The London Wine Fair has news – you are breaking out of your May slot?
Yes and no. London Wine Fair remains firmly in its May slot, with the 2027
edition taking place from May 17-19 at Olympia as usual. However, you are right to say we are breaking away from May - for the first time, intentionally - with a new event – London Natural Wine Fair – which will take place on December 4-5 at the Business Design Centre in Islington.
This will be our first dedicated natural wine showcase; as well as our first consumer-facing event. The event is the result of a partnership with Mondo Natural Wine, which was established by Italian wine exporter, Giovanni Segni (originally as Nordic Naturalia) in 2019, and has hosted six successful events in Sweden and Japan.
The expertise of LWF and MNW fit well, bringing together their expertise and natural winery network with our commercial acumen, international reputation and global buyer network.
Why have you decided to make this move now and why natural wine?
Since I set up Vindustrious 12 months ago, in order to buyout London Wine Fair, I have significantly more business autonomy which comes with the freedom to explore collaborations and initiatives which will build on brand London Wine Fair.
In fact, the first collaboration has already happened; we hosted BREW//LDN at the 2026 LWF, which brought some 40 craft breweries and cideries to the show for the first time.
The decision to focus on natural wine is a strategic move. There has not been a dedicated event on minimum intervention wines for two and a half years in the UK, despite there being an appetite for these wines from both consumer and trade. It is a particularly dynamic category – especially in London – which has around 160 venues dedicated to natural wine.
The announcement by the Regenerartive Viticulture Foundation of its newly created Regenerative Accelerator Group last month, that larger retailers are showing intent to increase listings of regenerative wines (a category which has significant overlap with that of minimal intervention), and who’s founding signatories include Berry Bros & Rudd, The Wine Society and Waitrose, will open up new opportunities for producers looking to sell in the UK.
How is the event going to be run - in terms of who will be exhibiting and who do you hope will come?
London Natural Wine Fair exhibitors will comprise producers, importers and retailers of minimal intervention wine including orange wines, pét-nats, sulphite free, with a hybrid trade and consumer visitor audience. Trade – all sectors – will be welcome throughout the two days, with the first three-hours of day one exclusively for trade.
Trade tickets are free, with consumer tickets starting at £35 for a one-day ticket.
From a standing start, we have more than 50 wineries and five importers already signed up, with a year one target of 60. We have wineries coming from Austria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, UK, Chile and US to date. Several more wineries are set to confirm over the coming weeks with a limited number of tables still available.
Sunny Hodge from Diogenes The Dog is both exhibiting and hosting six masterclass sessions on natural wines at the show
We also have Sunny Hodge, owner of wine bar and online retailer, Diogenes the Dog – which has long championed natural wines, along with sister company, aspen & meursault – both exhibiting and hosting six masterclass sessions on natural wines from the show, across the two days.
It is the first time you are having a show for consumers - why now and why this type of show?
The trade has been calling for a consumer element to London Wine Fair for several years, and whilst I don’t think this could work effectively with our May event, creating a consumer-trade hybrid show at the opposite end of the calendar made sense.
I have a strong background in both trade and consumer events, having run dozens of highly successful events for The Wine Gang all around the UK, so this is something I have been keen to explore within the London Wine Fair brand for some time.
The focus on natural wine, is because it is such a dynamic category, and very much fits with the sustainability-first ethos of London Wine Fair. The partnership with MNW has allowed this to come to fruition so quickly.
Are you confident that December is the right time for this sort of event?
Yes. It hits the sweet spot for consumer Christmas spending. From a trade perspective, although we appreciate it is a busy time of year – particularly for the on-trade and independents – we have a three hour slot on the Friday, exclusively for trade, but they will also have access throughout the show, so coming between shifts, or on the Saturday gives them flexibility.
Also, its location, close to mainline stations and underground, in a very central part of London (Islington) make it an easy reach. We have been delighted by the trade’s positive response in terms of both registering for tickets and booking tables.
It’s been a full year since setting up Vindustrious - how do you look back on your first year?
Hannah Tovey set up Vindustrious a year ago in order to take London Wine Fair into independent ownership for the first time
Setting up Vindustrious when we were already mid-cycle for the 2026 London Wine Fair, meant that we had to hit the ground running, but managing to retain the full London Wine Fair team as well as our key suppliers was a massive advantage.
And it really has been a team effort. We managed to create sizeable new initiatives in a relatively short space of time in time for 2026: Host Nation (the feature dedicated to English wine, which attracted a record 80 producers); BREW//LDN; the expansion of Signature Serve (the spirits section); and shifting our annual Wine Buyers Awards to the Drinks Buyers Awards, to incorporate our growing spirits section.
I am definitely seeing a few more grey hairs, but it has all been worth it to get to today.
It was clearly a brave move - what have been your proudest moments over the last year?
The fact the whole team remained in post and were so enthusiastic about the new direction was definitely up there. And so many of our exhibitors and visitor audience immediately offered their support which was extremely gratifying and immediately gave a sense of stability.
I was immensely happy that two of London Wine Fair's most important suppliers decided to invest, too. It is really lovely to know we are all working together in an ever-more connected way.
Being shortlisted in three 2026 EN Indy Awards just last month (Best Marketing Team; Content Programme of the Year; and Trade Show of the Year (1,000-5,000sqm)) has been an extremely gratifying end to 2026.
What has been the most challenging and how did you overcome those challenges?
The 2026 London Wine Fair in full swing
There was a point before a chance introduction with our lead investor that I was considering more of a crowdfunding approach, which would have been super challenging in the short time frame. This investment was by no means guaranteed, so until that moment, the continuation of London Wine Fair wasn’t exactly certain.
Clearly your team has been key to all you have done so far?
Absolutely. To say they stepped up is an understatement. They have been so supportive and motivated. They have shared my enthusiasm from the get-go and made the whole process more than worthwhile.”
How are the plans for LWF next year?
We have lots of exciting initiatives in the planning stages, and have already announced a major new flagship feature: Spotlight Nation. This will place a single country's wines at the centre of LWF. For the inaugural year, we have selected Portugal, a decision which for us reflects both a centuries-old trading relationship and the country's ambition to make the UK its number one export market by the end of the decade.
It is a country which delivers on breadth of styles, the sense of discovery with so many indigenous varieties, pioneering sustainability programmes, a theme which has been central to London Wine Fair for several years, along with, crucially, a reputation for wines that over-deliver at every price point.
Portugal will be the first Spotlight Nation at London Wine Fair 2027 with potentially 50 producers showing their wines
We are working to attract 50 Portuguese wine producers to the 2027 event, exhibiting within regional bodies or as standalone brands, and we are delighted that ViniPortugal is supporting this.
A Spotlight Nation Tasting Space and Theatre will feature a dedicated programme of masterclasses, small group tastings and seminars which will spotlight lesser-known indigenous grape varieties — offering trade buyers a rare opportunity to explore the country's regional diversity in depth.
There has been a lot of changes with some drinks fairs since Covid and the emergence of Wine Paris. Where do you see the London Wine Fair now vs six years ago and what have been the key things you have done to reposition it?
Many events have not recovered since the pandemic. In 2020, the UK went into lockdown less than two months out from London Wine Fair. So our strategy for 2021, when there was still so much uncertainty, was to build a hybrid “live-digital” event.
Ultimately this became a 100% virtual event, and what was the most advanced digital show its kind, taking place under extraordinarily complex trading conditions for the global industry. Despite this, we attracted 238 virtual exhibitors and a visitor audience of 2,608 and shipped nearly 25 thousand miniature samples.
2022 presented its own problems when ProWein changed its traditional March dates to clash with our May ones, to the fury of many companies, who had committed to exhibiting at both. This caused so much upset for the industry, and with ProWein being the larger event, we took the decision to delay London Wine Fair to June, which although far from ideal, led to overwhelming industry support.
Since then, London Wine Fair has seen year-on-year growth of both our exhibitor and visitor audience, with quality remaining at its core.
The 2026 London Wine Fair had over 10,000 visitors over its three days with exhibitor bookings up 9% and a 13% increase in floor space
Last year saw our best figures since pre-Covid, in terms of both exhibitors and visitors. Exhibitor bookings were up 9% on 2025, with a 13% increase in floor space. Visitor numbers saw an aligned increase of 8.2% across the three days, topping the 10,000 threshold for the first time in six years.
The all-important visitor: exhibitor ratio remains the same, at 22:1, significantly more than double that of London Wine Fair's international competitors.
In terms of the competition, WineParis has seen impressive growth since its inception. We don’t see this as a competitor to London Wine Fair, given the dates are three months apart; the success of WineParis has been more problematic for ProWein, which has seen numbers fall, year-on-year.
London Wine Fair attracts a decent international audience, accounting for around 10% of visitors, and this is something we would like to build on.
Any people, or businesses, you would specifically like to mention for helping London Wine Fair during that time?
Well there is yourself, Richard, and The Buyer. Your support has been incredible, Richard, since I took the role, but even more so since the buyout.
There really are more people than I can list here but extra special thanks to the following: Patrick McGrath MW at Hatch Mansfield; Miles Beale, chief executive at Wine & Spirit Trade Association; and Sarah Abbott MW who has consulted for us above and beyond. And of course our amazing international agents all over the globe.
Where do you hope it can be in five years time – what would be a measure of success for you?
The next five years will be all about growth; building the London Wine Fair brand, with a larger core event in May, incorporating collaborations and co-locations with other drinks events and some year round services, and other satellite events outside of our spring dates.
Will you be looking at other brand extensions like London Natural Wine Fair
Yes, we are hoping London Natural Wine Fair will become an annual event, with a summer iteration all being well and potentially outside London too. We already have more than 50 producers and five importers and retailers sign up from a standing start, so we can see there is appetite for this.
You can find out more about the London Natural Wine Fair and how to attend here. Consumer tickets are £35 for one day; £45 for a two-day ticket. Trade tickets are free subject to availability.
You can find out more about the London Wine Fair here.
