BFT 2023 – The Biggest Ever? Certainly. The Best Ever? You Decide

The 2023 edition of the Big Fortified Tasting was certainly the biggest ever, with more producers packed into Church House Conference Centre than any previous year, pouring their wines for more visitors than ever before – almost 600 of them registered to attend. Those are facts we can confirm. Was it the best show ever? We’ll leave that to our exhibitors and visitors to decided, but with feedback like this, we are certainly confident that it made an impact.

• “best ever”
• “Great atmosphere, lots of lovely customers”
• “I was delighted to see such a broad range of #fortifiedwines on display, and such a big crowd excited to try the plethora of styles on offer!”
• “An absolute must for any fortified wine lover”
• “Another truly fabulous bft tasting”

Putting on an event of this size requires the support of many other businesses, organisations and individuals. We remain grateful for the continued support of Extenda and the IVBAM in helping the many producers from Andalusia and Madeira bring their wonderful wines to the show. They certainly made an impact. We would also like to pay tribute to the efforts of Setúbal Peninsular Wines in enabling so many of their producers to remind UK buyers what these historic fortified Moscatel wines can offer – their masterclass, hosted by Tom Surgery generated so much positive comment.

Our thanks also go to Real Companhia Velha and Kopke for the masterclasses they hosted, each featuring some outstandingly good and rare wines that reminded attendees how varied and versatile fortified wines can be.

It was truly wonderful to have so many established and new producers represented at the show this year. Many of the exhibitors will have been completely new names to the vast majority of UK buyers and we are grateful that all of them continue to trust the Big Fortified Tasting, and the team of volunteers who help us deliver the show, to be part of their marketing plans.

We never take that trust for granted and we have already completed a debriefing exercise, looking at what enhancements we can make for 2024. On that note, please put 23rd April 2024 in your diary, when we will be back at Church House for #thebft2024. We hope to see you there.

If you would like to be kept informed about our planning for 2024, please register your interest using the link below.