Cheshire’s wine school celebrates a decade in business! #Blog

Victoria Hayes
14th June 2023

Chester based Wine School of Cheshire turns ten years old on 22nd June.
The business is led by local wine expert Richard J Smith who hosted the wine school’s first ever Chester tasting on 22nd June 2013.

Richard said “I am beyond proud to see our small business turn 10 years old, especially after all that the last three years has thrown at us! Back in 2013 I hosted bimonthly Saturday wine tastings and here we are ten years on hosting in excess of 120 wine tastings every year as well as escorted wine tours around the world.”
Following the pandemic the wine school has relocated to Art Box in Boughton where guests can enjoy wine tastings amongst superb works of art by local, emerging artists and they have a new Wine Garden for al fresco summer events which has proved a huge hit with both regular and new guests.
Richard commented “this last year has been so exciting! We’ve adapted our Saturday Wine Schools to include a five course tasting menu and we’ve entered a long term partnership with West Cheshire College to support their hospitality students who produce all of our food, from canapés for our evening events and summer river cruises to our full Saturdays which features 8 different wines.”
All of the wine school’s events include food and wine pairing. “Food and wine matching is something I featured at our first event in 2013 and this has remained the focus of everything we do since. It’s remarkable how much wines can change with the right food match and importantly how much can go wrong if the matching isn’t done well – and most importantly there’s a great wine to suit everyone’s budget.

Wine snobbery is never on the menu at wine school as it’s very much about enjoyment and learning whilst having a great time in a fantastic setting” said Richard. Richard celebrates 33 years in the industry in December and his past career in some the world’s best hotels as well as time as a butler ensures the highest standards of service are a highlight of every event he hosts.

This wine school is also a member of Wines of Great Britain and their 10th birthday celebrations fall in English Wine Week 2023 and to mark the occasion they’re hosting a three day English Wine tour featuring vineyards in Surrey, Kent and Staffordshire. Welsh Wine Week was just last week and the wine school welcomed Welsh producer Gwinllan Conwy to The Wine Garden for a tasting to mark the occasion. Colin Bennet, owner of Gwinllan Conwy said “Richard is simply one of the best wine educators in the country and we were honoured to have our wines chosen for this event!”
The Wine School of Cheshire has a stellar list of businesses as corporate clients which include both local and international leading businesses. Back in 2020 the wine school was selected as one of the Small Business 100 for the year, an annual event held in the run up to Small Business Saturday, organised by Small Business Britain.
Richard is also a judge for The People’s Choice Wine Awards, a consumer focussed awards scheme, and this year is a judge for the Chester Hospitality Association’s new People Awards.
With so much happening it looks like the next 10 years will be just as exciting!