Join The Wine School of Cheshire for online wine tasting this Saturday afternoon with Zoom. #Blog

Victoria Hayes
27th March 2020

I hope you’re keeping well and staying safe in these challenging times.

Whilst I can’t be with you in person, I’d love too see you on Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock if you can join us for our first winecast from Wine Isolation HQ!

Yes, live wine tasting online so we can share a glass or two and I hope I can share some useful tips and answer your questions too.

How will it work? Thanks to fantastic free software from Zoom, you’ll find your invitation to join in below. If you prefer to use a smartphone or tablet, you can download the Zoom app. From a laptop to desktop computer, your web browser should work just fine. 

I hope we will be free of teething problems but please bear with me if any arise as this is will be our first of what I hope will be many webcast tastings over the coming weeks. This will be very informal but there are a few rules:

1. have a great time!
2. no politics – it’s all about the love of wine and an escape from the lockdown
3. please stay on subject, ie wine tasting and anything wine related
4. look forward to your homework: enjoy more wine!
5. do not drive afterwards

I’m going to feature a few great value wines and so long as the tech is working I should be able to share the tasting notes on screen and upload a copy for you to keep. If you’d like to join in with the same wines, I’ve lined up these from Waitrose along with some alternatives if you’re self isolating:

1. Champteloup Muscadet Sèvre et Maine (on offer at £6.49, was £8.79)
https://www.waitrosecellar.com/champteloup-muscadet-sevre-et-maine
(any other Muscadet will be great as an alternative)

2. Waitrose W Zweigelt Rosé  (£8.99 – in Chester the W wines are near the wine bar)
https://www.waitrosecellar.com/waitrose-zweigelt-rose-493019
(a Provence or other South of France rosé will work as an alternative)

3. Gran Passo Tinto (£7.99)
https://www.waitrosecellar.com/red-wine/bonavita-red-casa-santos-lima-541338
(another medium bodied Portuguese or Spanish red will work as an alternative or look out for Cumulus Climbing Shiraz at £9.99 – https://www.waitrosecellar.com/shiraz-or-syrah/climbing-shiraz-814919 )

4. Castillo de Olite Colección red (£9.49)
https://www.waitrosecellar.com/castillo-de-olite-coleccion-tinto-658697
(A reserva Rioja will work as an alternative or a fuller bodied Malbec from Argentina)

You don’t need to buy all of these wines of course. You can just choose your favourite wine style if you wish and enjoy another glass as we talk about the others so you can listen in and maybe try some of the others in the future.

I wanted to feature some from our independent merchants but most are closed at the moment (we’ll talk about this on Saturday too) and I thought best to use just one shop which can be tied in with essential food shopping tomorrow or Saturday morning. I must stress that this is only if you can go out safely – follow the lockdown advice at all times. I’ve shown the Waitrose website links to help you find the wines in store – the W wines are only in larger stores but the others are in most stores.(Many are sadly out of stock online for now.)

What if you can’t go out? So long as you have some wine in the house, don’t worry! I’d love you to share with us what you’re drinking instead so all you need is at least 2 wine glasses, an internet connection and a web cam!

Food matching I’d love it if you can have some nibbles available so we can talk about food pairing and try it out together. If you have some cheeses such as Brie and Cheddar and maybe some salami or ham hock and some cooked chicken slices or mushroom paté – I hope I’ve covered cheese and non cheese lovers and vegetarians with those suggestions. Again – please don’t make any non essential trips to get anything in.

If you’d like a friend to join in, please use the link at the top of this newsletter to share on an email so they can use the invitation to join in – please follow the social distancing advice if you’re in the same building and join in from different devices so you can be at least 2 metres apart.

Just for fun (I will explain more online) To prepare, chill the white or rosé wine at least 4 hours. Then around 15/20 minutes before we start pour a small glass, ideally the white wine, and put the bottle back into your fridge. Bring the rest out of the fridge a moment before our start time and I’ll tell you when to pour again (into a different glass of course). Please don’t taste either just yet!

Your invitation: 

Topic: The First Cheshire Winecast
Time: Mar 28, 2020 02:00 PM (expected to last around 40 minutes)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/220052304?pwd=MXhOMFZGK2s3VmtINzRyR2k1M1l1QT09

Meeting ID: 220 052 304
Password: wine

Any questions? Please drop me a line at [email protected] if you need to know anything else before Saturday afternoon.

I hope to see you on Saturday!

Cin Cin!

Richard J Smith
The Wine School of Cheshire