Tasting Wine from your Armchair.

As most MidWeekers will know, there is a distinction between my Monday posts and their Thursday equivalents.

Monday is all about Top Tips – recommendations about (largely entry-point) wines that are sound in quality and typical examples of their genre.

Above all, though, they should offer good value for money.

These posts are ideal for those just wanting a “decent” bottle at a modest price.

They will also appeal to time-challenged folk who simply want a “Grab and Go” wine purchase.

Thursdays I try to delve a bit deeper and go beyond suggesting what to buy to consider why to buy it.

It’s rather like the “If I teach someone to fish” approach.

Top Tips will give you reliable, well priced bottles today.

Understanding what makes them good will allow you to choose what to buy for yourself … forever.

Central, though, to acquiring that understanding is trying a wide range of different wines.

Today, then, MidWeeker Richard talks about one convenient way to do that.

He will return to the theme of tastings later in the year.

Adopting my traditional format, images are provided where possible and hyperlinks accompany references to specific wines.

These are Richard’s thoughts.

For many years I have attended and enjoyed “In-Person” wine events, but also really enjoy the new wave of On-Line tastings, which, since Covid, have blossomed.

They are so convenient – no travel logistics to sort, but still a community feel about them – just as we find in the MWW family!

I remember Richard Bampfield MW, (who will be familiar to all who buy wines at Lidl) saying that he loves On-Line events.

Attendees are less inhibited, interact much more, which just makes the event more engaging and fun!

There are various “flavours” of these on-line tastings, but all enable the participants to formally ask questions or comment, via your keyboard.

Some allow you to switch on your camera (if you wish), unmute and have old fashioned voice interaction!

Sometimes there is a vote at the end, to rate the wines and find an overall “winner”.

Here are some good ones to try

I share my experiences with a variety of On-Line event providers – all of whom I’m very comfortable recommending.

To some, the cost for the total wine content may seem high, but having the variety of wines, plus a presentation, makes the overall package good value.

More so, if you compare with an equivalent In-Person event with associated travel costs etc – and, of course, they can have an even higher entertainment value!

First up then.

Diana Thompson of Wine Events Scotland provides a series of “Monday Minis” events.

You pay £30 which gives you log-on access to an interactive live presentation, and a pack of 6 x 55ml samples, delivered to your door a couple of days before the event.

This sample size is good for one person, but I usually purchase an additional sample pack (£20) and find that 6 x 110ml is good for 2 people to taste, plus some left to have with our after-tasting supper.

I pour and briefly sample the wines before signing-in, taste them again alongside Diana, and then finish the wines with supper.

 Recent highlights included 6 Assyrtiko wines from Santorini (expensive and high class examples) and a session with 6 Saint-Joseph reds from the Northern Rhone.

Upcoming events include Rioja and Alsace. Diana’s presentations are very professional, and engaging, with lots of maps, slides etc.

And that’s not all

Diana also holds joint sessions with Richard Bampfield MW which cover an upcoming Lidl Wine Tour.

The format is a BYO On-Line, in that they publish the featured wines in advance – well before they are available in the shop.

You sign up for the event and then call into Lidl, on the release date, and purchase some, or all, of the featured wines – which can then be tasted alongside Diana & Richard.

Richard is also happy to field any Lidl wine related questions, so you could store up all your Lidl queries and raise them with him!

Another good option

Dan Farrell-Wright of Wickham Wines (pictured right), from time to time does On-Line events using samples in  (the very useful &  re-usable) Coravin 100ml sample bottles.

Not so regular as Diana’s programmes, but the last event, on Beaujolais, was excellent – very informative, friendly and great value.

Plus, of course, The Wine Society

The Wine Society has a huge programme of wine events – check these out on their web site.

Signing up for the Zoom link for On-Line events is free for members, and the featured wines are listed.

So, you can either select and purchase the bottles beforehand, i.e. BYO – or buy specific sample packs (which come in 6 x 100ml pouches).

Recent (sample) highlights have been a fine selection of wines from around the world to celebrate International Pinot Noir Day (August 18th, every year!), and a fine Claret collection.

These events are generally hosted by two TWS staff, sometimes including the Buyer and sometimes a wine maker.

They also do some funky “Online Friday Night Takeaway” events – the next one, on Friday 31st January, features Thai cuisine.

In these, organisers suggest 4 menu items and accompanying wines.

You can make or buy the equivalent dishes from, say, M&S or Waitrose, and buy their suggested wines, or even just get other wines that you think will be suitable.

Then everyone tucks in, On-Line, and the comment section gets pretty busy!

I’ve attended quite a few of these, and they are great fun and, better still, cameras are off, so no one sees you dribbling green curry down your chin!

Here’s another good example

Tom Cannavan of wine-pages.com has an extensive programme of On-Line tastings.

These are based on tasting 6 bottles split across 2 Zoom sessions, a week apart.

You sign up for the event, and (optionally) can follow a link to buy a case of the 6 wines, to be delivered to your door.

Tom usually negotiates a good discount, so even with the included delivery charge, is decent value for the wines.

The first session features three of the bottles, and the following week, the remaining bottles are tasted and this format can be a good option particularly if the topic is of special interest.

Looking on Tom’s website the next 3 events look very interesting – the wines are shown upfront, so you can judge whether these will appeal.

The presentations are very professional, and as always, questions, or comments, can be raised online.

Turning to retailers now.

The Co-op hold free BYO online tasting events, using “Microsoft Teams”, rather than “Zoom”.

They publish the 2 or 3 wines that will be featured, and you can pop into a local store to buy them, enabling you to taste along on the night.

To get access you need to be a member of the National Co-op, not your local one.

For example, I am a member of East of England Co-op, but I had to pay £1 to become a (lifetime) member of the National Co-op.

So, all a bit clunky, but you can start the journey by going to …

https://joinin.coop.co.uk/opportunities or https://membership.coop.co.uk/register

Once you have been involved in one event, you get email notifications of future ones, and then it all works smoothly.

The events themselves are a bit variable, depending on the grower(s) and Co-op support staff, but, hey, it is free!

The next one is on 6th Feb and features their basic Chianti and Soave. You need to register/sign up by the 2nd Feb.

In addition

I have had a couple of ad-hoc On-Line tastings, with samples, via The Three Wine Men , Oz Clarke, Tim Atkin MW and Olly Smith.

Although they don’t have anything currently planned, it is worth getting on their email list.

Tim’s presentations, are very professional, and will greatly appeal to any wine geek while Oz and Olly’s will always be extremely entertaining!

I have also come across an Online Wine Tasting Club, to which you can subscribe for regular delivery of samples – in 100ml pouches.

They also do a “catch-up” where you can buy specific collections as a one-off, and a link to the (past) recording.

I personally like to see a list of the wines in advance, before committing, so I haven’t used them – but they seem to get good reviews.

In addition I would be very interested to hear of any other On-Line experience and the Comments section may be a good place to tell us about them.

[Thank you Richard for such a comprehensive and helpful report … Ed.]

BONUS ITEM

Building on that theme of suggesting why and when particular wines should rise to the top of your shopping lists, here are a couple of pointers.

Spicy Food.

Traditionally in the UK, curries and other spicy foods are partnered with lager.

Nothing wrong with that, but spiciness and wines are by no means incompatible.

As with matching exercises in general, you can either opt for similarity or for contrast and this recommendation goes for the first of those approaches.

Gewürztraminer is a grape that produces distinctive fragrant and spicy wine with flavours of oriental fruit.

That works well with Thai dishes for example and is actually my choice for wine to accompany haggis.

In this context, gewürztraminer’s low acidity is not an issue as contrast is not what you are trying to achieve this time.

So, try a bottle next time you are serving something spicy.

A good example.

2022 Dopff & Irion Gewürztraminer (£13.99 at House of Townend and 14% abv):

Just off-dry and with limited initial aromas, this exhibits rich lychee, ginger and sweet rhubarb flavours.

All that is neatly bound up in a texture that incorporates freshness and hints of marmalade.

And for a red.

Two bits of advice here – first, with so much red wine sold before it is properly ready, one region stands out for the standards of maturation it provides.

Rioja – along with other parts of Spain – has regulations that define how long a wine must spend before it is released and how much of that time is in oak.

Secondly, of the categories those regulations enforce, crianza is a good one to seek out.

Wine bearing Crianza on the label score well because they have more maturity than basic Rioja but are less expensive than Reservas.

Thus, they tick the value box rather well.

Again, here is an example.

2020 The Society’s Rioja Crianza (£8.95 at The Wine Society also 14% abv):

This is a fairly traditional version that is smooth with classic rich Rioja fragrances.

Its core is full-bodied plum and black cherry flavours embellished by good acidity, limited tannin and suggestions of baking spice and chocolate.

Join me again on Monday to see what I am I recommending as the latest Top Tips among High Street retailers.