JUST WILLIAMS
Striking twelve: the happy return of a vital tasting The Dirty Dozen may look rather different to its original iteration of 10 years ago. But for David Williams, the collective still captures the essence of all that’s exciting about the UK’s wine scene
A
t 10 years old, The Dirty Dozen tasting is at a curious point in
its evolution. A number of the
original founders are no longer on the
bill, among them important names that
embodied the trailblazing spirit of the first Dirty Dozen event in 2011, such as Vine Trail, Roberson, Flint Wines, The Wine Barn, Aubert & Mascoli and Indigo.
This might lead to speculation along
the lines of the famous head-spinning
philosophical conundrum of Theseus’s Ship: can a vessel that has had all of its
constituent parts replaced over the years really be said to be the same ship it was
when it was first made? In the same spirit, the UK wine trade might ask: Just how
many of the original members of The Dirty Dozen can the event stand to lose before it becomes something else altogether? For now the question is still just
about moot, and not only because of the continued presence of such founding
members as Astrum, H2Vin, fortyfive10°,
Susana Esteban, a star of Alentejo
THE WINE MERCHANT october 2021 36
