Are food and wine matching too European-centric? Guest writer Aleesha Hansel ponders why food and wine paring suggestions are so standardised – and what sorts of wines work best with the Jamaican-Caribbean food of her heritage. ‘Goes with fish and seafood’ – wine 101 when it comes to food pairings on the back of a bottle. Uninspiring, repetitive, and perhaps when looked at with a closer lens, rather exclusionary. After all, are fish, pasta, pizza and all the other overused suggestions really all that the wine drinking public eat? Or is it another symptom of a white, European-centric gaze? Goog ..read more

Just three years ago, Georgian wine (and Georgia as a country, really), was unknown to all but the geekiest and most experimental of vinophiles. But, in true Georgian style, change has come quickly. A new focus on exports and enthusiastic response of UK wine buyers and sommeliers, combined with mainstream media promotion of Georgia as an amazing and varied tourist destination, has put Georgia firmly in public view. One thing Georgians love is to celebrate their wine – and they love to party. Every city and village in Georgia has some form of wine festival, either to celebrate the release of th ..read more

In the country where wine was invented (so say Georgians), it’s hardly surprisingly that toasting is serious business. The tradition is called supra, and its background and process are the stuff of legend – and vital for understanding the wine culture of Georgia. The legend goes that when God was creating the world, He told people to meet him at certain times and divided the land out to those in attendance. But the Georgians, working on Georgian time (slowly), were late. When they arrived, God told them that there was no land left for them, to which the Georgians replied that that they were la ..read more

Sarah Abbott MW and Swirl & Market are thrilled to be working with the National Wine Agency of Georgia for a third year to execute an expanded promotional campaign for the UK. The global influence of the UK as a strategically important market was verified by 30% growth in 2018. Consequently, the National Wine Agency committed to heavily investing in supporting their swelling ranks of UK importers. There are a growing number of both specialist and general importers serving a growing consumer appetite for both classic and qvevri Georgian wines. As Sarah says: “2018 was the first year in whi ..read more

The CIS or Commonwealth of Independent States was formed in 1991; a union of 10 post-Soviet republics in Eastern Europe which marked the end of the Soviet Bloc.  Prior to the 1990s, former Soviet and Soviet-controlled countries were exclusively allowed to export within the Soviet Union. While the focus on Russia exports was on bulk rather than quality, the 2006 embargo on trade hit the CIS countries and other former Soviet states, and almost destroyed their wine industry. Russia’s aim was to bring the increasingly European-leaning erstwhile states to heel. They missed.  Wit ..read more

It’s Europe’s, (and possibly the world’s), most important wine fair. ProWein is the wine fair where deals are done and the global trade connects. So big, and so potentially exhausting, that the seasoned fix their appointments weeks in advance and come armed with an annotated site map and sensible shoes. Recent initiatives to build interest in the artisan and esoteric have successfully connected undiscovered and under-estimated wines with the buyers who are looking for them. This year, follow Swirl Director, @SarahAbbottMW around the fair as she hosts masterclasses, catches up with far-flung fr ..read more

In the Gombori mountains, life is what you make of it. Celia Bryan Brown. Summer fades as though it never were, sunk in mist as we climb the hairpin roads through the mountain pass. Beyond steamed windows pass thickets of rosehips; orchards stripped of their cherries, plums, apricots. Wild hops drape the roadside; seed pods skeletal against the white sky. These mountains have a wildness which belies the fact that world-class wines are produced here. We pause at a coffee house at the highest point in the pass, the path strewn with dew-jewelled wildflowers. The little hut bustles with jocular, b ..read more

They might make a lot of their wine underground, but at long last the Georgian wine scene is no longer buried away known only to a few intrepid travellers. No, Georgian wines are now hot property and those importers, distributors and restaurants that have got behind Georgia in recent years are really now paying dividends. Sarah Abbott MW, who is helping to runs the campaign to promote Georgian wine in the UK, explains why she thinks wine buyers should all be taking Georgia seriously. http://www.the-buyer.net/opinion/sarah-abbott-mw-on-why-georgian-wines-are-deserve-a-place-on-uk-wine-lists/ Do ..read more