Did you know that there are over 500 native grape varieties in Italy alone, and if you tasted a new Italian wine each week, it would take you 20 years to taste your way around Italy, never mind any other of the 70-odd other countries that produce wine!
So where do you start if you want to learn about wine? Well one thing’s for sure, it’s not from a book. True, books can tell you lots of facts about techniques and what wines should taste like, but there’s no better way to really understand wine than to taste it. But where do you start?
It’s an unfortunate truth that wine is not cheap, particularly here in the UK where we pay more tax on our wine than all the other countries in the EU together. Buying six or seven different bottles just to see what they taste like is not really an option, and which bottles should you buy?
One answer is to attend a wine tasting. “But aren’t wine tastings ultra-serious events full of pontificating dull old men in red corduroy trousers showing off their ‘taste’ and knowledge in pretentious surroundings,” I hear you ask? Perhaps some are, but SWA recommend you steer well-clear of them.
At Suffolk Wine Academy they have three simple objectives to wine tastings; try something new, learn something about wine, and have fun while doing it. They will teach you how to taste wines and how to spot the characteristics that you like to make you more confident when choosing new wines. Their public tastings can be based on examples from a region or country, different styles of wines, specific grape varieties, or just wines that they’ve found and liked over the last few months. They take place in various places around Suffolk (Oakes Barn in Bury is one venue) but can also take place in your own home. Yes, that’s right. If you can get a bunch of friends or family together, they will come to you and put on a wine tasting just for you.Tastings are also great social events for employees and they can come to your office or workplace if you’ve got something to celebrate or just to show your staff that you care about them.
For details of Suffolk Wine Academy go to suffolkwineacademy.co.uk
