Charlemagne Wine Club - 2008 Tastings

Monday 17th November 2008
Flying Winemaking and Micro-vinification presented by Henry Laithwaite

Henry Laithwaite is a winemaker who specialises in producing small amounts of handcrafted super-premium wines in Australia, France and South Africa, specialising in micro-vinification. Henry has been making wine for over ten years now and travels to Australia (McLaren Vale) and Bordeaux (Côtes de Castillon, in the St. Emilion area) every year to source the best grapes from the best vineyards to make the kind of wines he wants to make and believes passionately in.

As an independent winemaker Henry doesn’t have to conform to external pressures and has developed his techniques and created his own unique style. He believes firmly in the merits of traditional winemaking, with as little human intervention as possible. He allows nature to play its part in his wine production, creating wines of great character and individuality.

Aside from an immense amount of love, care and attention being paid to his grapes, he will only add a little sulphur in order to let the wine speak for itself. Henry finds it fascinating to be able to taste the character of individual soils, climates and vineyards in the finished product. And this level of care and attention to detail has paid off with Henry having clocked-up numerous accolades and awards for several of his wines from both the Decanter World Wine Awards and the International Wine Challenge.

Henry will present his wines and discuss his methods and techniques of winemaking; there is nothing he likes better than sharing his wines and talking with fellow wine lovers about his favourite topic.

Henry is quite young for a winemaker, being in his mid twenties, but has been making wine since he was seventeen. He has worked with some of the world's finest winemakers, including Redheads Studio Winery working alongside some of the best garage winemakers in the business. He is the son of Tony Laithwaite, one of the UK’s leading wine distributors from whom he has inherited a love and a deep knowledge of the subject.