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US and UK 2020 primeur tastings cancelled

Plans to hold en primeur tastings in the UK and US this April have been cancelled, the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGCB) has said.

The UGCB had hoped to hold tastings of the 2020 vintage in 10 cities around the world towards the end of April.

With British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s reiteration of his ‘Covid-19 exit roadmap’ earlier this week, however, it is now extremely unlikely that British venues will be open in time to host an event.

Social distancing measures, quarantine requirements and other Covid-19 related restrictions in New York and San Francisco, where tastings were also due to take place, likewise seem set to remain until after the proposed tasting dates.

The UGCB has confirmed this news and said that it will now to revert to last year’s method of sending samples to merchants and key critics in these markets.

Tastings in mainland Europe and Asia are currently still due to take place on the dates shown below:

26-29 April: Bordeaux
26 April: Zurich and Shanghai
26-27 April: Brussels
27 April: Frankfurt and Hong Kong
27-28 April: Paris

Although France announced today (Thursday 11 March) that travel restrictions from France to the UK and several other countries would be eased.