The Ultimate CEE wine fair

The Ultimate CEE wine fair is back in London on the 16th June 2026. No other event in the world brings together the region’s top producers and most exciting wines under one roof.

This third edition will shine an even brighter spotlight on Bosnia & Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, Moldova, Georgia and Bulgaria. It’s simply the best and most focused way to discover more about this exciting and varied wine scene from across the heart of Europe.

For the organisers Caroline Gilby MW and Zsuzsa Toronyi, this is a passion project born from many years of visits and tastings across the region. “We have both seen first-hand the complete wine revolution across the region and we truly believe that the best wines in Central & Eastern Europe are now of world class quality and deserve far wider recognition.”

“We have carefully selected who is invited to join us to highlight the best producers and most interesting wine stories,” Caroline explains. For Zsuzsa, “The fair is designed to deliver value across the trade, for buyers, importers and indies as well as sommeliers and the press. It brings together wineries seeking UK distribution, wines already on the market and UK distributers with established regional portfolios. In several cases producers have already begun building their UK presence through connections made at this event.”

Each country in Central & Eastern Europe may be small on its own, but added together, the region accounts for more than 13.0% of the world's wine grape vineyards, according to Kym Anderson of the University of Adelaide. That is more than Australia, Chile, and Argentina put together, which makes the united region a wine powerhouse, awash with new wine stories but based on long histories and deep authentic roots.

Wine in the region has thousands of years of history and deep connections with the diverse cultures that continue to shape what ends up in the bottle, today offering a modern face to genuinely “old world” wine. Recent research has shown that Central & Eastern Europe and the Balkan Peninsula were both key routes, and meeting points, for cultivated grapes on their way westwards from the Caucasus and Near East. This puts grapevines here at the root of today’s wine scene, before vines became established in western Europe and the countries that the world often sees as the leaders in wine production.

Central & Eastern Europe is a region that puts a modern face on European wine styles, rather than pretending to be the New World.

Indigenous grape varieties on show will range from Areni and Blatina to Xynisteri and Žilavka, showing an incredible diversity of grapes that have huge quality potential and individuality. At the same, there will be some great examples of international grapes that are benchmarks for winemaking standards and quality of terroir in these lesser-known regions – many are already award winners in top international competitions.

This year, the Ultimate CEE wine fair 3.0 will feature several in-depth masterclasses. Caroline will show a personal selection of favourite producers and grapes to highlight some of the iconic grapes and wines of the region. Beth Willard (Decanter Awards Co-chair) will showcase the buzzing sparkling wine scene, featuring both unusual grape varieties and global award-winning wines. Caroline will also introduce the UK to the incredible but barely known country of Bosnia & Herzegovina through the lens of its unique local grapes Žilavka, Blatina and Trnjak. And Sarah Abbott MW will lead a masterclass guiding tasters through wines from the cradle of winemaking that is the Black Sea country of Georgia.

There’s no other event that combines this level of excitement, insight, and real-world discovery in one place. Dig deep and explore the very best that Central and Eastern European wine countries have to offer. Don't miss the chance to connect, explore, and be inspired.

Register now: https://bit.ly/CEEWineFair