Stand C26 (West Hall) and Stand G102 (View Tastings Fine Wine)
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Last year’s London Wine Fair was an excellent event for Astrum and we are subsequently really looking forward to what 2015 will bring. We are particularly excited as we have a second stand this year in the fine wine section The View Tastings and so more scope to show off our wines! Our main stand will take on the same format as last year. A number of our producers will join us for the fair and guide visitors from on-trade, off-trade and independents through a range of wines from their whole portfolio, not just those imported by Astrum. The producers featured this year are Sicily’s Benanti from the slopes of Mount Etna, Caldora and Cellaro from Abruzzo and Sicily, Barolo-producer Giacomo Borgogno e Figli with Serafini & Vidotto and their outstanding Bordeaux blends, and Huber with his gorgeous Grüner Veltliners from Austria. We also have Tuscany’s Principe Corsini for Chianti and organic producer Salcheto for Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Piedmont’s Gattinara producer Travaglini and Verus from Slovenia with a beautiful selection of Pinot Gris, Furmint, Riesling, Sauvignon and Chardonnay.  In the centre of the stand we will also have a selection of wines on show from across the rest of Astrum’s portfolio.

Benanti is the newest addition to Astrum’s portfolio, joining this February. Their wines are excellent expressions of the particular microclimate of Sicily’s stunning active volcano and twin brothers Antonio and Salvino are furious custodians of the region’s indigenous grapes varieties of Carricante, Nerello Cappuccio and  Nerello Mascalese. Their wines combine a steely, saline minerality with a plethora of ripe fruits, driving acidity and intriguing complexity which is consistent not just in their single vineyard offerings, but even from their Etna Bianco and Rosso DOC. We are very proud to be Benanti’s new UK representative and given that the interest in their wines has already been overwhelming, the opportunity to taste these wines at the fair is not to be missed…

Within the eclectic selection from the rest of our portfolio we will be showcasing two wines from our first ever South African producer who joined us at the start of 2015. It represents an exciting time for the development of Astrum as we branch out even further to discover wines in countries previously unrepresented in our portfolio. Scali is a winery in Northern Paarl, run by Willie and Tania De Waal whose great, great grandfather bought the land with a 45 carat diamond he found. Their wines are distinguishable due to the high proportion of shale in the soil which adds a certain minerality to the sleek tannins and fine red fruits abundant in the red wines; their Pinotage Sirkel being a perfect example, and adds a complexity to the ripe white fruit in their Chenin Blanc Sirkel, complimenting the bright, clean, classic style with a mineral edge.

It is also an exciting year for our Vinvita range of Northern Italian wines as we have completely revamped the packaging. The new look coincided with the release of the 2014 vintages of the wines in this range; Prosecco Spumante DOC Extra Dry NV, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese Rubicone and Trebbiano Rubicone. The decision to redesign the Vinvita packaging came about due to the growing success of this range of wines over the past couple of years. We felt the range needed and deserved a label design that better represented the consistent quality of these wines as it is a selection that offers excellent value both for quality reliability and for the typical varietal characteristics each wine embodies. The new design incorporates the use of high quality textured paper, embossed font and a more sophisticated use of foils and finishes.

Looking forward to seeing you all either at our stand C26 or at our table in The View Tastings section!