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.
The Ukraine wine stand was a welcome sight and proved very popular with wine aficionados!
Eduard Gorodetsky established the my Wine brand in 2021 after a successful career at the Odessa Cognac Factory. His wines are made from Bessarabian grapes grown on the southern part of the Odesa region near the Dniester Estuary. Today, most of Bessarabia is in the Republic of Moldova, with both the northern and southern districts being part of Ukraine. Southern Bessarabia being one of the most prominent wine regions of Ukraine. my Wine grape varieties grown include, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
46 Parallel Wine Group is a Ukrainian family company led by Anna Gorkun (founder). Only Ukrainian grapes, which are born on the 46th parallel in the south of Ukraine at Odesa are used in the making of their wine.
Their collections include, the 46 Grand Admiral, a limited collection of premium author wines produced from the best-selected grapes including Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Meunier, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Saperavi. 46 El Capitan another premium limited edition collection, made from the best Ukrainian Pinot variety grapes Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir accompanied with white and rose signature brutes. They also make thee 46 Apostrophe classic collection of wines, their sparkling wine collection being produced by Charmat method: implying re-fermentation of wine in special sealed tanks, known as acratophores ‘a tank method’. Finally, the 46 Prima Maria collection is inspired by their desire to combine wine and painting masterpieces.
GRAEVO wines being presented by Tania Olevska, Director of Marketing & Comms, Ukrainian Wine Company UK.
Graevo wine production is located in the city of Zaporozhe – Verkhnyaya Khortytsya. It is a city in southeast Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative centre for the Zaporizhzhia region. Grapes are grown on Ukrainian land – in the Kherson region, in the Black Sea Lowland, at an altitude of 100 meters above sea level.
Graevo produce semi sweet wines, dry white wines and dry red wines. Wines shown above from (left to right) are, Lemon Magaracha 2019 (Citronny Magaracha), Chardonnay 2020 (Chardonnay), Cabernet Vintage 2019 ( Cabernet Sauvignon) and Saperavi 2021 (Saperavi). I especially liked their 12 month oak-aged, dark red wine GRAEVO Saperavi Sandotren 2020
At the time of writing, it is understood that following Russia’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine that a number of wineries in the Kherson region have been destroyed and a number of sommeliers and at least one winemaker have been killed. Furthermore, the Citronniy Magaracha vineyards are currently in occupied territory and so no further grapes are currently available.
Notwithstanding, ‘GRAEVO’ means “Enjoy life with good wines”, so enjoy!
About Father’s Wine: in 2010 Volodymyr Buyachok established a winery in the Ternopil region in western Ukraine, on the banks of the Seret River, where he grew many wine varieties. In 2018, following the death Volodymyr, his daughter Oksana, and his son Taras continued their father’s winery and establishing the brand Father’s Wine. In 2019 the winery officially became the first winery in the Ternopil region, with 80% of wine being produced from their own grapes.
Apart from classic grape varieties the winery grows Muscat Ottonel, Jupiter, Johaniter, Helios, and Dublyansky grape varieties. The wines in the above picture show (left to right), Johaniter 2023 (Johaniter), Riesling 2022 (Rhine Riesling), Amber Circle 2022 (Muscat Ottonel), Pink Square 2023 (Jupiter), Red Rhombus 2018 (Cabernet Sauv, Merlot) and their premium Face wines: Face 2021 Pinot Noir (blue label).
The Villa Tinta family winery is located in the south of Ukraine, in the Lake Yalpug terroir, Danube Bessarabia. It was founded in 1998 by Valery Tintulov and is now managed and run by Mr. Tintulov’s wife Tetyana and their children Kostiantyn and Yuriy. The Villa Tinta branding was launched in 2017.
Villa Tinta wine collections include Tintarella sparkling wines, VIP wine collection and Premium wine collection. The Tintarella collection wines include Tintarella Bon Charme, Tintarella Brut, Tintarella Muscato and Tinatrella Rose Jardin. The VIP wine collection include Chardonnay 2018, Villa Tinta Odessa Black VIP 2019, Merlot Villa Tinta 2018 and Villa Tinta Cabernet 2018. Their Premium wine collection include Gewurztraminer 2019, Irsai Oliver 2021, Odessa Black 2020, Cabernet 2021, Merlot 2021, Sukholimanskiy 2019, Chardonnay 2021, Reisling 2019 and Sauvignon Blanc 2019.
Their exceptional award-winning Villa Tinta Odessa Black 2019 wine is made in the Vinhol Oksamytne estate on the shores of Lake Yalpug, Odessa, with 100% Odessky Cherny grape variety (a red grape variety from Alicante Henri Bouschet X Cabernet Sauvignon grapes). Shown above – a selection of wines from Villa Tinta.
Now for a few wines from Georgia, from the GIUAANI winery.
Giuaani winery is located in the village of Manavi, in the Kakheti region, eastern Georgia. The Kakheti region of Georgia responsible for growing approximately 75% of Georgia’s wine grapes.
Though wine making goes back to 1894, the Modern Giuaani company was formed in 2010, The winery produces wine using modern methods, and by traditional methods: using quevri (large earthenware amphorae) for fermentation, storage and ageing of Georgian unique amber wines. Grape varieties mainly associated with Kakheti region include Saperavi, Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane Kakhuri, Kisi and Khikhvi. Of special note is their traditional amber wine GIUAANI Mtsvane Qvevri 2020.
The above picture shows a selection of wines from the Giuaani winery, including an oak-aged brandy.
Finally, superb sparkling wines from Italy: Mirabella Franciacorta DOCG sparkling wines from Rodengo Saiano, in Brescia, Lombardy – the heart of the Franciacorta wine region. Wines were presented by Marta Poli, Export Manager, Mirabella Franciacorta. My personal favourite being the MIRABELLA Saten Millesimato Franciacorta Brut DOCG.
Looking forward to LWF 2024!
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