Bancroft Wines at the London Wine Fair 2015

The Bancroft Team was out in force at this year's London Wine Fair, taking a break from pounding the pavements and letting the crowd come to them. Enticed by new product launches, a raft of award announcements and the winning smiles of 12 of our esteemed producers, trade experts flocked to stand X60. Old favourites rubbed shoulders with the likes of Schild Estate's new PRÄMIE Special Release Shiraz 2013 and Ten Minutes by Tractor's new Coolart single vineyard Pinot Noir. Winemaker Jeremy Magyar was on hand to explain the details of Mornington Peninsula's unique microclimates while newcomer Ben manned the Schild counter.

Neil leads The Woolpack through a quick tasting

Château Viranel celebrated another year with outstanding results, with the Tradition Blanc 2014 earning a place in the Sud de France Top 100 and the Tradition Rouge 2013 scooping 88 points from the Wine Advocate (May 2015)

“The Bergasse brothers, Arnaud and Nicolas, can surely only be described as the pin-up boys of the Languedoc-Roussillon…armed with 100 megawatt smiles, they have taken over their 400-year-old family estate from their father with the enthusiasm of boisterous teenagers. Which is not to say that they aren’t serious about their wine…” Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com

Arnaud's "100 megawatt" smile

Elsewhere we employed the skills of native Spaniards Juan de la Vega and José Urtasun (from Pérez Pascuas and Remírez de Ganuza respectively) to carve up a traditional jamón ibérico generously donated by a client. Served alongside their wines from Ribera del Duero and Rioja, journos and trade professionals flocked to the stand to get a real taste of Spain.

Also from Spain, Bodegas Altanza showed the latest in their Artist Colección series, the Lealtanza Reserva Goya 2008. This is the fourth bottle in the range made in honour of Francisco de Goya and incorporates his famous paintings: The Naked Maja, Hen Blind and May the 3^rd. The rest of the range was also on show, including the old favourite Lealtanza Limited Edition Reserva 2008.

Back from her vintage trip to Chile, Brand and Communications Manager Sophie took up a spot on the stand next to Julio Bouchon Jr of Bouchon Family Wines in their fresh-look packaging. The new “Longaví” range of wines was presented to rave reviews – a joint venture made in conjunction with winemaker David Nieuwoudt from Cederberg in South Africa, whilst Bouchon's newly launched Canto Sur - a blend of Carmenere, Carignan and Pais, and has just won a Gold medal at this year's Decanter World Wine Awards.

Bouchon has recently appointed a dynamic, new winemaker - Felipe Remirez -  whose international experience covers Oregon, California, Alsace, Bordeaux, and the Rhône and his first vintage of wines are hotly anticipated. His first turn at Maule Sauvignon Blanc, the Bouchon Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2015, went down a treat. Felipe will be attending Wines of Chile’s ‘Mercado Andino’ in September with the rest of his inaugural 2015 wines.

The main hall, LIWF 2015

Soledad joined us from Argentina's Bodega Luigi Bosca, demonstrating that they (as well as Argentina) are capable of #morethanmalbec. Recent press accolades include highly rated wines from Wine Specator (Luigi Bosca Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon 2012, 91 points, Luigi Bosca Los Miradores Malbec 2012, 91 points, Luigi Bosca Gala 2, 90 points) and Tim Atkin: Luigi Bosca De Sangre 2012 (90), Finca Los Nobles Cabernet Bouchet 2011 (94), Luigi Bosca Gala 1 2012 (90), Luigi Bosca Gala 3 2013 (90), Luigi Bosca Gala 4 2012 (92), Luigi Bosca Icono 2009 (94), Luigi Bosca Riesling 2014 (93).

Moving from South America to South Africa, wife and husband winemakers Tammy and Alex Nel showed their new vintages from this consistently high scoring winery in cool-climate, high altitude site in Cederberg. The Longavi range was also on show - a project that came about after David of Cederberg and Julio of Bouchon met at the London Wine Fair on the Bancroft Stand many years ago. A dream that is now a reality.

Tammy, Soledad, Alex and Mihaela

Next up on the stand, daughter of Lionelli Marchesi, Christina Marchesi made the journey to show her new 2014s. A new, young winemaker was appointed to focus on fresher, more scented modern wines, whilst not straying from Tuscan tradition. The company is undergoing a brand redesign to communicate this more youthful image, and a fresh, young wine (Nello) has been launched to celebrate this move forwards, as well as 30 years of Castello Di Monastero operations.

Viña Matosevic celebrated their 18^th birthday this year. They have released a limited edition book entitled ‘Barely Legal’ to commemorate their history to date. The Matosevic Grimalda White was recently featured on Channel 4’s Sunday brunch as part of an emerging regions tasting, hosted by Sunaina Sethi, Head Sommelier at Gymkhana. The Grimalda Red 2010 was rated as one of the ‘eight best buys from Istria’ by Simon Woolf in Decanter September 2014.

Ivica from Matosevic and Head Sommelier at China Tang, Igor 

Marjan at Simcic took a break from redeveloping the winery to visit the fair. The estate has recently taken delivery of two new concrete eggs that will be used to make a Chardonnay Rebula blend later this year.

“Marjan Simčič's Ribolla Selekcija are extreme wines with a deep amber colour, honeyed-fruit flavours, hints of nuttiness, rich minerality and thick texture, but they should be on every wine lover's bucket list” ‘What’s bubbling in Slovenia’, Chris Boiling, JancisRobinson.com (March 2015). Simcic’s wines continue to score consistently highly with James Suckling.

Gerard Basset OBE, MS, MW, MBA tastes Marjan's Pinot Grigio

Written by James Wainscott, Trade Sales Support