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Q & A on Les Caves’ “Fighting Wines” Tasting

Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
Cause summers here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
But what can a poor boy do
Except to sing for a rock n roll band
Cause in sleepy London town
There’s just no place for a street fighting man
No Street Fighting Man
– The Rolling Stones

Why have you called this tasting “Fighting Wines?”

This was an expression both coined by some of our customers and our reps. They wanted to see wines that hit certain price points, provided value for money but still tasted of wine rather than picrette. Plus ça change.

These are mostly wines that restaurants can list between £15 to £30, and retailers can sell between £7 and £15.

All bar a couple of the wines are £10 ex vat for the trade. We feel that our customers will violently approve! But not too violently, we hope.

How many wines will you be showing?

Approximately 120 wines split between whites and reds. Quite a few perky pinks, too. The vast majority of the wines will be from the 2012 vintage.

Any new releases?

We will be showing a new champagne from Pierre Gerbais in the Côte des Bars, an amphora white from Loxarel in Penedes, a cracking value Trebbiano d’Abruzzo from Cantina Sociale Frentana amongst others.

What proportion of these wines are organic & biodynamic?

About 50% of the wines will be organic and biodynamic. A few natural wines thrown in to keep people on their toes.

And grape varieties?

Varieties are the spice of our tasting! 80 featured in one way or another – everything from Altesse to Xarel.lo.

And what about quality?

There will be a wide range of styles. Some of the wines will be more commercial and obviously fruity, others more natural, made with indigenous yeasts, unfiltered and unfined. Quality is inevitably how much bang for buck you get and these wines are great examples of what can be done at certain prices.

Whereabouts are these wines likely to come from?

Spain and (in a class of its own), Portugal, Languedoc, Gascony and Ardèche in France, central & southern Italy and Chile & Argentina.

When’s the tasting?

Wednesday 1st May from 10.30 am – 6.00 pm

And where?

The Institute of Materials, Mining and Minerals (Mmm? Precisely!)

1 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5DB
(about 5 minutes walk from Charing Cross Station)

Do I need to register?

Yes, please. Confirm your attendance by mailing pr.events@lescaves.co.uk