Righty, as @ToddFrench had mentioned earlier somewhere here, I was in London in early November with a friend of mine, courtesy of Decanter; we were offered comp tickets to Decanter’s Fine Wine Encounter 2025 through Wine Berserkers.
As I accumulated approximately 80 tasting notes over the weekend in London, I decided to post them here not all at the same time, but little by little, at the pace I record them in Cellartracker - just to keep things manageable both for me and for the readers. I’m pretty sure nobody would read anything if I posted everything as one single mile-long post!
Anyways, here we go.
We had a morning flight to London, which meant I had to wake up at about 5 am, after a refreshing 4-hour sleep.
The traditional travel ritual at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport: a glass of ale at The Oak Barrel.
Fortunately I had something to pass the time during the flight.
After we had reached London, we had some hours to kill; we checked in to our hotel in Marylebone (just a stone’s throw away from The Landmark hotel, the location of the Fine Wine Encounter) at around 11 am, but we couldn’t get into our room before 2 pm. As we didn’t have anything sensible to do there, we decided to go have a lunch somewhere and check out some wine shops, too.
We hopped aboard a double-decker and traveled to Holborn to check out Shrine to the Vine, the wine shop of the people behind Noble Rot.
Walking to Shrine to the Vine.
The selection was relatively small, but probably the best we saw on our trip. I recognized about 50% of the wines in the shop’s selection, and virtually all of them were bottles I’d love to have in my cellar! However, the wine prices in London were just way above the level I am comfortable with, so even when I was amazed by the selection here, I just grabbed a bottle of Iliana Malihin’s rosé with me.
Next up: lunch at The 10 Cases.
I had “bread with mortadella and provolone” as a starter. I didn’t know what to expect, but I admit I never expected a grilled cheese sandwich reimagined into a cube. This was just criminally delicious.
A reliable steak frites with peppercorn sauce.
As it was only noon and we were about to go through dozens of wines in a few hours, we went with by-the-glass option, instead of a full bottle. Sometimes we are smart like that.
- 2023 Visintini Friuli Colli Orientali Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso - Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Friuli Colli Orientali (7.11.2025)
100% biodynamically farmed Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso.
Quite dark and almost fully opaque blackish-red color. The nose feels youthful and expressive with aromas of ripe black cherries, some earthy spices, a little bit of loose tobacco, light mulberry tones, a hint of fresh and crunchy dark fruits and a non-funky touch of something vaguely animale. The wine feels crunchy, somewhat earthy and quite firm on the palate with a medium-to-moderately full body and quite intense flavors of black cherries, some tobacco, light gravelly mineral notes, a little bit of mulberries and crowberries, a hint of earthy spice and a touch of vaguely animale character. The overall feel is enjoyably structure-driven with the high acidity and moderately grippy yet not tough medium-plus tannins. The finish is dry, savory and somewhat grippy with a pretty long aftertaste of ripe black cherries, some crunchy crowberry tones, a little bit of pouch tobacco, light brambly notes of black raspberries, a hint of earth and a touch of gravelly minerality.
A nice, fresh and balanced Refosco that feels youthful yet not primary. Typical of Refosco, the flavor profile is somewhat earthy and rustic, having this kind of vaguely animale overall quality, that is still not funky or brett-related. Just the way the variety is. Enjoyable stuff with good flavor intensity and nice sense of structure. Probably could benefit from a few additional years of aging, but drinking pretty nicely right now. Priced according to its quality at £8,5 (9,65€) for a 125 ml glass in a restaurant.
(90 points)
From The 10 Cases we walked to Hedonism Wines, another legendary London wine shop.
I have to admit that the selection at Hedonism was not only huge, but also hugely impressive. Tons of amazing wines and also a good number of older vintages as well! However, once again, the prices were so prohibitively expensive that my purchases were limited to just a few not-too-pricey bottles that are quite hard to obtain outside the UK (Pewsey Vale Contours Riesling and the debut vintage of Buçaco Espumante). Before we left the shop, we sat down for a bit and made use of the shop’s Enomatics located in the basement level. Naturally I had to try out some Silver Oak Cab as I was absolutely certain I’m never going to buy a bottle of this kind of wine for myself - especially at the prices the wine retails here across the pond - but I was curious enough to pay a few coins for a small sampler, just to see why the wine is so often reviled and ridiculed.
- 2014 Silver Oak Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley - USA, California, Sonoma County, Alexander Valley (7.11.2025)
A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (97,7%), Merlot (1,3%), Petit Verdot (0,5%), Malbec (0,3%) and Cabernet Franc (0,2%). Blended together in early 2015, then aged in American oak barrels (50% new, 50% once used) for 24 months. 13,8% alcohol.
Youthful, luminous and slightly translucent dark ruby color. The heady nose feels very sweet and quite unctuous with aromas of wizened blackcurrants and vanilla oak, some ripe figs, a little bit of juicy strawberry, light toasty notes of sweet mocha oak spice, a hint of cloves and a touch of coconut. The wine feels juicy, rich and somewhat jammy on the palate with a full body and intense flavors of toasty mocha oak and vanilla, some blueberry jam, light sweet notes of ripe black cherries and blackcurrants, a little bit of Bourbon-y toasted oak, hints of cloves and peppery spice and a touch of wizened dark fruits. The structure relies more on the somewhat grippy medium-plus tannins than on the soft, a bit flabby medium acidity. The finish is juicy, quite sweet-toned and somewhat grippy with a very long aftertaste of vanilla and toasty mocha oak, some crème de cassis, a little bit of ripe black cherry, light blueberry jam tones, a woody hint of savory oak spice and a touch of coconut.
Ugh, this was pretty repugnant stuff. With this much American oak, the wine smells and tastes like Bourbon - or like those cheap "whiskey barrel aged" red wines. The overall feel is quite flabby, sweet-toned and listless with a rather jammy fruit profile and way too much oak for the fruit to handle. This wine feels more like a caricature than anything one should take seriously. Although the wine might keep and even evolve over the next few handfuls of years, I doubt this wine is capable of improving into something actually meaningful or interesting. It beats me why anyone would be willing to part with £100 (approx. 113€) to get an over-oaked, jammy mess like this. Avoid. (79 points)
From Hedonism Wines we walked back to our hotel, dropped off our luggage and any other extra baggage we were carrying in our hotel room and then left for the Decanter event.
Approaching The Landmark hotel…
…and here we are.
We arrived only half an hour after the event had started, but it was getting quite crowded already!
Next up: the tasting notes from the Friday part of the event!
