In good time for the festive season, the Wine Gang’s second Christmas Fair takes place at Vinopolis in the heart of the bustling Borough Market on Saturday 6 November. There’s a choice of two sessions: 12:00pm - 3:00pm and 4:00pm - 7:00pm

To buy tickets from TicketSoup: http://www.ticketsoup.com/tickets/the-wine-gang-christmas-wine-fair-2010...

As it was last year, it’s going to be a huge amount of fun, and, apart from the chance for the Gang to meet you and vive versa, it’s going to be a fantastic opportunity to taste as many wines as you can from more than 600, many of which have been rated Gold, Silver or Bronze by The Wine Gang.

Hi from The Gang

The Infamous Five will be there, of course leading free 'Wine Walks', and taking in some of our personal favourite wines, but in addition this year we have a new attraction: four masterclasses delivered by some of the world's greatest winemakers:

• Understanding Pinot Noir & Sauvignon Blanc with Dr Damian Martin of Ara, New Zealand

• The Sélections Parcellaires of Maison M. Chapoutier with Michel Chapoutier, France

• Languedoc, the Rubik's cube of wine with Jean Claude Mas of Domaines Paul Mas, France

• Champions of Chenin Blanc with Ken Forrester, South Africa

This week sees the launch of our October issue, in which my editorial (free to view on The Wine Gang site) highlights the sheer joy of wine’s diversity and the reasons for not sticking to the devils you know.

Our hula specialist, Janine Haynes

As I point out, ‘Good wine is a never-ending source of pleasure, delight and discovery, with all the highs, and the occasional lows. Good wine is about the inspiring people who’ve made it, the incredible places where it’s made, the individuality of character and the many and varied occasions when wine makes a difference. The imagination that good wine stimulates has the power to transform our lives.’

Do try this at home

Coincidentally, co-Gangster Tim Atkin, talking about wine language in his latest Off Licence news piece, says much the same. ‘By simplifying wine (a necessary step towards its current mass market popularity, it could be argued), are we not in danger of over-simplifying it? Has the wine industry's reliance on brand name, grape variety and country of origin as a way of explaining wine obscured its brilliant but challenging diversity, its sense of place if you like?’

To make wine more interesting, he points out, ‘we need to convince people to engage their senses, emotions and powers of description from time to time, to distinguish between wines that require thought and reflection and those that are best glugged without ceremony’.

At Vinopolis on Saturday 6 November, our exhibitors, our presenters, our wines and we ourselves will come together with a common purpose: to join with you in celebrating the quality, diversity and character of the authentic world of wine. If it makes your Christmas shopping that much easier, then so much the better.

Here is the mouthwatering A - Z of our exhibitors at the Christmas Fair on Saturday 6 November:

Adnams
Armit
Alwin Barratt Siegel's fine German wines
Bacalhoa
Chalié Richards
Chapoutier
Codorniu
Constellation
Co-op
Corney and Barrow
Fonseca Port
Food and Wine from France with a Fab Fifty wines
Freixenet
Gonzalez Byass
Great Western Wine
Hatch Mansfield (Villa Maria, CVNE, Errazuriz, Louis Jadot, Taittinger)
Hilltop Wines/Oregon Wine Board and the Washington Wine Commission
10 International
Journey's End
La Différence
Laithwaites Wine
Liberty Wines (Great Italian and Australian wines, among others)
Little Beauty
Louis Latour
Majestic
Marks and Spencer
Marques de Murrieta
New Zealand Winegrowers
Oddbins
Ramos Pinto
Rumpus Communications
Sainsbury’s
Stratford's Wine Agencies
Summit for Bordeaux Wines
Thierrys
ViniPortugal/Oakley Wine Agencies
ViniPortugal/Quevedo
ViniPortugal/Stevens Garnier
ViniPortugal/Ince Wines
Waitrose
Westbury for Beaujolais
Westbury for Languedoc
Westbury for Plaimont
Wine Society
Wines of Chile
Wines of Lebanon
Yalumba and Hill Smith Family Vineyards
Zalze

See you there!

Ticket prices

Tickets for either session cost £20 each, with an early bird offer at £17.50 until October 15th. Note that Wine Gang members can buy tickets for just £15.00, so why not consider joining the Gang?

To add any masterclass will cost just £10 extra. You will need to hold a ticket to the relevant session of the Christmas Fair to attend a masterclass: they cannot be booked on their own and have limited capacity, so please book early.

Book on ticketSOUP.com or by phoning 0844 481 8898 (9am-9pm seven days a week). Tickets will also be available from Vinopolis.

For more details, check out the Wine Gang site:

http://www.thewinegang.com/news.php