PREVIOUS TASTING ARCHIVE – MAY 2024
It comes but once every four years, so we thought we’d invite you to be the judges at our very own ‘Wine Olympics’.
As always the focus is on tasting and learning about a range of excellent wines, but for inspiration the 2024 Paris Olympics seemed a good place to start.
We’ve taken the top 12 countries in the all-time Olympic league table, stripped out those where the wine industry is too small or wines unavailable, and have come up with our Wine Olympics contenders.
We’ll be tasting the wines and discussing them as normal in our sessions, but at the end of the day you will have a chance to rank the six wines in order. That will decide our gold, silver and bronze champions. How closely will that resemble the outcome in Paris this summer?
The Wines
Representing ITALY, we have a Frizzante Bianco. This gently sparkling wine may come from Prosecco country, but its secret weapon is that Chardonnay makes up a significant portion of the blend. Will that give it a winning edge? Our dry Riesling from GERMANY comes from producer Hanewald-Schwerdt, whose Pinot Noir went down a storm at a recent tasting, so they are on form. Completing the grid for week one, FRANCE. I’ve chosen a Gamay, a grape that sometimes lurks under the radar, so could it cause an upset in 2024?
Week two begins in HUNGARY, and an example of the new thinking with a bone dry table wine made from the classic grape of Tokaji, Furmint. AUSTRALIA’s strong record might well be upheld by our Chardonnay. Australia has produced so many great swimmers over the years. Will this one sink or float to the top? And finally, from the very top of the all-time greatest list, the USA and a Californian classic: Zinfandel. Can we expect a power-play performance?
How does it work?
- Three wines tasted each night (enjoy the rest over the weekend)
- Live sessions with Q&A, or catch up at your own pace with recordings
- Ticket price is per household, and covers both sessions
- After you purchase your ticket you’ll see a link to buy the wines
- You may attend without buying the wines.
You will receive a link to buy once you purchase your tasting ticket.
£70 plus £9.95 delivery mainland UK, £12 Northern Ireland.
- Terre dei Buth, Frizzante Bianco
- Hanewald-Schwerdt, Riesling
- Uva Non Grata, Gamay
- Ats, Dry Furmint 2022
- Listening Station, Chardonnay
- Cline, Lodi Zinfandel