Toby's wine words - About : Norfolk Local Wine School - Wine Tasting Norfolk , Wine Courses Norfolk, WSET Courses Norfolk & Corporate Wine Events Norfolk from Norfolk Wine School

Toby shares his thoughts on wine with weekly drops of wine wisdom including insider secrets, food pairing advice, and his views on hot topics.

Why I love wine

17.02.22

My love of wine goes back to my youth. I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment in which wine was readily available at home. Not expensive wine just bottles from the local supermarket and off-licence. My early associations with it are social occasions full of fun and laughter, and the clinking of glass as family and friends raised their glasses for a ‘Cheers.’ As a young adult my most cherished conversations with my father were shared over a glass of wine.

When it came to my early career, I decided to indulge my curiosity in wine and join the wine industry. I was lucky enough to travel with my job to some amazing vineyards and meet some incredibly passionate people who had devoted their lives to wine and wine making. By then I was hooked.

5 reasons why I love wine:

Who doesn’t love a good story? Behind every glass of wine there are always stories to be told. Wine is totally unique because the way it tastes, and smells is directly influenced by the personality of the people who make it and the decisions they take in the vineyard and winery. I’ve met many winemakers and grape growers from the maverick and quirky to the super-scientific but what has always struck me is how you can taste their personality in the wines they make. Telling the story of the place where the grapes are grown and the people who make it means a glass of wine becomes a snapshot of a specific time and place.
Wine is great with food. If you’ve been to one of my food and wine pairing events, then you’ll know how easy it is to bring food and wine together in a way that can transform a mundane meal into a culinary experience! Take Champagne, or a good English Fizz, paired with traditional British Fish and Chips. The acidity in the wine cuts through the carbohydrate and fat and cleanses the palate ready for the next mouthful and there’s a fantastic contrast between the crispy, crunchy batter and the soft, foamy fizz that helps take this humble dish to dizzy new heights. This is just one pairing, there are literally thousands of combinations to explore.
There’s always a new wine to try. Wine is made in dozens of different countries and is made using different grape varieties by different people with different philosophies. No one glass of wine is the same as another. Red, White, Rosé, Sparkling, Sweet, Fortified & Natural, wine is made in a huge range of styles so there is literally a wine for everyone. Even if you managed to try every wine in the world over the course of a year, you’d have to start again the following year as vintage variation means that some wines will taste subtly different from one year to the next. I’ve been in the wine industry over 20 years and I’m still discovering exciting new wines.
Wine enhances any social occasion. Wine can bring people together in a way which no other drink can replicate. Wine is a drink made to be shared. There’s something very special about opening a bottle of wine with a loved one or friend. When enjoyed in the company of others it helps create bonds and connections through a shared enjoyment and appreciation of the wine itself. And of course, no celebration is complete without a glass of sparkling wine raised in a ‘Cheers’ as a way of recognising the importance of the occasion.
There are health benefits too. Research has shown that when enjoyed in moderation, wine can help with a general sense of well-being given its association with social activities. The potential health benefits of wine are also well documented. From heart-health to anti-inflammatory properties there are health benefits associated with moderate consumption of wine. However, moderation is the key word, any health benefits are easily lost if you don’t follow sensible drinking guidelines.

I hope you enjoy wine as much as I do. There’s a lot to love and always a new bottle to enjoy. Cheers!

If you enjoyed reading my blog, you might enjoy one of our themed evening wine tastings in which we bring the wines of a country or region to life.

Italy; the home of food and wine

22.09.21

At a themed food and wine pairing evening a couple of weeks ago I was asked where was the home of food and wine? In a split second I answered ‘Italy, of course’ but that set me thinking - why is Italy the country that is synonymous with food and wine – there are many countries that have long established food and wine credentials so what is it about Italy that means it is accepted as being the home of food and wine?

I think some of the answer lies in Italy’s unique history. The Italian peninsula operated as a hotch-potch of different kingdoms, city-states and duchies until unification in 1871 and the Italian nation-state was formed. This history of regional separatism created a very strong sense of local identity. The Italians are fiercely protective of their local culture and traditions and as their love of food and wine is second only to their love of family, local food and local wine is an intrinsic part of their local identity.

Italy’s unique geography also explains why there is such a rich and diverse food and wine culture. While we all think of Italy as being a hot county, its climate varies hugely on a regional and local level. The north is much cooler than the south while Sicily is scorching! The interior is mountainous and more continental in climate but the long Mediterranean and Adriatic coastlines are kept cool by sea breezes. This huge variability has, over time, led to the development of regional foods and wines that are suited to the specific conditions of the local environment. In the north the cuisine tends to be heartier and based more around dairy and meat. The wine styles are more acidic with high tannin in red wines which work well with more robust dishes. In the hot sunny south, the cuisine is a little lighter based around fruit, vegetables and olive oil. The wines are riper, fruitier and a little less austere. Fish and seafood feature strongly in cuisine found along the coastline and the cooler grape growing environment means you will find piercingly dry, fresh white wines that pair perfectly with fresh fish.

This geographical and environmental fragmentation meant that for centuries native grape varieties flourished at a local level across Italy. Today Italy is blessed with hundreds of indigenous grape varieties which means it offers a hugely diverse range of wines within which there is the perfect pairing for every pizza, pasta, meat, vegetable or fish dish and just about any other food you could imagine.

Finally, the Italians consider every mealtime to be a special occasion. Over a meal the conversation flows, the old interact with the young and the time is cherished. The food and wine on the table is respected as families and their guests take their time to savour and enjoy the meal that has been prepared for them. They enjoy the shared experience of family, food and wine as only the Italians know how.

As a visitor, you can travel the length of Italy and experience unique food and wine combinations that you might only find in one town or region. You will not experience the same food and wine anywhere else in Italy, let alone anywhere in the world. This is for me what makes Italy the true home of food and wine.

You might be interested in:

Tour de France Stage II: Wines from The Rhône, The Loire and the South of France

The influence of oak on wine

05.08.21

On our World of Wine course, I always spend time talking about oak and the influence it has on the flavour of wine. It’s a bit marmite – some drinkers love it and others hate it but I think that’s driven in part by the bad reputation it gained by association with the fruity, heavily oaked new-world Chardonnay that was guzzled by the bucket load as we weaned ourselves off semi-sweet German wine in the 1980’s. A wine being described as ‘oaky’ has shifted from being a compliment to a criticism.

While oak might not be to everybody’s taste, the joy of oak is in understanding how it’s used and how it can make a wine more complex and tastier. It’s a bit like adding salt to your meal, a little salt can enhance your meal but too much and you can ruin your dinner.

We can trace the use of oak in winemaking back to Roman times. The Greeks stored their wine in clay pots called amphorae, but they were fragile and easy to break. The Romans, who wanted to transport their wine around the empire, discovered that wine kept longer, tasted better and was easier to move when stored in wooden barrels.

There are lots of reasons why winemakers like using oak. Fermenting or ageing a wine in oak barrels (I’ll explain the difference between the two later) can help minimise the use of sulphur dioxide due to its antiseptic properties and it can help clarify and stabilise a wine.

So, how can you tell if your wine has been aged in oak? It’s a bit easier to tell with white wines because the flavours are a bit more obvious. In a red wine it can be trickier to identify because there is lots more going on but if it tastes smooth (i.e. there are no harsh edges to the wine) then this is usually a sign that the wine has been aged in oak.

The main flavours that oak adds to a wine are vanilla, spice (clove) and smoke. To create the barrel shape the wooden planks, or staves, are heated gently by the Cooper (barrel-maker) to make them more pliable so they can be curved into a barrel shape. The process of using a naked flame to heat the wood chars or ‘toasts’ the wood which creates vanilla-like compounds and spicy compounds which you can taste in a wine. The smoky flavours come from the charred wood itself and a more heavily toasted barrel will transfer more smoky flavours into a wine than a lightly toasted barrel. Oak also contains wood-tannins that are also transferred into a wine which adds structure and body to it.

Another reason why winemakers age a wine in oak is to allow the wine to evolve during the maturation process. Oak barrels are porous and so allow a tiny amount of oxygen to dissolve into the wine. This very gentle oxidative ageing softens the tannins in red wines (which is what makes a red wine taste smoother) and adds additional flavours of nuts, caramel and coffee due to very slow chemical reactions that occur over time.

There’s a subtle difference between a wine that’s been fermented in oak vs a wine that’s just been aged in oak. If the wine is fermenting and therefore ‘live’ in an oak barrel then the flavours will become much more integrated into the body of the wine, whereas with a wine that’s aged in oak the flavours are more likely to sit like an additional layer of flavour.

There are lots of factors that determine how much flavour is transferred into a wine. Brand new small oak ‘barriques’, often used in Burgundy, will transfer much more oaky flavour than older, larger barrels which are much more common in countries like Italy. Obviously, a wine that spends six months ageing in oak will not be as oaky as a wine that spends three years in oak.

One thing to note about oak is that it will make a wine more expensive. Oak barrels are very time consuming and expensive to produce and if a wine is being aged for an extended period in an oak barrel, then it has to be stored before release. You should therefore expect to pay a bit more for a wine that has been fermented or aged in oak.

The recent trend in winemaking has been towards less use of oak as consumer preference has shifted more towards clean, fresh and fruity white wine styles such as Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Thankfully, the use oak has not been abandoned, far from it, but winemakers are using oak more judiciously to strike a better balance between the bright freshy fruity flavours that consumers are enjoying in wine and the subtle flavour-enhancing nuances that only oak can add.

If you’d like to taste a range of different wines aged in oak join the next 8 Week World of Wine Course (WOW course) starting on Tuesday 7th September.

Why take a wine class?

22.07.21

Do you enjoy wine but buy the same wine, week after week? Or perhaps you go for whatever wine is on offer? Do you buy wine based on the attractiveness of the label? What about in a restaurant - do you go for the wine that’s priced just above the house wine on the wine list?

If your answer is yes to any of the above, don’t worry, you are not alone. And I’d be the first to accept, wine can appear to be confusing. There are different countries, regions, grape varieties, styles, and colours to get to grips with. It’s not made any easier by the fact that when you stand in front of the supermarket wall of wine all the bottles pretty much look the same, ok a few labels might stand out more than others but it’s not easy to find a wine you know you will like.

Yet, it is the sheer diversity of wine and the fact that one bottle doesn’t taste the same as another that I think makes it such a fascinating and exciting drink. There is literally a whole world of wine to explore. Wine doesn’t just come from a tap, it is made by people, individuals who put an amazing amount of care and passion into every bottle they make.

It’s a shame that wine has traditionally been surrounded by slightly elitist and snobby language, I know this puts people off engaging with wine and makes it seem less accessible. If you enjoy food and want to learn how to cook, you do a cookery course to teach you the skills to make your food even more enjoyable. It’s the same with wine, if you enjoy wine then a good wine class will teach you the skills you need to make wine more enjoyable.

This, for me, is the major benefit of attending a wine class. You’ll enhance your overall enjoyment and discover that the world of wine is suddenly much more accessible. Wine will no longer seem so intimidating. A little bit of wine knowledge really does go a long, long way to enhancing your enjoyment of wine.

Every wine has a story to tell, and you’ll get so much more from it if you understand what’s in your glass and why it tastes like it does. A good wine class will show you how to taste wine and how to work out which wines you like and why. You might know you like New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc – but do you know why? Is it because it tastes fruity? Is it because it’s not aged in oak? If you know why then it will be easier to find similar wines that you’ll like.

You don’t need to worry about not being able to taste wine – anybody can do it. Yes, there’s a basic technique to learn but you don’t need sensorial super-skills to be able to taste wine. Just a mouth and a nose! After just a couple of hours a good wine class will have you swirling, sniffing and sipping like a pro!

Wine classes are also extremely social and a chance to spend time with like-minded enthusiasts and immerse yourself in a fascinating subject. There’s nothing more social than relaxing with a glass of wine and chatting with other people whilst sharing wine stories and wine experiences.

For some a good wine class will simply equip them with the tools they need to navigate the wine aisle more successfully and make smarter wine choices in shops and restaurants. For others, it might ignite their interest and propel them to take a longer wine course or maybe even consider a professional wine qualification such as offered by the WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust).

You might even end up like me and make a career out of helping people squeeze as much enjoyment as possible out of every single drop.

You might enjoy:

Evening Introduction to Wine tasting class

How to pair wine with chocolate on World Chocolate Day

07.07.21

Did you know that around the world today, the 7th of July, is the day to celebrate chocolate? World Chocolate Day, or International Chocolate Day, is the day chocolate lovers across the world indulge in a celebration of one of life’s most simple pleasures.

When it comes to pairing chocolate and wine though, it can be tricky because chocolate is sweet and contains tannin (the same compound found in wine that tastes bitter and makes your mouth dry out) both of which pose problems when trying to pair with wine.

However, if you follow my simple food and wine pairing principles then you’ll discover some heavenly chocolate and wine combinations.

Firstly, it’s all about balance. In any pairing you should always be able taste both the chocolate and the wine so the more intensely flavoured your chocolate, the more full-bodied your wine should be. Use the cocoa content as a guide; the higher the cocoa content, the more body you need in your wine.

Secondly, while you can pair red, white, or rosé wine with chocolate be aware that any red wine that’s dry and high in tannin is generally going to be difficult to pair with chocolate. Generally, a red wine that’s lower in tannin will work better as you’ll avoid a ‘clash of the tannins’! It’s amazing how the juicy-fruit flavours of a red wine made from super-ripe grapes create a satisfying contrast to the bitter flavours of dark chocolate.

There are subtle flavours derived from both the cocoa bean and the roasting process that come through naturally in chocolate such as berries, nuts, caramel and smoke, and of course it can have flavours added through a whole range of fruits, nuts, salt and other ingredients. One way to create a perfect pairing is to try to create a complementary pairing by matching the dominant flavour profile in your chocolate with a similar flavour in your wine.

Finally with chocolate being high in fat there’s always the potential to create pairings in which the acidity in a wine helps cut through the creamy chocolate leaving your palate cleansed, refreshed and ready for more!

My top chocolate and wine pairings:

With dark chocolate – one of my favourite combinations is dark chocolate with an intensely fruity Red Zinfandel from California - this a powerful yet satisfyingly complimentary pairing. Add some fresh ripe cherries into the mix and you’ll create something really special! If you’re pairing a really dark chocolate (80% + cocoa content) then a rich, warming LBV Port would hold up better to the intensity of flavour.

With milk chocolate – there are a couple of options here. Try it with a glass of (very lightly chilled) Tawny Port – the nutty and caramelised character of the Port will pair superbly with milk chocolate. Even better if the chocolate has nuts in it. Or you could try pairing it with a sweet white wine like Sauternes from France with its delicious flavour profile of marmalade, nuts and honey that will blend harmoniously with any good quality milk chocolate.

With white chocolate – the mellow sweetness and buttery, creamy profile of white chocolate makes it a match made in heaven with a demi-sec (slightly sweet) style Sparkling wine, such as Champagne. The acidity will help cut through the creamy mouth-coating texture and the subtle sweetness of the wine will balance perfectly with white chocolate. Another great fizz option would be an Italian Moscato d’Asti with its sweet & subtle bubby personality; add some fresh strawberries to elevate this pairing to a whole new level of sensorial pleasure!

Remember, we’re talking about pairing of chocolate and wine, don’t take it too seriously, experiment and have some fun!

You might enjoy: Chocolate & Wine workshop

Online wine tasting etiquette

30.06.21

I’ve hosted quite a few online wine tastings and it’s been great to see how easily guests have adapted to them. The convenience of tasting wine at home is obvious with no need for babysitters and no need to travel. Generally, I’ve found that people relax into them very easily and that the conversation flows. In fact, guests always seem to be much less inhibited when tasting wine at home. Of course, the obvious difference is the tech but after over a year of lockdown and working from home most people are fairly Zoom-savvy. But some of the questions around tasting etiquette – mainly around tasting measures and whether to sip or spit – are the same online as they are in the ‘real-word’. So, here are my four top tips on how to sail through an online wine tasting with ease:

1. Be Prepared

Look out for the e-mail a few days before the tasting with information on how to prepare the wines, including which wines need chilling and for how long, as well as nibbles to pair with the wines. Prepare them in advance and have them within arms-reach. This will save any last-minute dashing to the fridge and avoid any friendly ribbing from other guests who are relaxed and ready to go.

2. Sip or spit?

Well, this is the perennial wine tasting question. There’s a reason why I recommend spitting – to assess how long the nice flavours of a wine last in the mouth which is an indication of the quality of the wine. So, the etiquette is to spit, and I suggest you give it a go to maximise your experience. But then it’s absolutely fine to take another few sips, this is after all about enjoying yourself!

3. Pace yourself

So, this is the biggest difference between tasting online vs a tasting in the real world. In a face-to-face tasting, the wine is poured for you but online you are in control of your own tasting measures. Of course, I want everybody to have a great time and enjoy the wines but a camera being turned off is a dead giveaway that a guest may have peaked too early! A feature of most online wine tastings is the Zoom ‘after-party’ so make sure you keep plenty of wine back to enjoy with your colleagues and friends.

4. Master the art of muting!

Have you ever been in a Zoom and been talking but nobody can hear you? Or been having a private conversation that wasn’t so private? In larger groups you should assume that the host will have muted everybody – I always let guests know – so you’ll need to unmute to ask a question. But be careful, after a little bit of wine you may not be quite as sharp as you are on a work Zoom so there’s always a danger, you’ll share more than you intended to!

Follow these simple steps and you’ll avoid any mishaps meaning you can sit back, relax and enjoy your online wine tasting.

New, Virtual Vineyard online corporate wine tastings from Norfolk Wine School are a great way to say thank you to staff or entertain clients.

The rise of online wine tasting

23.06.21

Just 15 months ago I could count on one hand the number of Zoom tastings I’d been invited to. However, like just about everything else, wine went online during the pandemic and it’s a trend that looks set to stay. There’s something really special about anything that can bring people together when we are forced to stay apart.

Of course, wine tasting has always been a fun way to get family, friends, or work colleagues together. It’s a shared activity and a great way to connect with people, make memories and pick up handy wine tips.

Now some might say that you need to be face to face to make the most of the social experience. Well, I’ll admit I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how social tasting wine online can be. In my experience guests seem to lose their inhibitions very quickly when they are tasting wine from the comfort of their armchair or kitchen table. This is probably down to the fact that when tasting wine at home guests are in control of the size of their glass and tasting measures!

Once guests have mastered the art of de-muting and have got used to expressing themselves by using emojis or thumbs up, it’s amazing how quickly the atmosphere builds and tastings develop their own flow. “Chat” seems to be a less intimidating way of asking a question and encourages little side conversations which help bond everybody together.

Practically, online wine tasting means thankfully you don’t need a designated driver, and no one needs to travel. This makes wine tasting very accessible and easy to participate in. Of course, it also makes it easy to bring people together from all over the country in large groups and small.

There are certain things that you can do online that are hard to re-create in a traditional face to face tasting. The full screen experience of Google Earth allows a host to take guests into the vineyards where the grapes are grown. In a world where we can no longer take a trip overseas, being able to take people on a virtual journey to experience the culture, cuisine, sights and sounds of wine regions goes some way to quenching their thirst for travel.

And who better to bring a wine to life than the person who made it? Another advantage of tasting wine online is that winemakers can dial in and can share their stories and passion for wine with the people who drink it. At the same time guests can get their questions answered by the person who made it.

Of course, the success of any online wine tasting is in large part down to the ability of the host to steer the party – there’s nothing worse than a silent pause on Zoom. A good host will manage the room, guide guests through the structured content and create lots of opportunities for interaction to make sure everybody feels involved.

Do I think online wine tasting will replace tasting wine face to face with people? No. However online wine tasting is a great way to spread the wine tasting net further and makes it more accessible for more people to enjoy wine – now that’s got to be a good thing.

Norfolk Wine School’s Virtual Vineyard online corporate wine tastings are tastings specifically developed for businesses looking for ways to entertain their staff or clients.

English Wine Week

16.06.21

For those of you that know me you’ll know that I have a particular affection for Italian wine – it’s the diverse range of wines made from eclectic sounding grape varieties that seduces me, there’s always something new to try.

However, I have to admit, my head has been turned by English Wine. And it’s not just me. We’re all buying more locally produced food and drink than ever before and 2021 is the year of the staycation which has created a mini boom in local wine tourism. There’s never been more interest in English wine with all major retailers reporting a huge surge in sales.

So, I’ll be raising a glass to celebrate English Wine Week which runs from 19th-27th June. The most obvious way you can join in is by taking a tour of a local vineyard. There’s nothing more pleasurable than sipping a delicious glass of chilled wine on a vineyard terrace or in a garden surrounded by the vines on which the grapes are grown. Most local vineyards are running tastings and tours; although to avoid disappointment I suggest you ring ahead or check vineyard websites as you will need to book. If you can’t get to visit a vineyard then I have a few places left on my English Wine Week local wine tasting on 24th June.

If you manage to get on a vineyard tour you’ll find grapes grown by entrepreneurial farmers turned grape-growers and superb quality still & sparkling wines made by talented winemakers from all walks of life and all around the world. Vineyard and winery facilities are state of the art. On a recent visit to one of our local vineyards I was hugely impressed by the use of modern laser-guided grape-growing technology mixed with traditional English craftmanship.

So, what about the wines? Well, Bacchus is England’s answer to Sauvignon Blanc and this cool-climate grape flourishes in Norfolk's relatively warm, dry climate. It makes dry, aromatic wines with refreshing acidity; delicious when paired with local seafood or goat’s cheese. Winbirri Vineyard’s Bacchus is still consistently one of the best examples.

Solaris is another white grape variety to look out for; the best examples I’ve tasted are medium bodied and well textured with a creamy lemon-curd filled palate. I particularly like the Solaris made by Burn Valley Vineyard; it has been barrel-fermented which gives the wine extra weight and richness.

You’ll find great Rose wines made in Norfolk too. Made with the black Regent grape, Chet Valley Vineyard’s Redwing Rose is brimming with plush red fruit flavours and is fantastic with a plate of locally cured meats.

For me through, the recent revelation has been in red wines. If you love an oak aged Rioja then try Winbirri Vineyard’s Signature Red. Made with the Dornfelder grape it’s aged for eighteen months in American oak barrels. It’s full-bodied and complex with loads of toasty oak flavour. At the other end of the style-scale I’ve still got a soft spot for Flint Vineyard’s Pinot Noir Précoce, a juicy, medium-bodied silky-smooth wine that drinks superbly when it’s very lightly chilled.

So, take a moment during English Week to join in the celebrations and explore the fantastic range of wines available from the vineyards on our doorstep. Cheers!

How to taste wine like a pro

09.06.2021

To state the obvious, you don’t need to be able to taste wine like a professional to enjoy it. A corkscrew and glass are the only essentials. However, if you understand what’s in your glass it will enhance your overall drinking experience and make it easier to find more wines you’ll like.

Anybody can taste wine. You don’t need a special palate, a cravat or a ‘penchant for freshly cut grass’. You can pick up the basic technique in just a few minutes but, like most things in life, the more you practice the better you’ll get.

So, why taste wine? Well, it’s a bit like buying clothes. You could just pick something off the shelf, take it home and wear it, or you could spend some time in the shop and try an item on to see how well it fits you and if you like the feel or cut of the fabric. Similarly, you could just grab a wine off the shop shelf, take it home and glug it. Job done. However, if you take the time to taste it properly then you can work which elements you like and use that information to help inform your next purchase.

So, how do you taste wine? You might have seen the ‘experts’ doing all the sniffing, swirling, slurping and spitting - but what’s it really all about? When you taste a wine, you are trying to identify the main aromas and flavours and the key structural characteristics, such as acidity, body and tannin. Acidity is measured by how much your mouth waters, that’s your mouth producing saliva to combat the acidity. The more your mouth waters, the higher the acidity. Body is best described as the ‘mouthfeel’ or how much the wine coats the mouth (this ranges from light-bodied to full-bodied). Tannin is the mouth-dying sensation you can get from a red wine that a lot of people don’t enjoy.

I always encourage new wine tasters to turn wine tasting on its head – it’s not about tasting, it’s all about smelling. This is because it’s your sense of smell that does all the hard work converting what you put into your mouth into the words that describe the flavours.

Don’t worry about long, flowery descriptions like ‘reminiscent of a summer fruit pudding served outside on the terrace in the afternoon sun’ – just try and identify basic smells – fruits, flowers, and other aromas that you recognise and that you could pick up in another wine. There are lots of aids online like aroma wheels that can guide you and help you identify the aromas coming from a wine.

Of course, the big question is whether to spit or not. Spitting a wine out means that you can judge how long a wine lasts in the mouth and good ‘length’ – how long the nice flavours last in the mouth after spitting is an indication of the quality of a wine.

So, here are my 5 simple steps to taste wine like a pro:

Take a moment to look at the wine in your glass – does it look clear and bright (most wine should be). If it looks a bit hazy and you are in a restaurant you should ask somebody to check it for you
Swirl the wine around in the glass (to release the aromas and make smelling easier)
‘Nose’ your wine – basically, stick your nose in the glass and give it a good sniff. What can you smell? Try to jot down 3 or 4 aromas that you can identify.
Taste the wine – try drawing a little air in through your lips as you take in the wine, this helps aerate the wine and release the flavours. What can you taste? The flavours should be like the aromas you identified on the nose. What about the structural elements? Is the wine high in acidity – and do you like that? What about the body? What do you prefer? Light or full-bodied wines? Do you like the tannin in a red wine?
Spit the wine out and assess the length – how long do the pleasant flavours last? If the nice flavours last around 30 seconds or more then you’ve got a good wine. If they fade after a few seconds, it doesn’t mean the wine is bad, just don’t expect too much from it.

Jot down as much as you can so you have a record of what you’ve tasted, and you’ll have started to develop your own wine lexicon - aromas and flavours that mean something to you that you can use to compare one wine with another. Most importantly highlight the aromas, flavours and structural elements you liked or disliked.

Now you can taste wine like a pro, raise your glass and shout ‘Cheers’!

How to choose a good wine

02.06.21

I remember when I went to the supermarket to buy my first bottle of wine. As a young man I knew nothing about wine but had enjoyed drinking my dad’s wine at every opportunity. I thought it would be easy to find a good one.

It was anything but easy. I was confronted by hundreds of bottles on the shelves that all looked pretty much the same apart from the odd label that stood out. There were different countries, different grape varieties and different languages to navigate. Needless to say, I just picked up the first bottle of Shiraz I saw because that what was always enjoyed at home. I seem to remember it was on offer at £3.99 (that’s giving my age away!) It wasn’t a good one.

So, here are my top tips to help you choose a good bottle.

1. Don’t just buy with your eyes. Look beyond the garish, eye-catching designs as they are often disguising average quality wines. Instead pay attention to the information on the label (like country or region) that will tell you where it’s from and most importantly the grape variety which will tell you more about what’s inside the bottle.

2. Beware of the marketing ‘spiel’. Often labels will feature words like ‘Limited Edition’, ‘Winemakers Selection’ or ‘Grande Reserve’ – these are quality cues dreamt up by marketeers with no official meaning. Avoid unless they are substantiated.

3. Resist the temptation to buy on deal. The discount will be built into the retail price; with wine it really is the case that you get what you pay for…

4. Spend £7.50 to get a good bottle. A fixed amount of £2.23 of the price of still wine currently goes to the taxman. Add VAT and after labelling, packaging, transport, marketing and margins there’s not much left of the price of a £5 bottle of wine to buy the liquid inside. The more you spend the more of your money is going on the grapes. Of course, it’s not guaranteed that every bottle of wine at £7.50 will be good, but your chances are significantly better than if you spend £5!

5. Make some notes when you buy a good wine. It sounds obvious but if you find a wine you like make a note of the name of the producer, the grape variety and the country or region. Use this information on your next shopping trip and buy the same grape variety but maybe from a different country or buy a wine from the same producer but a different grape variety – this will help reduce the risk of buying a bad wine.

6. Take advantage of technology. There is a plethora of wine apps out there all designed to help you find good wine. Vivino is the biggest and probably one of the best and is very user-friendly.

7. Ask somebody. Or do it the old-fashioned way and speak to a human-being. National retailers like Majestic Wine and independent wine shops always have people on hand willing to help and give you advice.

8. Do a wine course. A little bit of wine knowledge goes a long way to help you choose good wines. If you know what you like and why it’s so much easier to make more informed choices and leave the shop with a wine you will enjoy. Courses like The Local Wine School Network’s Evening Introduction to Wine Tasting have helped thousands of people to choose good wine.

You might like:

Evening Introduction to Wine Tasting, Norwich, Thursday 29th July, 7pm.

Let’s raise a glass together on National Wine Day

25.05.21

The world is unlocking. I’m ready to taste and I can’t wait to welcome guests back to wine school events. 2020 was a very bumpy ride and like everybody I'm adapting as best as I can to the ‘new-normal’. I’m a social animal at heart, I love what I do and I’m optimistic that the recent increase in wine drinking will mean more people are curious about it and want to learn more.

I was asked the other day whether I think people are ready to come back to hospitality. While I can’t wait to be sociable again, I think some people will understandably be nervous. Like most businesses we’re doing everything we can to reassure our guests that it is safe to return to our events. I’m encouraged so far as bookings have been strong. As we open up, we will welcome many new guests as well as look after guests who have transferred from cancelled events. I’ve been overwhelmed by our guests' support which makes a huge difference when you are running a small, locally based business.

While overall alcohol consumption has been broadly flat during the pandemic, it's been widely publicised that wine consumption has increased. Wine has always been seen as an affordable treat so perhaps it’s no surprise that wine sales have soared. The lockdowns meant households spent more time preparing meals and eating together. Wine has a natural affinity with food so it's now more established than ever in our at-home routine.

So much of life shifted online during lockdown and wine is no exception. I’d only heard of a couple of Zoom tastings before March 2020, now it feels like they are part of the furniture. I’ve embraced the Zoom culture by hosting online corporate wine tastings and this is an area of the business I’m expanding as I think online wine tasting is here to stay.

During the last year I’ve been trying to support other local businesses and I’ve been eating and drinking more local produce. I’ve enjoyed exploring all the delicious local wines made with grapes grown here in Norfolk. While there’s a whole world of wine out there, there are dozens of fantastic wines made literally on our doorstep. That in itself is a cause for celebration!

My philosophy has always been to savour and enjoy, not to over-indulge and when you drink wine drink the best you can. So, I’m raising my glass to celebrate and look forward to seeing my guests again for some good times with wine.