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Gama spoke to Hannah Tovey, Head of London Wine Fair, ahead of the latest edition of the wine and spirits showcase.
What are your primary expectations for the 2026 edition, and what is the prevailing mood you are sensing from exhibitors as we approach May?
This will be the 45th edition of London Wine Fair, and the first under the new Vindustrious ownership. The first thing to say is that we are building on the upward growth trajectory; we are already 14% ahead on last year for exhibitor sales, which demonstrates confidence in both London Wine Fair, and the UK – and wider – drinks market. This growth is being generated across our exhibitor portfolio: generic bodies such as Bordeaux, Sherry, Virginia and Washington are returning after several years absence, and Friuli is coming for the first time. Other generic bodies will be present on the Pop-Up stands, with Business France, Wines of South Africa and Wines of Germany confirmed, along with Defined Wine, which will bring more than 30 English wine producers. In terms of UK agents – such a core exhibitor group for us – Seckford Wines is returning to join the likes of Hatch Mansfield, Mentzendorff, Felix Solis, ABS Wine Agencies and North South Wines. And on a producer level, Chile’s Luis Felipe Edwards is returning, to celebrate their 50th anniversary at the show.
Read more Tradeshow Look Aheads in the next issue of Gama News.
Congratulations on the launch of Vindustrious. Does this new independence allow you to be more agile in how you ‘refresh’ the show long-term?
Thank you! I established Vindustrious at the end of October, retaining all members of the London Wine Fair team which has been so important for continuity, especially given the acquisition took place mid-cycle. We see this as a new chapter for London Wine Fair; being independent gives us the opportunity to be much more flexible in terms of embracing new opportunities, such as the new Host Nation initiative which was announced in the autumn, and which has already been so successful in terms of driving growth amongst our domestic wine exhibitors. We have also seen Signature Serve – our spirits section – double in size and have this area ear-marked for further growth opportunities. In February, we announced a new co-location agreement with BREW//LDN, which will see the introduction of a dedicated space for craft beer and cider for the first time. This reflects the buying remits of our visitor audience, who are increasingly purchasing across categories. The breweries and cideries exhibiting are artisanal in nature to complement our exhibiting exhibitors and appeal to our visitors. The inaugural BREW//LDN section will accommodate up to 50 exhibitors, and despite only launching in mid-February, more than 50% of the space is already allocated. Breweries and cideries who have confirmed to date include ABK Beer, Arbor Ales, Attic Brew Co, Big Hug Brewing, Bunta Beer Co, Chance Cider, Cold Town Beer, Freedom Brewery, GoodH Brewing Co, Gravity Theory Cider, Lonkero, Lost in Town Brewery, Napton Cidery, Prime Time Lager, Red Fin Cider, Seven Bro7hers Brewery, Showerings Cider, Tap Social and Twice Brewed Brewhouse. More changes will come in the lead up to the 2027 show, and we will start sharing these later this year.
The inaugural Host Nation initiative spotlights the UK. What drove the decision to make domestic drinks the headline feature for 2026?
It felt only right that for year one of the new Host Nation initiative, we championed British producers. This also chimed with our plans to grow this area of the show; we felt there was a significant opportunity for English wine producers in particular to embrace London Wine Fair. We have been absolutely delighted that this area has been so successful in terms of exhibitors signing up. The stand we originally planned for English Wine sold out, so we have doubled this dedicated space, and 85% of this already allocated. We are now expecting more than 150 UK producers will sign up to Host Nation, which will mark a ten-fold increase on 2025. We are seeing some of the big name English wine producers committing, including 1276 Wines, Balfour, Bolney, Chapel Down, Everflyht, Flint Vineyards, Gusbourne, Hattingley Valley, Roebuck, Sandridge Barton, Simpsons and Williams Family Wine, along with 30 producers from Defined Wines, which will host a Pop-Up Tasting on the middle day. It is so rewarding to see so much optimism for this category in its domestic market.
Signature Serve is doubling in size this year. How is this expanded spirits focus being received by your traditional wine buying audience?
We originally created Signature Serve specifically for a visitor audience of high end UK based buyers and distributors, including leading cocktail bars to independent retailers and multiples, because the demand was clearly there. Our research had shown that over 2,000 decision makers working in spirits were already attending on account of the increasing crossover between wine and spirits buying roles. London Wine Fair was already an essential part of their wine-buying remit, but there just weren’t enough spirits exhibitors to meet their demand. Last year saw the inaugural Signature Show, which reached capacity. So this year will see it double in size, with several returning exhibitors – O’Donnell Moonshine, for example is increasing their stand space by 500%. This year we are welcoming a raft of exciting producers, many of which are part of the Host Nation initiative, including: Beckford’s Rums, Brixton Spirits, Casoni, Claxton’s Spirits, Foreva Farmers, Frontline Spirits, Garnish Club, The Newt Cyders, No & Flow Brands, Pernod Ricard, Pillars Brewery and Sacred Spirits.
The Signature Serve Theatre will also see a 25% increase in content. This space will again be headed up by our Spirits Ambassadors, Liam Davy, Head of Bars for Hawksmoor Restaurants and Millie Milliken, the award-winning drinks and hospitality writer. Signature Serve’s Sundowners Session will return on the Monday evening; this is targeted at the UK’s and international top spirits buyers and media, who will be invited to attend this ‘after hours’ event where exhibitors will prepare their ‘signature serve’ cocktails.
To reflect the growing importance of spirits, we have rebranded our Wine Buyers Awards (running since 2020) to the refreshed Drinks Buyers Awards; there will now be two Spirits Buyer Awards which will recognise outstanding buyers up for grabs, the off-trade: Spirits Buyer (Supermarket/Multiples) and Spirits Buyer (On-Trade).
You’ve ramped up the education programme for 2026. What key themes will you address to help the trade navigate current industry pressures?
London Wine Fair is renowned for its content – I firmly believe it is unrivalled amongst drinks industry exhibitions – and 2026 will build on this reputation; we are anticipating our biggest schedule of masterclasses, briefings, Pop Ups and panel tastings to date, with an additional theatre on the floor plan. We have worked closely with the Wine & Spirit Trade Association for several years; they host an Industry Briefing, bringing debate on the issue of the day to the UK, via our platform. This is always a draw for the key decision makers in our industry. Education will be central to our new Host Nation initiative too, and WineGB is taking a stand dedicated to educating the industry on the latest developments.
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