Shows have been great for us over the years, but no show that we've done has ever rivalled The Sunday Times Wine Club's Vintage Festival held every year since 1980 in the great Royal Horticultural Society Hall, Westminster.
We were only recently stunned to learn that the Hall has now been 99-year leased to Westminster School. Our upcoming 2012 Vintage Festival (April 27-28) will, in fact, be the last show of any kind to be held in that wonderful space.
Sad.
If you've never been there you've certainly seen the place when BBC 1 girls wound themselves down from the great glass roof on lengths of red silk or when the passengers gathered to board the train in Murder on the Orient Express. It’s an impressive and multi-purpose bit of architecture.
We went there after our first Festival at the New Kensington Town Hall ended for me in fisticuffs with the drunken Manager. Not a great start.
But once in The Lawrence Hall as it became, things went swimmingly. And swam on in a sea of wine for 32 years.
There are people I meet every year who have been to every single show. Like me. I've never missed a show. Never even missed a single session. That's 128? Sessions or 'parties' as I prefer to see them. The best parties in London. I mean … plenty wine + friends from all over the world + food and music. And with Uncle Hugh presiding over everything with a glass, a chortle and some shouting (the acoustics were never great). If that's not a party, what is?
I dreamt up the event because I had, after ten years’ work, winemaker friends all around the world. I was always thinking if only I could see them more! And if this one in e.g. France could just meet that one in e.g. Australia they'd get so much out of it. Be fun. And if the Customers/Wine Club Members could actually meet all of them they'd really understand why wine is such a fabulous thing. They'd really benefit from meeting winemakers first hand.
They did.
We always have a vote for Wine of the Show. And, you know, they vote well do our customers. We used to invite all the Great and Good of the wine world to taste everything and select what we then boxed up and sold as 'The Sunday Times Dozen'.
We would get the odd celeb in too. You won't be surprised to learn Ken Livingston was a good taster. But Ronnie Corbett? Great little palate. 'Dirty Den' from East Enders came a few times to pour wine for his then wife Jane Hickinbotham. But mostly it wasn't a celebby thing... mostly it was just us the winemakers and the wine drinkers. And we all liked it that way.
It ran impeccably smoothly. Especially since our John Kemp took it over. It’s quite a logistical challenge but John was always standing there, apparently (but not really) calm in the storm. I think every visiting wine producer must have told me it’s their favourite wine show in the world. And they see many. No drunks. Well, very few. Polite, friendly and interested wine enthusiasts. The growers loved their arduous four-hour stints of pouring and never boring. Much easier than working a vineyard. As for the après party … let's not go there.
Well it’s certainly not over. We'll just be in a new hall next year. But if you're an old hand and you fondly remember Vintage Festivals of yore, be sure and get one of the last tickets for the great old Horticultural (Lawrence) Hall.
See you there.
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