Held at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London’s East End, RAW Fair was great fun. Over 200 wineries exhibiting, representing a fair spectrum of natural/authentic/real/artisan wine (or however you want to describe it. There was a good energy about the place, and as long as you are happy with knowing that you can but taste just a small selection of what’s on offer, there’s a lot of fun to be had. Here’s part one of my round-up, picking out some highlights.

Le Grappin Beaune 1er Cru Les Grèves 2014 Burgundy, France
Andrew and Emma Nielsen are making some lovely precise single-vineyard wines from rented sites, and this is one of their best. It has an amazing mineral nose, with some pear and spice richness. Pure, textured and generous on the palate yet also amazingly fresh with some nuts and spices. This has lovely purity. 94/100

Domaine de l’Ecu Taurus 2012 Muscadet Sèvre et Maine, Loire, France
This spends a year in concrete, a year in large cask and then a year in bottle, and it’s a remarkably full flavoured expression of Muscadet. Aromatic and intense with a nose of nuts, apples and wax, as well as some pure lemon notes. Lovely weight and texture on the palate: so powerful and mineral. Superb. 94/100

Le Clos de la Meslerie 2011 Vouvray, Loire, France
American Peter Hahn worked in finance and spent quite a bit of time in France with work. He decided he’d quit to actually make something worthwhile and get back to the land, so he decided to buy a vineyard. Almost by chance he found himself in Vouvray, with a self contained vineyard of four parcels around a house. This 2011 is powerfully aromatic with pear, peach, nuts and wax. Lively and showing a bit of sweetness, this has spice, herbs, ripe apples and lots of intensity. 93/100

Vale de Capucha Arinto 2013 Lisboa, Portugal
Pedro Marques is making some lovely wines from his Lisboa vineyards, and this Arinto is the purest expression of his limestone-rich soils. From three different parcels, this is fresh and linear and bright with brisk lemony fruit and a deliciously stony character. Nice focus and acidity here. 93/100

Niepoort Charme 2014 Douro, Portugal
This comes from very old vineyards, mainly in Vale de Mendiz. It’s foot-trodden in lagares with the stems, and three days or so after fermentation starts (the timing is critical), it is drained and pressed to finish fermentation in barrel. This 2014 is fine and expressive with raspberry and red cherry fruit. Elegant with fine-grained red fruits, showing amazing elegance and purity, yet not lacking intensity and concentration. 96/100

Foradori Nosiola Fontanasanata 2014 Vigneti delle Dolmitti, Italy
This is from the Nosiola variety and it has 9 months of skin contact in clay vessels. Very fine and stony with a mineral core to the pear and citrus fruits, as well as subtle nuttiness. Real finesse here: delicate, textural, pure and with lovely weight. 95/100

Claus Preisinger Erdeluftgrasundreben 2013 Vin de Table, Austria
From Burgenland, this has no added sulphites. It has a distinctive, mineral, reductive nose with some peppery notes. The lively, vital, mineral palate is full flavoured, rich and peppery with nice citrus intensity and some melony richness. Such a lovely wine. 94/100

Peter Wetzer Somlói Furmint 2015 Somló, Hungary
This Furmint comes from the amazing volcanic terroir of Somló, and it has generous pear, peach and spice notes. It’s textural and broad but there’s lovely focus here with a nice blend of rich fruit and lively mineral notes. 93/100

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