The WINE SWINES is an
exciting, lively and interesting
wine class
meeting in the function room of
Question Bar in Forest Hill, SE23
From 7.30 – 9.30pm on Thursdays.
The next session will be 10 weeks long, starting on Thursday September 22nd and finishing on Thursday December 1st [there is a half-term break with no session on Thursday 27th October]. After an introductory session, we will mainly be looking at different grape varieties, covering two each week and tasting 4 – 6 wines from each of them. There will also be a couple of sessions on ‘other’ types and styles of wines.
The fee will be £80 to attend plus the cost of the wine each week.
The philosophy is very much one of 'learning by doing'; i.e. 'understanding by tasting' and of enjoying this learning process. To this end we will sample 9 - 11 wines each week, depending on the numbers attending. The cost of the wine (and cheese and crackers) is on top of the course fee as notified in the class publicity. The amount is determined each week on the basis of the wines tasted and the numbers present. Experience indicates that it will be in the region of £5 - £7 a week. If you wish to pay more sometimes in order to try more costly wines then this is possible and is something we can discuss.
The class is tutored by Will Parker a tutor of many years standing with wine and teaching qualifications. Occasionally he may be substituted by Helen Parker who is also an experienced educator.
This ten week course starts with an introductory session and then moves to an approach that takes us to the heart of what determines key aspects of the nature of a wine. That is an approach that entails a consideration of grape varieties. You will learn about how different tastes found on wines come from the different grapes used to produce them. This will also show how differences occur from the different countries and regions.
Each week for six weeks we will have two major grape varieties ----- one used to produce white wines and one [commonly] used to produce red wines. We will have 4-6 wines of each variety each week and I will aim to provide a list of all the wines along with notes on each of the grape varieties indicating what to expect. I will talk you through each of the wines as well as the grape varieties as we try them and also introduce points on many aspects of growing grapes and producing wine, as well as on tasting. We will also consider issues relating to very many other aspects connected with these, including buying and keeping (or not keeping) wines.
After we have examined most of the major/classic/noble grape varieties in this way we will spend two weeks looking at some of the major types and styles of wine other than still ones i.e. types such as sparkling and fortified wines.
For the last week of the programme I am proposing that each of you brings a bottle. It can be whatever you like and you can tell us why you chose it and anything you might know about it!
For further details e-mail the tutor, Will Parker,
at WineClassWill@aol.com
or call on 07985 485 832
