Have you ever wanted to learn more about wine but don’t have time or people to go with? There are so wine tasting courses but what I find it hard as a mother of two with no relatives around is that I can’t go without having to organise babysitters or feeling guilty about not spending time with them.
So recently, I got in touch with this lovely company called Sip & Learn with this concept of every month receiving two bottles of wine as well as a comprehensive (but fun and superbly designed) educational booklet to start learning all about wine. Now in the comfort of my home and no need to get a baby sitter, my husband and I can enjoy drinking great wines whilst learning at the same time.
How does it work?
For £30 per month + £5 p&p, you receive 2 bottles of wine carefully selected by their wine expert Sylvain a month and a booklet following the yearly programme.
They do make sure that all of their wines are from smaller producers and smaller appellations to also cater for wine lovers.
I have received their Box #1 which are the Grape Variety White: Sauvignon vs Chardonnay. I am more of white wine person while Mr C is a red wine drinker. Inside this box, it comes with the Chateau Gaillard, a Touraine wine and Cornin, Pouilly-Fuisse wine.
Before we opened the wines, we had a good read of the included booklet which gives you the basic to all sort of wines, also provides thoughts and questions on the wines we are going to test and how to taste a wine. I find the wine chart is very useful to give you the ideas of how light, thin, bold, rich or viscous the wine is.
When we did the smell test, we needed to have a peek at the booklet to check if we guessed the smells correctly. The booklet explains it in detail and gives us a lot of insight into the wines themselves.
I love the ideas of tasting wine in your own home and at your own pace. I find that I have to keep referring back to the booklet to understand the wine in-depth, which in turn helps us appreciate the wines more.
The choices of the white wines are good although Mr C didn’t like the Sauvignon Blanc. So now he know what to avoid to buy. For me, this is definitely an eye opener and of great benefit. I have no experience of wine tasting. The only time I did wine tasting was at a Good Food show where there were so many samples to try! From knowing nothing to having a basic understanding, this has been a great experience. Also Mr C who is not a white wine drinker, knows what to choose if he is offered a white wine. The bottles were more than enough for us. Next time, we should invite a few friends over and we could share this experience together.
A subscription to Sip & Learn makes a great Christmas gift for any novice or couple. They also have a lot of different gift options available (gift cards etc). Do check them out on Facebook or Twitter.
Disclosure: We have received the samples to do an honest review.
