As one of the biggest dates in the UK industry's calendar, expectations are high for the London Wine Fair at Kensington Olympia next week. Harpers.co.uk gives you gets the lowdown on this year's main event London Wine Fair 2016
Date and time:
Tuesday May 3, 10am-6.30pm
Wednesday May 4, 9.30am-6pm
Thursday May 5,9.30am-5pm
Venue: Kensington Olympia, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UX
Register: londonwinefair.com
London Wine fair calendar highlights
Cementing the London Wine Fair's credentials as the place to be from May 3-5 is the schedule for this 36th event. It includes more than 100 sessions - the most in the show's history - to be accompanied by 18 tonnes of ice, 60,000 ISO glasses and 10,000 Riedel glasses currently being prepped.
ICCWS 2016
May 3, 10.30am
Kicking things off in the industry briefings' London Room will be the team from the International Cool Climate Wine Symposium 2016, who will give a taster of what to expect at the upcoming event in Brighton, from May 26-28.
Harpers Debate
May 3, 12 noon-1pm
From 12 noon-1pm, Harpers editor Andrew Catchpole will be in the hot seat accompanied by a panel of experts for the Harpers Debate - Selling Wine's Craft Credentials.The panel will debate how and why wine has missed out on the 'craft' bandwagon.
Come and visit the Harpers stand anytime during the fair at N45.
Pop-up tastings
May 3, 12.45pm-1.45
Pop-Up Tastings are being held in an area big enough for an 80-seat masterclass. Undiscovered Croatian Wine joins the line up on the first day.
Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme
May 3, 3.30pm-4pm
Head to the Grand Hall to hear from the Due Diligence Exchange in Speakers' Corner about the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme, which is creating changes in legal obligations for anyone wholesaling alcohol in the UK.
Cava Masterclass
May 3, 4.15pm-5.15pm
In the Grand Hall, Z10, visitors will have the chance to sample wines from all over the world, including some top Cavas at the pop-up Premium Cava Masterclass.
What's next for Australia?
May 3, 5pm-5.45pm;
May 5, 3.45pm-4pm
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate critic for Australian wines, will be asking Australian Wine - What's Next? and discussing new wine regions, trends and styles from Down Under.
Perrotti-Brown returns on May 5 to focus on the essential elements of wine quality and how to recognise them in the glass with Wine Quality Benchmarking.
Be prepared for AWRS
May 4, 10.30am-11.30am
Wholesalers and anyone who sells alcohol to other businesses may want to head to Forewarned is Forearmed - AWRS An Overview of Legal Risks, when barrister Anthony Galvin will talk about how to avoid falling foul of the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme.
Wine Online
May 4, 12.30pm-1.15pm
Wine Online - The Fast Changing World of Data and Ecommerce will offer an insight into the rapidly changing digital world for wine.
Champagne marketing on a budget
May 4, 1.30pm-2pm
Visitors to Speakers' Corner will hear from Christopher Walkey, founder of Glass of Bubbly, on how to achieve Champagne Marketing on a Lemonade Budget. Joe Wadsack will return daily for Challenge Joe's Nose, in which he blind tastes wines.
Education is a key component at the fair. This year, specialists will be sharing their knowledge with regional and producer-led tastings at The Masterclass Theatre in the West Hall, A50.
Riesling revolution
May 4, 2pm-3pm
Another masterclass worth bookmarking will see Ernst Loosen discussing the winemaking techniques and the history behind making dry Riesling with The Renaissance of Dry Riesling & Barrel Ageing.
Booking with bottlebooks
2016 is the first year that visitors will be able to register for sessions ahead of time via the new Bottlebooks booking system. Users of the app will be able to create their own personalised show, highlighting wines to taste and sessions in which to participate. For a full timetable of sessions, visit: bottlebooks.londonwinefair.com