London Wine Fair – 2019 Revisited”

Bellavita Expo 2019 + The European Pizza & Pasta Show 2019

Bellavita Expo 2019 + The European Pizza & Pasta Show 2019

Bellavita and Villa Sandi Prosecco
Villa Sandi DOCG Prosecco

The Bellavita Expo 2019 was held on 7-8th November at the Design Centre, Islington, London. The European Pizza & Pasta Show 2019 was held shortly afterwards on the 13-15th November at Olympia, London. These almost back-to-back events provided an opportunity to discover some of the finest Italian and Mediterranean food and beverages. In this review I will highlight some of my favourite products, important Italian food UK suppliers and scenes from the shows.

First of all, the beverages!
Continue reading “Bellavita Expo 2019 + The European Pizza & Pasta Show 2019”

London Wine Fair – 2018

London Wine Fair – 2018

london wine fair 2018
 London Wine Fair 2018

The 38th London Wine Fair, with over 14,000 wines from 40 countries available for tasting, was a truly fantastic wine event for buyers, sommeliers and anyone involved with the wine industry.

This year, the event seemed somewhat physically smaller. Nevertheless, there were still many exciting wine (and spirit) discoveries to be made.

Here are some highlights from the Fair – the tastings that I enjoyed and the good experiences. As a matter of course, I am not providing any tasting notes as these can be found on the relevant winery/merchant website. Of course, many wines demanded to be matched with food, which really is another dimension and demands another article!
Continue reading “London Wine Fair – 2018”

37th London Wine Fair – 2017

37th London Wine Fair – 2017

37th-london-wine-fair-2017
37th London Wine Fair 2017

The London Wine Fair, with over 10,000 wines to sample, is always an event of fascinating wine discoveries. From the chalk downs terroir of Hampshire, England to the arid lands of the Turpan Valley, Xinjiang, China; and from the chalky-clay and gravelly soils of Bergerac, Dordogne, to the sandy, chalky, limestone-rich soils of Valencia, Spain – there were some amazing tasting experiences.

For the first tastings, I decided to concentrate on the numerous smaller French producers of Champagne. I was particularly impressed with the high standard from these lesser-known producers. Naturally Champagne tastes vary, and if food matching is normally a case of complementing the food against grape (varieties) and added sugar. So I am just going to list those champagnes that I enjoyed the most.
Continue reading “37th London Wine Fair – 2017”

Soy Sauce Casks and a History of Shenyang, Northeast China (Dongbei)

Soy Sauce Casks and History of Shenyang, Northeast China (Dongbei)

On a recent visit to Shenyang, Liaoning province, Northeast China (Dongbei), I discovered an interesting earthenware container or cask. The blue-white cask had, I was told, been excavated at some time during the 1980s at Taiyuan Jie, near Shenyang Railway Station.

soy sauce cask fengtian shenyang
Soy Sauce cask discovered at Taiyuan Jie, Shenyang, Liaoning province, China

At first sight, the rope-banded style cask seemed to be of Chinese origin. After further inspection, I considered that it might be a sake container or cask from the Japanese Meiji period (23 October 1868 – 30July 1912 ). Meiji period earthenware is generally characterised by blue and white decoration.
Continue reading “Soy Sauce Casks and a History of Shenyang, Northeast China (Dongbei)”

36th London Wine Fair – 2016

36th London Wine Fair – 2016

36th-london-wine-fair
36th London Wine Fair

The 36th London Wine Fair turned out again to be one of the world’s leading wine and trade events. With an anticipated 700 exhibitors from across the globe, showing some 13,000 wines, there was much to see and expect.

This year’s wine fair was held two weeks earlier than usual, so as to ensure a better fit with UK and International buying schedules – a good move.

It was interesting to see a selection of Japanese sake at the Fair, so it was an easy decision to start with sake tastings!
Continue reading “36th London Wine Fair – 2016”

2015 – A Year of Sake and Fujii Honke 藤居本家

Sake and Fujii Honke 藤居本家

sake-tasting-2015-restaurant-show, london
Sake tasting – 2015 Restaurant Show, London

This year has seen an increase in the popularity of Japanese food in London, and there are now nearly 500 Japanese restaurants in the Greater London area. However, and more importantly, there has been a surge of interest in Japanese sake ( Nihonshu日本酒 ).

During 2015, there have been many interesting events and tastings to promote this marvellous drink. The IWC 2015 Award Winning Sake Tasting, held at the Embassy of Japan, and events by World Sake Imports: including a talk given by Philip Harper, the first non-Japanese sake master brewer( Toji 杜氏 ) in Japan, from the Kinoshita-Shuzou brewery, Kyoto. Continue reading “2015 – A Year of Sake and Fujii Honke 藤居本家”

35th London Wine Fair – 2015

35th London Wine Fair – 2015

35th-london-wine-fair
35th London Wine Fair

The 35th London Wine Fair 2015, held at Kensington Olympia – one of the best international events for discerning wine buyers and aficionados.

Over 10,000 wines from over 80 countries were available to taste, and which provided every opportunity to discover some real wine gems. As a regular event goer, and with so many wines available to sample, it is often difficult to know where to start on a new journey of wine discovery. But I did, and here are some of my discoveries and an old favourite!
Continue reading “35th London Wine Fair – 2015”

IFE 2013 – International Food & Drink Event

IFE 2013 – Japan Pavilion

japan-maff-pavilion
Japan and MAFF Pavilion

During March 2013, I attended the International Food & Drink Event (IFE 2013) at ExCel, London. As expected the event turned out to be one of the highlights of the year, showcasing new and innovative products from around the world.

IFE 2013 had over 50 countries represented on the trade stands, and over the four-day event received almost 30000 visitors from nearly 100 countries. In particular, the Japan pavilions and sake bar, sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF) were noteworthy – one of the best ever presentations from Japan. Continue reading “IFE 2013 – International Food & Drink Event”