Greetings from London!

Today was the first day of the London International Wine Fair. Two words can best describe it: Exhilarating and exhausting! It was literally sensory overload. I can best describe it as something similar to a huge car show, only with wine. This place is enormous, and there are more wine vendors showing their nectars than I can possibly get to in three days. But I will enjoy trying! Here are some first day highlights.

I attended three seminars today, which will be the bulk of seminars I will be doing. The first was with The Great Wine Estates of Western Australia; a union of the state's top wine marques pulled together under the imprimatur of Langton's (Australia's version of France's classification system). I must confess most of these estates were foreign to me, mainly because very few of them get to the States. I did have a brief moment to visit with Andrew Cailard, the keynote speaker, and he informed me it is possible to find them, and pointed me in the right direction. These were gorgeous Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blends. The Chardonnays rank up there with top Burgundy, and the Cab/Merlot blends were reminiscent of fine Bordeaux.

Next was a seminar on the Maule Valley in Chile. Most of the Chilean wines I'm familiar with come from the Maipo Valley, but these were an incredibly pleasant surprise. Maule is about 150 miles south of Santiago, and the wines are delicious. Vibrant fruit, robust, concentrated and balanced all the way across the board. I'll have to be on the lookout for these when I get back. They were fun wines to drink.

Last but certainly not least was a seminar on the wines of Trentino. Again, I was unfamiliar with this region, but I relished the opportunity to learn something new. For instance, Trentino produces lovely sparkling wines in the tradition of Champagne. Using Chardonnay and Pinot Nero (Pinot Noir), these were lovely sparklers. Most of what I knew about sparkling wine out of Italy was Prosecco, but these wines had the feel and taste of a Champagne. Their reds come from a grape called Teroldego. It seemed to be a combination of Syrah and Cabernet Franc. These wines were rich, fruity and complex, but weren't over tannic. They showed some spice and graphite notes as well.

More to come, and when I get back I will put some more detailed notes out. That is all for now... Ta!

"A man cannot make him laugh - but that's no marvel; he drinks no wine."
~WM. SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV Part 2