AHEAD of London’s fifth RAW wine fair, which opens next week, France’s only female Master of Wine Isabelle Legeron has joined together with The London EDITION Hotel and taken over their basement to showcase low intervention, natural wines.
The basement bar at the London Edition
The basement bar which is open for a limited time before the fair starts next week boasts an impressive selection of over 200 biodynamic wines, a large selection of which are available by the glass and most are unavailable anywhere else in the capital.
Sampling the wines at the festival
With little or no filtering, natural wines generally carry earthier lighter flavours and in popular wine culture rather unusual; the menu however caters for all, giving those new to natural wines familiar favourites (rose, red, white and sparkling) and those willing to try more interesting flavours can look up the Oxidative (similar in taste to sherry) and the increasingly popular Orange varieties too.
One of the wines on offer at the RAW Wine Fair
We favoured the the Domaine Milan (France), a full bodied red that was both oaky and had a depth unusual for its biodynamic counterparts, but retained fresh notes; the sparkling red Lambrusco from Denny Bini (Italy) will always be a pleasant surprise for those new to sparking reds; and Sherry fans should head to the Oxidative section and try the Domaine Didier Grappe (France) which is a perfect after dinner drink especially when complimented with a nutty comte cheese.
by Stephanie Clair
RAW at The Basement in The London EDITION, 10 Berners Street W1T 3NP The
London Edition’s RAW wine bar is open daily from 5:00PM until late and closes May 16, 2016.
Email: reservationsinfo@basementldn.com
For more information on the RAW wine fair which is open May 15 and 16, visit here