Black tie and wine tasting are not two things typically associated with a summer festival, but that is exactly the formula behind Winestock, the Bristol-born event that is quickly building a following in south west London.
After launching in Clapham last year, the all-inclusive wine festival returned this summer with double the number of attendees, offering unlimited wine tastings, street food and live entertainment in a bid to make wine more accessible to a younger audience.
While the festival now welcomes guests from across London, its roots lie in the University of Bristol, where founder Jasper Williamson first began questioning why wine had to feel so exclusive.
As a member of the university’s Wine Society, he found many of the events intimidating, and believed there was a simpler way to introduce students to wine.
“Essentially we started with the University of Bristol Wine Society,” he said. “When I joined it was a bit snobby, getting sommeliers in talking to students. I just thought, what if we got students to run the events themselves? Instead of having a sommelier come in, just put a bottle on the table and save a fortune.”
The idea transformed the society into the university’s largest, proving that young people were interested in wine when it was presented without the pretension. After graduating, Jasper was offered a job selling wine to affluent buyers, but decided to take a very different route.
“I got offered a job at a wine import company, where I’d be selling wine to richer buyers,” he said. “But I was much more interested in bringing young people together and using wine as a social cue, making people happy.”
His ambition became reality in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, when students were eager for an end-of-year celebration after months of restrictions.
What started as a modest event in a small tent with wine tastings and canapés quickly began to upscale, into mansion parties and boat parties, and Winestock developing into the large-scale festival it is today. This year, the Bristol event welcomed around 9,000 attendees, while the London edition doubled in size from its inaugural year.
Bringing Winestock to Clapham felt like a natural progression. After several years of hosting student events in Bristol, Jasper realised many former attendees were moving to south west London after graduating. Rather than leave those communities behind, he wanted to recreate the atmosphere that had made the university events so popular, while opening the doors to anyone who wanted to attend.
“After our third year of doing just student balls, we thought we’ve now had a whole generation of University of Bristol students go through this – where are they most likely to go? Probably Clapham,” he said.
“It’s sort of a nostalgia thing too. Everyone used to go to 21st parties and go to cool things at uni, and dress up more, and that just kind of disappears from our lives. So we’ve created something that transports people back, but with a more elevated feel.”
The result is what Jasper describes as London’s only all-inclusive black-tie festival, where guests can sample 12 different wines, enjoy carefully selected food vendors and spend the day celebrating with friends. Although wine is at the heart of the event, he is keen to move away from the idea that it should only appeal to experts or those willing to spend hundreds of pounds on a bottle.
“I want to change how young people perceive wine, and how young people perceive dressing up, because I don’t think it needs to be this snobby thing where you spend a fortune on it and have to talk about it for ten hours,” he said.
This welcoming and unfussy atmosphere is something Rosie Hicks-Kerry knows first-hand. Before joining the team as a senior employee, she attended Winestock as a guest, and enjoyed the experience so much that she wanted to help create it for others.
“I started as an attendee before I joined the team, and I had such a good time. People talk about it all year long, and I wanted to be a part of building it and organising it and bringing joy to everyone,” she said.
For many guests, it has become a reason to celebrate, dress up and spend time with friends, whether they are marking the end of exams, a birthday or simply making the most of the summer. Rosie also credited the team’s close-knit culture with helping create the atmosphere that keeps people coming back year after year.
“What people love about Winestock is the atmosphere and the vibe of the whole event, because it’s a great chance to get dressed up. Everyone uses it as a celebration for something,” she said.
For Jasper, creating that atmosphere comes down to getting the fundamentals right rather than relying on extravagant production. “The toilets have to be clean, the wine has to be cold, people need to feel safe and happy,” he said. “Everyone loves the people, and the people love the atmosphere, and at the end of the day that’s what makes any festival great.”
Katie Breville was amongst the visitors of the Clapham event this summer. Although many of her friends had attended the Bristol festivals before, she said the London edition had its own appeal.
“It was my first time going but a lot of my mates had gone to the Bristol ones multiple times already,” she said. “It was a lot of fun – I’d definitely go back. It did feel quite small, and I’ve heard the Bristol ones have been bigger because there are more attendees, but I quite liked how intimate it was and being able to go off and queue for a drink without losing all of my people.”
Breville said the atmosphere was what stood out most, with guests embracing the black-tie dress code and treating the festival as the start of the summer season. “Everyone was on a happy vibe and all dressed up,” she said. “It felt like we were celebrating the start of summer.”
Looking ahead, both Jasper and Rosie hope Winestock continues to expand beyond Bristol and London without losing the sense of community that has driven its success. Jasper plans to grow the Clapham event while introducing smaller celebrations throughout the year, while Rosie hopes the festival inspires people to see wine differently.
“I want people to remember it as the best day of their summer,” she said, “the one where they leave with a new favourite wine, new friends, and a camera roll that they’re happy with.”
Featured image credit: Kelsey Knight via Unsplash
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