Celebrate Low-Intervention Wine This Spring
On Saturday 18th April, a wine fair is coming to Hackney Bridge in Hackney Wick, where the UK's most exciting winemakers and growers will be pouring their latest releases. Pour Choices, which first started in 2023, brings together producers for a day of interactive tastings and talks – celebrating mindful farming, wild ferments and the land they come from.
Pour Choices focuses on "low intervention" wines, which can range from urban winemakers like Renegade in Walthamstow to rural estate producers like Tillingham in East Sussex.
Natural wine has been gaining momentum over the past few years – with at least all the trendy spots in town currently boasting some sort of natural, biodynamic or organic wine on the menu. But when it comes to actually choosing the best bottle, it can be a bit of a minefield. Natural wine is a loose term with a lot of variation beneath it: biodynamic wines can mean growers are roughly looking to the moon's rhythms, rather than anything overly scientific, while some fine, traditional wines can be naturally organic with minimal additives and chemicals, despite no bold label to declare it. Modern “natural” wine, has also not always had the best reputation for taste, as you can find yourself saying a diplomatic “interesting” after the first uncertain sip.
The event is designed to break down the mystery and send you away better equipped – covering the unspoken stages of winemaking, how time transforms a finished wine and how to articulate what you’re actually tasting. No more bemusedly leaning on snazzy labels in wine shops or blindly trusting your instincts at the bar.
Alongside the wine, expect wild beer and cider, kombucha, sake, vermouth, and oysters, plus a line-up of artisanal food producers and DJs to complement the tipples and set the atmosphere.
Pour Choices offers an inclusive space for the wine-curious and the seasoned drinker alike. All tickets include five tasting tokens, a branded glass to keep, and access to all workshops and talks. Tickets are on final release now at £22 - available here.