Reichstrat von Buhl leads new agencies showcased at Bancroft tasting

By Hamish Graham

Published: 23 September, 2025

At Bancroft’s Autumn + Winter Edit, exciting producers recently added to the importer’s portfolio, showcased their wines to the trade.

Interested attendees at Great Scotland Yard Hotel were able to familiarise themselves with a raft of new agencies including Germany’s prestigious Reichstrat von Buhl, Sussex’s Nutbourne and the Douro’s Quinta do Pôpa.

Florian Homrighausen (pictured), key account and export manager at Reichstrat von Buhl, explained why the 1849-founded Pfalz producer decided to join the Bancroft portfolio. The leading reason was to gain a foothold in the premium on-trade for its top wines. Two of these were on show – Forster Pechstein GG 2021 and Forster Jesuitengarten GG 2022.

Read more: Good Wine Good People acquire Plonk

The Pechstein and Jesuitengarten both have the highest quality designation for German vineyards under the VDP system – Grosse Lage. The resulting wines are therefore considered Grosses Gewächs (GG), the equivalent of Grand Cru. The Pechstein grapes are drawn from basaltic soil, the vineyard astride an extinct volcano called the Pechsteinkopf. The wine has a distinct minerality and notes of flintstone on the nose. The wine’s salinity on the palate would go perfectly with seafood, making Reichstrat von Buhl’s on-trade push all the more understandable.

Another standout from the Pfalz producer was their Pinot Noir. The Spätburgunder 2023 (rrp £24.49) was a wonderful, light expression of the Burgundian style.

Matt Sutherland of New Zealand’s Dog Point was the initial connection between Bancroft MD Damian Carrington and Sussex’s Nutbourne, with the estate’s Richard Gladwin having previously worked at the Kiwi winery. In need of an English still wine for the portfolio, Bancroft onboarded Nutbourne, with this event being their first ever trade tasting.

A sign of the wines’ popularity, they had all run out by the time Harpers had reached the event. Olivia Thomas, sales and hospitality manager at Nutbourne, was on hand, however, to explain the story of the estate. With vines up to 45 years old (Bacchaus and Riesling amongst the first vines planted), since the Gladwin family took the reins in 1991, the vineyard has continued to expand and plant new grapes. A barrel-fermented Chardonnay (rrp £30.49), a field blend named Sussex Reserve (rrp £22) – Riesling and Pinot Noir included – and their Blush Rosé (rrp £23.50), a Pinot Blanc and Pinot Noir blend, highlight the viticultural range of the less than 10ha site. All three will be available from Bancroft.

Bancroft adding a Douro still wine producer in Quinta do Pôpa, highlights both the growing appetite for wines from Portugal here in the UK and the quality of table wine coming from the valley famed for its fortified offer. Account manger at the producer, David Rego, guided visitors to the Pôpa stand through five offers, both white and red. Notable wines included Pôpa Contos Branco 2023, a blend of six indigenous white grapes which was rich with notes of exotic fruit, while Pôpa Amphora Branco 2019 was another distinctive and complex white wine from the producer. The latter is aged in amphora, made with grapes produced from a field blend and possesses a distinctive yellow hue.

Other wines on show included those from Aussie addition Oakridge Wines. A cult favourite back home, the Yarra Valley producer showcased why Burgundian styles perform so strongly in the Victorian appellation.

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