On tastings, events and iconic wines

On tastings, events and iconic wines

So there we are at Christie’s (naturally, perfectly normal, where else?) tasting the first declared Vintage Ports from the Symington Family in seven years and they’ll age for decades yet but they’re beautiful already.

Charles Symington, who made them, is there with us. So is Rupert and Charlotte and whole branches of the family besides (what’s the collective noun for Symingtons?)

We’ve even got a few library vintage bottles open, because it’s a celebration after all, so why wouldn’t there be 2003 Graham’s, 1994 Dow’s, 1985 Warre’s?

Next day we’re up in Manchester doing it all over again. Different crowd, but same glorious wines, same curiosity and interest and excitement, same joy and celebration at how rare and special this all is.

Then flipping back in the calendar a few days, and we’re in London again, but this time we’re at Six Senses tasting spellbinding Torres Priorats in mini-verticals, from snapshots of vintage and region in Salmos and Perpetual, to hyper-focussed, exquisite expressions of place in Mas de la Rosa.

In the office next day, being nudged on the shoulder, and it’s France Portfolio Manager, Flo, and can we share news of the ultimate Guigal tasting – the whole range from this revered producer with, most excitingly, the Fourth ‘LaLa’, La Reynarde, the first new addition to this legendary group of Côte-Rôtie vineyards in decades? Yes, yes we can.

And then another nudge and it’s Australia Portfolio Manager Marcus, and he’s got a tasting of bona fide Aussie legends lined up from Tyrrell’s and Torbreck – the likes of Vat 1 Semillon, RunRig, The Laird. The kind of bottles wine lovers give their eye teeth to taste. And can we share that with you too?

We’ve said it before: working in wine is not like working in other industries. Well, frankly, working at Fells is not like working with other portfolios. Nine Vintage Ports, Mas de la Rosa, Vat 1, the ‘LaLas’. And that just scratches the surface of the full, bewildering Portfolio of premium, family-owned wineries we’re lucky enough to represent.

It’s important not to forget how rare and special this is. It can be so easy, when you’ve been in the industry for a certain while – been privileged to taste hundreds, perhaps thousands of wines, many of them probably superb – to become a little jaded. Things perhaps seem less exciting and shiny. Comparison and context perhaps start rubbing a little lustre off the new wines we taste.

(Not to mention that frequently-seen temptation of affecting a tasted-it-all-before worldliness; trying not to seem too eager, too full of praise).

Tasting the likes of the 2024 Vintage Ports, the La Reynardes, the Vat 1s, the Priorats is a reminder that all of this is not normal. It is special. A reminder that, even in the broader world of drinks, wine stands apart. That there are, without question, more great wines than there are equivalents in any other drinks category. And that this is our world.

We’re biased, of course, but we believe that, even within the constellation of great wines, those which make up the Fells Portfolio sit among the true lodestars.

Wines it is a privilege to work with. And even more of a privilege to share with you.