London Cru – the first wines tasted

One year ago this month, an ambitious new winery first opened its doors in Fulham, south-west London. Within weeks it had received its first grapes from Roussillon and Piemonte, accompanied by much scornful comment from sceptical observers. Many muttered about deterioration in fruit quality caused by lengthy freighting. Others questioned the entire point of the exercise, suspecting gimmickry was trumping rationality. After all, why not just make the wine in situ, then ship it once bottled?

Well, it would be a pretty dull world if we only ever did things that were sensible. Besides, London Cru exists not only to...