Waud Wines

20/06/2024

Another fantastic dinner in Waud Wines event portfolio!
And not a regular one, but in one of London’s finest private dining rooms at ! 🍽️

Our guests had a change to enjoy new wines from , a winery we’ve supported since the start of our business 🍇🍷
 
It was wonderful to catch up with old friends and meet many newcomers. The feedback this morning has been amazing so thank you to all of those that came.
 
A big thank you to GAUCHO for the incredible service and some of the best steak the West End has to offer. We’re looking forward to hosting more events here!

19/06/2024

🥂Can you hear it?! It’s the clinking of the glasses cheering to another English Wine Week! 🍇

Every year, we joyfully seize the opportunity to look the French in the eyes and boldly declare our love for English sparkling wine! 🫢

And 2024 will be just as special! How fortunate we are to have this fantastic week during the hot summer days, when all you need is a bit of vitamin D and some bubbles 😍

If you still haven’t had a chance to fall in love with local producers (what are you waiting for?! 🫨) or need to stock up on some refreshing cases for your summer parties, head over to our website and choose from our portfolio of exceptional crafters at , and ! 🥳

And for an extra special treat, join us on September 4-5 for a tour at Rathfinny winery! Stroll through the vineyard, peek into the winemaking facility where all the magic happens, admire an impressive cellar, and enjoy a full portfolio tasting, three-course dinner, and an overnight stay at Flint Barns. All this for just £235 per person! 😱

Happy English Wine Week! Chin-chin 🥂🙂‍↔️

07/06/2024

The busy week continues with a super Old World versus New World tasting at KP Brokers last night - a super selection of wines from across the globe - with the red wines coming out on top! We served some California Ridge for the mystery wine game - which amazingly someone correctly got right!

05/06/2024

A couple of Waud generations enjoying the show! Really good fun and look forward to sharing a few glasses with you for the last day tomorrow!

04/06/2024

Here we are exhibiting for@the next few days. Pop by stand 13 for a glass of something and to enter the prize draw to join us on tour in July 2025 to Champagne and Alsace. Hopefully you cannot miss us in our quiet blazers!

28/05/2024

**WE ARE HIRING!**

Please click on the link below if you are interested in a Sales and Marketing Support role in our business.

Please continue to spread the word to any of your contacts that you think may be interested.

Apply for WAUD WINES LIMITED Remote Sales and Marketing Support Role (Maternity Cover) Job in London, United Kingdom with Salary: £25,000 to £28,000

10/05/2024

We are already eagerly looking ahead to 2025's Wine Tours - can you guess where we might be heading to? 🍷

Find out our 3 fabulous destinations for next year by heading to the link in bio! 🍾

If you cannot wait that long to get away, our 2024 tours to Burgundy and Barcelona still have a few spaces remaining - do get in touch for details. 🍇

08/05/2024

Barbecue season is finally here - and is a chance to have a crack with those classic food and wine pairings. Tonight, we have beef skewers, summer salad washed down with some Declassified Margaux - testing out the new 2022 vintage. Cheers!

25/04/2024

Another fantastic day yesterday in Bordeaux - kicking off with tastings on the Right Bank at Conseillante in Pomerol and concluding at Figeac in Saint Emilion. 🍷

One prominent feature of this vintage is the remarkable structure of the 2023 Right Bank wines, complemented by a refreshing acidity and tension. 🍇

The day's highlights included a memorable tasting experience, accompanied by lunch, at Chateau Ausone, as well as exceptional wines from Cheval Blanc. 🍴

We also found ourselves particularly impressed by the offerings from Chateau Figeac. 🔝

Overall, it has been a fantastic few days of tasting, fostering existing relationships, and establishing new ones. 👏

With mouths parched and teeth stained, it's time for a beer! 🍻

24/04/2024

Day 2 of Bordeaux Primeurs 2023 🍷

We spent the morning meeting with a partner of ours yesterday and sharing ideas for our 2024 investment campaign! 👏

We then spent the afternoon with one of our negociants, trying some of the wines that we missed out during the tour of the left bank on Monday - as well as some amazing wines from Saint Emilion and Pomerol that we won’t get a chance to visit whilst we're here. 🇨🇵

The wines from Pessac-Leognan were really stand out. Very much looking forward to what the final day has in store. 🍇

23/04/2024

A very good first day of Bordeaux Primeurs 2023 yesterday. 🍷

Visiting the Left Bank, we tasted plenty of wines with the Cabernet Sauvignon showing great structure and juicy fruit. The Margaux wines were particularly stand out with excellent examples from Chateau Margaux and Chateau Palmer. 👏

A stunning lunch too at Chateat Pontet-Canet, and surely one of the finest cheese boards in the world! 🧀

We're very much looking forward to another couple of days of tasting! 🇨🇵

09/04/2024

Lovely lunch time drop with the Waud Wines team this afternoon at 🍷

The Sisquella 2018 is a blend of Garnacha Blanca and Albariño from family-run - one of our favourite Spanish producers and one of the wineries we will visit on our Barcelona tour later in the year. 🇪🇸

With tropical notes of pineapple, white peach and white flowers on the nose, there is good weight as well as freshness on the palate. This is a really good value wine that's perfect for these sunny spring evenings. Cheers! 🥂

08/04/2024

At the end of last week we hosted our very first Bordeaux Declassified Wine Tasting. 🍷🇨🇵

What is Declassified Wine? In short, declassification comes about when a winemaker has completed the final blend for that vintage and has decided not to add any more barrels into the mix. These barrels of wine are then sold on to negociants who bottle and sell the wines with unbranded labels (- sadly we cannot disclose which chateaux the wines come from). But at First Growth level in particular, the precision needed to create the finest wines in the world is so extraordinary that many chateaux decide to declassify small parcels instead of producing high volumes under their esteemed labels. So very often, these declassified wines are coming from the top chateaux in Bordeaux. 🔝

Unsurprisingly, these wines have been selling rather well - so we thought we would give it a whirl tasting with some select guests at Royal Ashdown Forest Golf Club. We tasted some special wines from Pauillac, Margaux, Saint Estephe, Saint Emilion, Saint Julien and Sauternes - and they all went down very well indeed. 👏

We will be hosting more of these tastings in the coming months, so if you are interested in joining, please do let us know! We have a select few available to order through our website too - simply follow the link in bio. 🍷

28/03/2024

It has taken a couple of weeks to come down from a most fabulous tour to Bordeaux taking in some of the most iconic Chateaux in the world.

Take a look at the link below to read the write up and see a few snaps from a couple of fantastic days away exploring Bordeaux on our latest Tour du Vin.

This was a truly epic wine tour to Bordeaux - taking in some of the most famous Chateaux in the world.

13/03/2024

As today is International Riesling Day – we thought this week’s Wine Education post should focus on this wonderful white grape variety. 🍇

Best known for producing some of the finest wines in Germany (almost a quarter of all German wine is made from Riesling), this variety also has notable plantings in France’s Alsace region, Austria, Australia, the USA, and New Zealand. 🇩🇪

An aromatic variety which shows aromas of lemon, lime, green apple, peach, and often jasmine and honeysuckle, Riesling’s most distinct aroma is petrol – but you tend to mostly find this on older vintages. Because of these aromatics, winemakers usually do not barrel age Riesling wines – so if you are not a fan of oaked whites, Riesling is a reliable choice! 🍋🍋‍🟩

Riesling is a hugely versatile grape that can be produced in a range of styles – from bone-dry to lusciously sweet. Its wines have fantastic ageing potential thanks to the naturally high acidity levels and sugar levels found in the grapes. The best wines will age beautifully for several decades – it is one of the few white grape varieties capable of this. 👏

Because of its versatile nature, Riesling is a brilliant food wine – the sweeter styles pairing wonderfully with spicy Asian cuisine, whilst the lighter, drier styles with their racing acidity are a great match for fatty, rich foods. 🍜

Riesling offers so much and is adored by wine enthusiasts the world over – not least for its aromatic complexity, racing acidity, and its ability to beautifully reflect the terroir, but also for its ageing potential. A noble grape completely deserving of its own International Day of Celebration! Cheers to Riesling. 🥂

12/03/2024

We are delighted to share that our very own Charles Waud has been shortlisted in the online category at the 2024 Wine Buyers Awards! 👏

"The Wine Buyers Awards provide recognition for the UK’s best professional wine buyers across the spectrum of the trade. They acknowledge buyers’ influence in creating trends, the value, quality, or pure innovation offered in their wine lists or ranges."

Congratulations to Charles for being shortlisted - we look forward to attending the award ceremony at this years London Wine Fair. 🍷

08/03/2024

We finished off our first Tour du Vin of the year in style with an action packed day on the Left Bank, visiting two First Growths and two Second Growths.

First up was Château Margaux - where we had a tour of their incredible estate, even watching their in house Cooper. We were able to taste their second wine, Pavillon Rouge 2015, and then made our way onto the Grand Vin, Chateau Margaux 2011.

We then headed to Saint-Estèphe to visit Château Montrose. This visit included a look at the iconic Barrel Hall, as well as a super tasting of Tronquoy 2018, La Dame Montrose and two vintages of Chateau Montrose - 2014 and 2019.

After an excellent pit stop for lunch at Café Lavinal, overlooking the amazing new facilities at CHATEAU LYNCH BAGES, we got back in the fun bus and headed to Saint Julien, for our next tasting at Château Ducru Beaucaillou. We added their range of wines to our list recently and they certainly didn’t disappoint - we finished off with their 2006 Gran Vin.

Finally, the last tasting of this trip involved a very special visit to Château Mouton Rothschild. Incredibly famous, very traditional, with plenty of history and culture to take in. The wine label gallery was very special indeed and worth a visit if you can. The last two wines on tour were a treat. Petit Mouton 2014, then Mouton Rothschild 2015. A fantastic way to end our tour - we look forward to planning a similar tour this time next year.

06/03/2024

Another cracking day for our tourists on Day 2 of the Bordeaux Tour du Vin - some special tastings in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol today. 🍷

After a vineyard and cellar tour at Chateau-Figeac, we tasted their 2015 Figeac, before heading onto Château Troplong Mondot where we enjoyed Mondot and Troplong Mondot 2018. After an amazing lunch at Troplong’s restaurant, Les Belles Perdrix, we popped into Pomerol to visit Chateau La Conseillante and tasted their 2022 Grand Vin. Finally we headed back over the road to Château Cheval Blanc and tasted the 2011 Cheval Blanc. Superb. 🇫🇷

An amazing day and we look forward to going again on the Left Bank tomorrow! 🍇

05/03/2024

Fantastic first day of our Bordeaux Tour du Vin, taking in some of the Left Bank in Pessac-Léognan and Sauternes.🍷

We started the day with a tasting at Château Smith Haut Lafitte, where we enjoyed a fantastic tutored tasting with their head winemaker. We then travelled to Sauternes to visit Chateau Suduiraut, where we tasted a rockstar flight of wines, both sweet and dry, with the end finishing on their 2007, 2006 and 2005 Suduiraut Grand Vin. From there we headed back to Bordeaux to visit Chateau Les Carmes Haut-Brion - a chateau that is the only one to grow their vines within the city of Bordeaux. 🇫🇷

A real treat for day one, as we look forward to visiting the Right Bank tomorrow. 🙌

29/02/2024

A few years ago, we put Erin Jacobs in touch with our contacts at Bodegas Muga, after which, she successfully secured a role as their Sales and Marketing Intern. 👏

She's written a lovely piece about her experience for us and you can read all about it over on our blog. Simply follow the link in bio. 🍷

Thank you, Erin! 🥂

28/02/2024

Wine Education Wednesdays 🍷

This week, we are talking about tannins! 🍇

Tannins are a type of polyphenolic compound and an important structural component in your wine. They are found in things like fruit, tea leaves, and dark chocolate and create the same sensation on your palate as they do when you find them in wine. 🍵

Tannins bind to your saliva, creating that slightly rough, drying effect that coats your mouth. You generally notice this most on your gums and may be able to taste a bitterness at the back of your mouth – these are the main indicators of tannins being present in wine. 👄

Tannins are found in both the seeds and stems of a grape, but they come mostly from the skins. There are higher levels of tannin in black grapes and especially those with thicker skins. Whilst white wines can have tannins too – especially if they have been aged in oak barrels or have spent time in contact with their skins – it is generally red wines where we need to think about tannins when wine tasting. 🍷

Undoubtedly the trickiest thing about determining whether tannin levels are low, moderate, or high, boils down to understanding tannin ripeness. Unripe tannins can feel especially drying, astringent and harsh, leading you to believe that the levels are HIGH, when in fact they are just moderate and unripe. Equally, you can have a wine with beautiful silky, ripe tannins that are not as punch-you-in-mouth-drying, which makes you think the levels are only MODERATE, when in actual fact they are high and ripe. 🥴

Nice and confusing hey? So, try to consider other factors – does the wine overall seem a bit thin? If it does – it probably has lower tannin levels that are simply unripe. Does your wine feel full bodied? If so, the tannin levels may be higher than you initially thought. Tannins are a structural component that hugely influence the OVERALL mouthfeel of your wine – so try to remember this next time you are tasting! 🤩

If you want to find out more about tannins – which grapes have higher levels, how to pair high tannin wines with food, and how best to serve them, for example – follow our link in bio and read more on the blog!

21/02/2024

If you are a fan of Italian food and wines (we've never met anyone who isn't!) - we are hosting an Italian Wine Dinner at the Spaghetti Tree in Walton on the Hill over in Surrey next Wednesday, 28th Feb at 7pm. 🇮🇹

This will be a follow-on from our very successful Spanish dinner at the end of last year and is guaranteed to be a fun, informal and lively evening - so do join us if you are looking to try some fantastic Italian wines! 🍷

*stunning Italian views regrettably not included 😜

For further information about the event and to book your tickets, please follow this link - https://www.waudwines.com/blog/italian-wine-dinner-surrey/ 🥂

14/02/2024

Wine Education Wednesdays 🌹

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! To celebrate, todays post will be all about pairing food and wine - arguably the greatest lovers of all time. A match made in heaven. 🩷

Just as food can influence the taste of your wine, wine can also influence the taste of your food, and knowing exactly which wine to pair with your food is why sommeliers go through years and years of training. It’s a topic that is tricky to get your head around, so we will keep things simple with the basic rules:

SWEETNESS in your food will make your wine taste more bitter and acidic – make sure the wine you’re serving alongside sweet dishes is sweeter than the food. 🍬

UMAMI flavours in your food (think dried porcini mushroom vibe) will also make your wine taste more bitter, acidic, and alcoholic – make sure the wine you are serving has plenty of concentrated fruit and consider adding salt and acid to your dish to help balance the umami-ness. 🍄

CHILLI heat in your food can be tricky, enhancing the perception of alcohol – surely you can recall trying to eat a spicy meal with a high alcohol wine. Really burns the old throat. Try pairing spicy food with lower alcohol white wines with a bit of sweetness to help balance the dish. Riesling and Gewurztraminer are great options here. 🇩🇪

SALT and ACID are very wine-friendly components to have in your food and will enhance the fruity flavours in your wine whilst softening any bitterness and acidity. 🙌

So basics covered – what’s on the menu tonight?

#1 – Kate’s Beef Bourguignon with creamy mash potato and a glass of L'Enclos Pomerol 🍷
#2 – Charles’s Steak with Mac&Cheese and a glass of Sang de Cailloux Vacqueyras 🍷
#3 – Ed’s Steak and Chips with a glass of Perinet Likka 🍷

Which pairing would you go for? 🤪

08/02/2024

Yesterday, the Waud Wines team were lucky enough to attend a tasting session featuring the latest vintages of Sassicaia and Le Difese at 67 Pall Mall. 🍷

The Sassicaia 2021 captivated us with its remarkable quality, earning a 100-point score for only the third time. Bursting with acidity and a refreshing character, this Bordeaux style wine promises longevity in its evolution. A highlight of the experience was comparing it to a magnum of the Sassicaia 2011, revealing an enduring abundance of fruit. The anticipation surrounding this release is palpable, especially considering the reduced yields compared to the 2020 vintage, making it a coveted acquisition for investors and collectors alike. 🍇

Le Difese 2022 is a gem among "drinking wines" and a personal favourite of mine. Made with Cabernet Sauvignon and the native Sangiovese, this wine boasts delightful notes of ripe fruits, offering a more approachable experience even in its youth compared to its more mature counterparts. That being said, this high-quality vintage could be stored for 5-10 years and evolve. Priced attractively, Le Difese stands out as an exceptional value wine, delivering superb quality that's hard to match for under £30. Trust me, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better wine in this price range. 👏

07/02/2024

Wine Education Wednesdays 🍷

This week we are learning what it means to have a “corked wine” – and no, it is not those small bits of cork that you occasionally find floating in your glass. 🫣

Corked wines display aromas of wet cardboard, damp, and mould, and generally a complete lack of fruit. The aromas are caused by a chemical present in the cork itself, rather than it being a fault with the wine – a chemical known as TCA or Tri-Chloro-Anisole. ☣️

So, what causes TCA? 🤔

Corks are made from thick sections of bark grown on cork oaks, mostly in Portuguese forests, but you also find them in Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily. TCA is not naturally found in oak trees, but when certain moulds or fungi come into contact with chlorophenols – which are commonly found in pesticides – the compound can be formed. 🪲

The overuse of pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides in the late 20th century (when less was known about their impact on the environment) is thought to be largely to blame for the presence of TCA in cork. If a tainted cork ends up stopping your wine – all those mouldy aromas are imparted into the liquid and the wine is devastatingly ruined. 🥲

Whilst humans generally are very good at detecting cork taint, the signs can be less obvious to some – so importantly, if you do drink a corked wine, you can feel safe in the knowledge that it’s not going to cause you any harm. It just won’t taste very good. 🚫

Huge efforts and considerable investments have been made to tackle the cork taint problem – and of course many wine producers simply prefer to use closures such as screw caps or synthetic corks to side-step the problem entirely. But there is something rather satisfying about pulling a cork isn’t there… 🥰

We want to know - have you ever detected a corked wine? 👇

07/02/2024

A wonderful (slightly late) Christmas Lunch with the Waud Wines team yesterday - needless to say some lovely wines were opened and enjoyed!

31/01/2024

Well it's Wine Education Wednesday and this week we are learning how to understand wine labels - luckily with the help of our knowledgeable assistant, Lord Murphy (woof). 🐾

It is a rather in-depth topic this one - and has required more characters than instagram allows - so if you want to know the basics, head over to the blog now by following the link in bio! 🍷

30/01/2024

We absolutely love organising wine tours for our members - each year, we carefully curate a handful of trips to Europe to visit our favourite producers. 🍷

Our tours are a fantastic way to learn from the people who make the wines on our list, and of course, tasting amazing wine and eating like kings in good company is all part of the experience! 🥂

Find out where we are jetting off to this year by following the link in bio. ✈️

25/01/2024

Sometimes you just need a nice glass of red wine with some comfort food! 🍷

Tonight with a Chicken Pesto Gnocchi, we have opened a cracking claret from Saint Julien on the Left Bank in Bordeaux. Branaire Ducru is situated in fine company - over the road from Beychevelle and a stones throw away from Ducru Beaucaillou, this really is a super estate that has slipped under the radar. 🇫🇷

There is often amazing value with the second wines at these estates - and this Duluc is really quite excellent. Smooth, silky, delicate dark fruit. This is a real crowd pleaser. 2018 vintage too so has a little bottle age. Add a couple of bottles to your next order - link in bio. 🍇

24/01/2024

Wine Education Wednesdays 🍷

We’ve got an interesting little history lesson for you today – all about how a 19th-century vineyard pest almost wiped out the entire population of European vines. Imagine a world without good wine! 😫

In 1866, an aphid known as ‘phylloxera’ was discovered in the vineyards of the Southern Rhône and Languedoc. The pest, native to North America, was accidentally brought to Europe and threatened to wipe out the entire vitis vinifera vine family. 🍇

Phylloxera has a complex life cycle, but it is the louse stage that poses the biggest problem for the vines, as it feasts on their root systems, slowly weakening and eventually killing the plant. American vines (a different species to those that grow in Europe) had evolved with phylloxera and learnt to live with the pest. 🪳

The pest was also spreading through Europe at an alarming rate, threatening wine production throughout the continent. Unfortunately, wines produced from American vines were thought to have undesirable flavour profiles, and so making wines for the rest of time with these vines was not an option – especially for the French. 🚫

By the late 1870’s a couple of French botanists and an American entomologist had come up with the idea of ‘grafting’ the top of a European vine to the bottom of an American one – sounds pretty wacky, but thankfully(!) it worked. 🍾

The vines were protected from phylloxera by the American rootstocks whilst still producing European grapes thanks to the vitis vinifera cuttings that had been grafted to them. If you are struggling to imagine what grafting looks like – have a look at the images with the wax around the baby vine trunks. The two vine species have literally been welded together. 🤯

Today, phylloxera affects almost every vineyard in the world – there are only a handful of places where this pesky pest is yet to invade, so if you ever see a bottle with ‘un-grafted vines’ on the label – grab it! A good place to look is South Australia, Chile, or at the Greek Assyrtiko wines from Santorini. Cheers! 🥂