This month we head east, putting Verden – a wine bar and restaurant in Clapton, E5 – under the microscope. After due inspection, Sophie Thorpe finds a local hotspot that doesn’t disappoint. For a south London resident, Clapton isn’t the most convenient dinner destination. While a 10-mile cycle home might offer the chance to work […]

After three days, countless seminars and much wine tasting, Sophie Thorpe is back in the office and recovering from the whirlwind of Olympia. Here she ponders a handful of the ideas in discussion at the London Wine Fair 2016. Are the Old and New Worlds over? Caroline Gilbey MW suggested in her Romanian masterclass that […]

Day two at the London Wine Fair 2016 saw an opportunity to get slurping and spitting. Sophie Thorpe was only too happy to oblige: here she reports on how Pinot Noir is faring beyond Burgundy. The industry briefings of day one felt like an assessment of the UK trade here and now, with a glance […]

Sophie Thorpe reports from day one of the London Wine Fair – the UK’s most important trade forum, and a hotbed of views, opinion and exciting new wines. As Miles Beale, Chief Executive of the Wine & Sprits Trade Association (WSTA), so succinctly stated in his industry briefing, “the London Wine Fair matters and it […]