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Beginners Guide to Wine Tasting
Always one of our most popular tastings this gives you a chance to get all those questions about wine you've always wanted to ask out in the open, gives you a better understanding of how to talk about wine and work out why you prefer Malbec over Pinot Noir (for instance). Covering a broad range of wines and styles this is a fast moving and fun session designed to give you a touch more confidence in choosing and enjoying your wine.
Provence Wines with Chateau Rimaresq
Over the last few years a particular style of rosé wine has risen to prominence in the UK, the pale and dry Provence style. Chateau Rimaresq excel at this but also produce a tangy, dry white from the local Rolle variety (which washes down the local seafood well) and a full bodied red from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah (for the barbecues). We’ll taste through the range in company of the producers themselves.
Aromatic Grapes
Since we opened in September 2010 we have consistently sold more white wines made from ‘aromatic’ grapes varieties than any other so its probably about time that we sat down with a selection of the best wines of this style we can find. Think Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Muscat and Pinot Gris and regions such as Alsace, Alto Adige, The Mosel valley as well as farther flung regions around the world. Wines will vary from the bone dry through to the ridiculously sweet and we promise no shortage of flavour in any of the wines.
Georgian Wines
The birthplace of winemaking is not France, Italy or even Greece but further east out in the Caucus mountains of what used to be the south west of Russia. This ancient winemaking culture has unique grapes and vinification methods that hark back to the origins of wine and civilisation. Thanks to some enterprising importers we’re finally able to put out a selection of these truly remarkable wines for the first time.
Italy: North, South, East and West
The Greeks called it Enotria; land of vines and Italy has never really looked back seemingly enshrining every peasant with their own Denominazione di Origine Controllata while renegades, rebellious aristocrats and random cognoscenti have broken new ground and new styles. While we can never do justice to such a confusion of wines we’ll take a brief excursion through all points of the compass to discover the diversity Italy offers consumers these days.
White Wines from the Loire
The Loire is France’s longest river stretching from the Massif Central to the Atlantic at the city of Nantes. Along its course grow amazing wines from grapes such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Melon de Bourgogne. Due to its disparate nature the region has never really been able to present a unified image to the outside world and remains a source for great wines at relatively bargain prices. In the past decade more winemakers have adopted organic practices and the wines are better than ever before.
Red Burgundy
The magnificent Pinot Noir strutting its stuff on its home turf of Burgundy’s Cote d’Or. We’re big fans of this most frustrating of grapes. Join this session if you’d like to explore the wines from Bourgogne Ordinaire through to Grand Cru extraordinaire.
BRICs and Beyond: Up-and-coming wine regions
Wine from Australia used to be a novelty but what about Brazil, India and Russia? Are these the wine regions of the future? We’re assembling a line-up of wines from emerging economies and newer wine regions to show that the roots of the vine are happily settling into some unexpected places
Nyetimber: Classic English Fizz
- Sun 27 May From 1PM £10 (refundable against purchases)
An informal drop-in session wit hSophie Eccles of Nyetimber and a chance to try this wonderful English sparkler - Brut, Blanc de Blancs and Rosé will all be open to try - something for the Jubilee party planners perhaps?
Rose: Life in the Pink
Coinciding with what will hopefully be the start of a sunny summer we’ll be trying a range of pink wines from the light and delicate through to some more substantial numbers and, hopefully, demonstrating that there’s more to these wines than simply picking the palest coloured one.
South African Regions
Everyone’s heard of Stellenbosch right? What about Paarl, Swartland or Elgin though? South Africa’s wine scene has expanded beyond Cape Town’s back garden across marginal growing sites resulting in diverse new styles of wine coming onto the market. As ever, these upstarts are really where the value and excitement are to be found. Come and try tomorrow’s classics today.
Beer
Tasting wine all day is
hard work (really, it is) so we love to have a selection of noble beers on hand
to enliven the senses. Just as with wine there’s a huge range of styles and
regional specialities to consider when cracking a bottle. This session will
take you through a variety of the world’s fermented grain products from light
lagers to hearty barley wines.
Argentinean Malbec: To blend or not blend?
Currently a massive hit on
our shelves, Argentinian Malbec seems to embody everything red wine drinkers
crave being dark, rich and soft. Here’s a chance to assess a selection of them
against wines made with Malbec blended with other black grapes. The aim being
to sort out the definitive summer barbeque red!
New Wave of German Wine (aka No Riesling!)
A
little known fact is that German is the second largest producer of Pinot Noir
in the world. Join us to try awesome examples of boutique specialities from
across Deutschland. There’s just one rule on the evening: There will be no
Riesling
Rhone Valley Wines
The Rhone spans a vast amount
of vineyards from just south of Lyon to the estuary with the Mediterranean. It’s
home to grapes such as Grenache and Syrah in the reds and Viognier and Roussanne
in the whites as well as many others. From the well-known Chateauneuf du Pape
through to oddities such as Tavel or the myriad Cotes du Rhone Villages there
is plenty of variety and style to choose from. Using a broad sweep from north
to south we’ll scratch the surface and hopefully inspire further discovery.
Champagne!
Toast the start of the
Olympics with a glass or seven of France’s finest bubbly. This is always a sell out session so advance booking is essential. Trawling
across the champagne region you’ll discover the differences between the various
styles of Champagne from Blanc de Blancs to Vintages and Rosés. We always like
to break new ground with this session so don’t expect a Veuve Clicquot or Moet
in the line up. Instead we try and encourage you to branch out and discover the
amazing new grower-producers making waves across the region.
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