I had to attend to some stuff in the office, and thereupon I was off to Vinopolis for the SITT tasting. SITT stands for ’specialist importers trade tasting’ - a relatively recent fixture in the calendar, it has deservedly grown in size and popularity. There were some brilliant wines being shown, and I didn’t have ample moment to do them all justice. I spent most of my day at just four tables: Genesis Wine, Richards Walford, Clark Foyster and Raymond Reynolds. There are loads more I’d liked to have loitered by.

It’s hard to pick a favourite wine from such a diverse and excellent sampling, but nicest funky wine of the tasting goes to Stephane Tissot’s Arbois Chardonnay Les Bruyeres 2005. It’s a simply wonderful wine with herby, minerally, reductive, tangy, nutty fruit. Complex and a bit weird, but really alive and interesting. (Guide retail £15, Genesis Wines)

After the SITT, I had an appointment with Tony Sharley, who runs Banrock Station for Hardy. Based in Australia’s Riverland region, Banrock Station is a combination of wetland and vineyard. It supplies but a small portion of what goes into the Banrock Station wines (there are 700 growers on Hardy’s books, contributing grapes that are next assigned according to quality to the various Hardy brands), but it is crucial to Hardy considering Banrock is an environmentally aware type. We talked a lot about water issues, which are very vital in drought-hit Australia.

Then I headed off to meet up with Sam Harrop. We’ve several projects on the go, including a potential publication on wine faults and plus a book on natural wine. It’s always quite energizing meeting with someone like Sam.

Just two days to go with the day-job, so lots of sorting out to do there. And I’m doing a tasting in Dorking tomorrow night.