Having a Fine Wine Time with Wine School Online #Blog

Victoria Hayes
9th February 2021

Lockdown isn’t known for it’s social events, or so I thought. This past Friday I was treated to an invite to a Wine School of Cheshire Winecast and it was genuinely the most fun I’ve had in ages.

Part of the excitement of a social event to me is the build up and preparation, choosing an outfit, the hair, the make up, and I’ll admit that the prep for this event was slightly different, but none the less great fun.

The Wine School, run by the charismatic Richard is brilliantly organised. In advance with my e-ticket came tasting notes and on his website he had posted suggested food pairings. This girl needs no encouragement to go food shopping, so off I skipped and had so much fun selecting cheeses, meats, crackers and snack sized portions of treats. I really felt like I was getting ready for a party.

The wines for this tasting were available from the fantastic Tanners Wine as well as direct from Paso Primero and they were delivered well in advance of the tasting, adding to the sense of anticipation for the evening. Richard had already provided suggestions of when to chill and or open the bottles ahead of time, so I was set up well ahead of time with my glasses and laptop. 

If you haven’t yet done a zoom meeting, don’t be scared, this is really easy!

The e-ticket has all the information you need, so get comfortable with your glasses and your snacks and log on to the zoom meeting. Everyone there is in the same boat as you, and Richard is ready willing and able to help with any slight technical hitches.

One of the things I love most about Richard’s wine tasting sessions is his ability to balance the level so it suits everyone. No question is considered too basic or stupid, and even the most knowledgeable wine fan could take away some new information and inspiration.

This Winecast was a ‘Meet the Maker’ event and we were so lucky to meet Tom Holt from Paso Primero. Setting aside the very important fact that the wines we were sampling are really fantastic; Tom has a wonderful ability to express his passion for wine and we were all enthralled by his life story and the development of his business. Talk about inspirational.

Tom and his wife Emma are based in Shrewsbury so winemaking in Somontano in Northern Spain certainly involves an interesting commute! We learned that he came to Spain via a failed degree in Geology, a lucky job at the fantastic Tanners, a fascinating learning journey at Plumpton College, a leap of faith move to New Zealand, an over priced US visa avoidance detour to Canada and a packed up tent or two trail around the vineyards of Spain.

Yep, quite the rollercoaster, but the knowledge, passion and palette Tom has acquired along the way are absolutely top notch.

Many of the wines from Paso-Primero have won recent awards including The People’s Choice Wine Awards – it was an honour to be there on the night to congratulate Tom in person. Paso-Primero wines have also been recently featured by Master of Wine and host of The Wine Show, Joe Fattorini (The Wine Show series 1-3 are currently available to watch on Amazon prime).

So What did we try…

Paso-Primero Blanco

This white is a great way to start the evening.

A wine that would wipe away the tea or coffee of the day and set your palette right for the night. You could stay on it and pair it with Asian food, crab cakes for example, or use it to clear the way to bigger bolder flavours later in the evening. I paired it with Vegetable spring rolls and I loved how they brought out the Gewurtztraminer grape in the blend.

Please don’t be put off by the Chardonnay, I know it doesn’t have the best reputation as a grape variety, but this is mellow and honeyed with tropical notes and you would probably be best just relaxing and enjoying this wine without overthinking it. A wine to relax with.

Next Up, Paso- Primero Rosado

I should tell you. I’m not a fan of Rose. When out to lunch with the girls and someone orders Rose I roll my eyes and order a sneaky G & T. But This…is a revelation. All the things I “know” about Rose are flipped on their heads. Usually the bright pink indicated a sweet syrupy nightmare, and the paler ones the drier more acceptable end of the spectrum, usually a little insipid.

Paso-Primero’s Rose is bright and bold, with a cherry/stone fruit sweetness which is well balanced Merlot is another less than popular choice for a grape variety for Rose, but this works so well, you’ll never go back.

I got a little obsessed with pairing this with Manchego Cheese but I am reliably informed that it goes amazingly with Smoky Bacon crispies from Sainsbury’s! Who doesn’t love a crisps and wine night? We all do.

I’ll dropping bottles of this at the ladies who lunch’s homes with a packet of smoky bacon crisps as a lockdown treat.

Next on the list, was something completely different and new to Paso’s wine list.

Paso-Prima 2019

Prima is their way of celebrating a really great vintage. All the grapes in this wine were picked in 2019 and blended together to make one white wine, a field blend if you will. An unusual risk which has really paid off with this.

This is richer, rounded and as it is barrel fermented not aged, its not too dried out. I paired it with with some Italian herbed ham, but Richard recommended and I agreed, this has the body and strength to pair well with Tarragon Chicken, something I cannot wait to try.

As each vintage is completely different, so will be every Paso-Prima wine and every Paso-Prima label. The latest of which has been designed by the wonderful “Mrs Paso”, Emma. It is simply beautiful and I can’t wait to see what the next Prima brings.

From White to Red…

We progressed to the Paso-Primero Tinto.

This wine is all about the fruit, with a blend of 5 grape varieties, it tastes more like a blended hedgerow! Bramble fruit and cherry notes, plus an unexpected ease an softness on the palette means you could drink this all day long.

The fruity richness pairs wonderfully with mushroom pate I discovered but I think this would be a “good for all meals” kind of wine, one that would disappear fast in good company.

Last but by very no means least, we were stunned into relative silence by the wonderful Pasotismo.

I confess I have been treated to this before and it has become my go to wine to buy for someone I wish to show off my wine knowledge to. Taste Cheshire boss Stephen, got one for Christmas for example!

This wine is literally the essence of their passion for wine in a bottle. Created in conjunction with their parent vineyard, they are so proud of the process they use to make this, it’s actually detailed on the label. Although I do recommend reading the detail before you drink it, not after…things do get a little blurry.

This wine is exciting, delicious and feels like a taste of luxury despite it’s reasonable price.

So the end of my evening comes, I am tipsy and happy. A Great evening, interesting company and truly outstanding wines.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the company of Tom Holt from Paso and Richard from the Wine School of Cheshire. The other attendees all asked interesting questions and seemed unphased by my munching my snacks on mute and listening to all the fascinating wine maker’s tales.

I cannot but thoroughly recommend the wine cast experience. for one thing, you can drink at home in your PJs and there’s no need to drive home!

The whole experience is inclusive, regardless of knowledge or background and you can join in with loved ones at home, (recommended to share all the bottles) or you can join alone and feel part of a community again.

I know it will still be a while before we are all allowed out again to enjoy wine in Cheshire’s gorgeous restaurants and bars, but in the meantime, please do join the online wine lovers for a really special experience, a night out…in.

Please find a full listing of the upcoming Wine casts here, there’s even some gin tastings in there too if you want to change it up. Whichever event you are interested in…. TRY IT.

A huge thank you to Richard from The Wine School of Cheshire for inviting me and spoiling me with these wines from the fantastic wine shop Tanners. You can find information about Tanners Wines here.

All the wines I have mentioned are available at Tanners or direct from Paso-Primero (paso-primero.com)