Vinest at London´s Vinopolis.

Source: H&H SERIES
Date: November 02, 2006

There were some pretty esoteric wines at the last tasting I went to, an initiative by a group of small producers scattered through Europe – they hailed from lesser-known regions of Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Slovenia.

With the help of a decent chunk of EU money, the Vinest network is aiming to promote cooperation between such small wine areas “to protect and enhance the variety and individuality of their wines, land and cultures”. It`s a laudable aim, but in the increasingly commercial world of wine it won`t be easy to achieve.

They were showing their wares at London`s Vinopolis, and there were some very enjoyable wines. I particularly enjoyed some deliciously grapy, sweet malvasias form the north-western corner of Sardinia, sturdy an fresh-fruited blaufränkisch reds from Austria`s Southern Burgenland and a variety of monastrell-dominated reds from the Bullas denomination in south-eastern Spain.

Vinest has a very informative website, www.vinest.net, whose features include information on some tempting tourist packages to encourage visitors to the vineyards – which, for the moment, is probably the only way to try most of the wines.

As with so many small export-keen producers, breaking into the UK market is very hard work. But I hope they succeed: their slogan”… life is too short to drink always the same wines!” is one I happily endorse.

Liz Sagues