Getting up at 5am on a Tuesday morning is nobody’s idea of fun, but with the anticipation of what lay ahead, the pain was somewhat eased. This year was my first visit to London’s International Wine Fair. Our Chief Taster, Mike, had been before but this time he wanted the Wine Evangelist (moi) to experience it for himself.

This trade-only event is essentially a way of bringing winemakers from all around the world to one place, so wine merchants can meet suppliers and find additional wines to add to their portfolio. The number of wineries and countries on show was simply staggering. I was delighted to see the effort made by lesser known wine producing nations, such as Croatia and Brazil, who had fantastic representation.

Among the highlights, we caught up with some of our Australian partners. Scott Collett and his son Max took us through the Woodstock range, which is undoubtedly one of our strongest collections in terms of all-round appeal. We were fortunate to try some 2010 wines literally straight from the tank. The 2010 Semillon Sauvignon is going to be excellent, as is the benchmark 2009 vintage, and The Stocks 2007 is another world-beater. He also had a 20 year old fortified, which his dad had set the foundations for all those years ago. I needed to be picked up off the floor after the first taste. Stunning is an understatement.

Ben Glaetzer (see interview) was showing more tremendous vintages from the Glaetzer range, proving once again why he is still one of Barossa’s finest winemakers, and Brent Marris of The Ned poured us his 2010 Sauvignon Blanc which might just top the award winning ’09… we’ll have to wait and see as it will continue to evolve and develop over the next few months in bottle.

Of the Old World crowd, we bumped into Eric Monnin, who has finally bottled his hugely anticipated 2007 Dignite Syrah. Just as well as we’ve sold out of the ’05. Romain Bouchard was showing his IWSC Gold Medal winning Chablis, which continues to set the bar in that category, but perhaps the biggest ‘wow’ factor was during a tasting of Duval Leroy‘s epic line-up, which featured 11 different Champagnes in the space of an hour (gotta love this job), including the 1996 La Femme, which won a Gold Medal and Best in Class at the 2010 IWSC, and continues to eclipse the volume-driven Champagne producers on the supermarket shelves.

Watch this space, or sign up to our newsletter, for news on exciting new additions to the range this summer.

We’ve got several top wineries lined up for interviews over the coming months and we’d love you to ask the questions!

First up, Ben Glaetzer of Gleatzer Heartland Wines, who recently landed Gold in Decanter’s World Wine Awards for his ’07 vintage of the Amon-Ra, will be taking questions from the audience.

If you would like to know a little more about his wines, the business, or what makes this talented genius tick, feel free to pop me an email at matt@curiouswines.ie or leave a comment below. The top ten will be asked – and keep the questions clean (or at least half clean!). Questions can be specific to Ben, or generic if you just want to know a little more about the winemaking process or the industry itself.

The Glaetzers’ link to the Barossa Valley and its viticulture go back to 1888. Glaetzer Wines was set up a century later, when, after 30 years of winemaking, Colin Glaetzer created the family winery to make wines he is passionate about: limited quantities of benchmark Barossa Valley reds. The birth of Glaetzer Wines signalled a new era for Colin’s family which boasts more than its fair share of winemakers – Colin, his oenology-trained wife Judith, and their sons, Sam, Ben and Nick.

Today, Ben carries on this winemaking tradition at Glaetzer Wines. Colin and Ben share a philosophy that great wines are made in the vineyard. Their belief in terroir and an understanding of the ancient dry-grown vineyards in the renowned Ebenezer district of the Barossa Valley is evident.

Exceptional fruit from a loyal group of fifth-generation Barossa grape growers is the backbone of Glaetzer wines. With minimal intervention, Ben now makes the unique elegant wines that are regarded as classics and unmistakably Barossa Valley.

(And there’s still 10% off all of Glaetzer’s wines in our autumn sale. Stickleback, Heartland and Glaetzer.)