Recommendations for wine tasting courses/experiences please

[danyeates]

Hi,

My girlfriend is becoming more interested in wine and has also recently started working in a high end boutique hotel and restaurant, so I'd love to buy her a wine tasting course, or maybe a voucher towards one if it's out of my budget.

I'm based in Lymington, Hampshire, so ideally something within 2 hours of here. I don't mind booking an overnight stay in a B&B, even better if there is a B&B on site! I'd be looking to spend around £100 towards the wine tasting course (Overnight accommodation excluded of course!).

Maybe a course combined with lunch or dinner if possible?

So, does anyone have any recommendations for me? Ideally I'd like a course, so she can actually learn about tasting wine, how to distinguish the differences and how to recommend wines for certain meals would be very useful!

It's something she really wants to do, but I want to make sure I book somewhere well recommended.

Thanks,

Dan

[prand]

My wife did the first couple of WSET levels at the local college which seemed to be very comprehensive and worthwhile, teaching wine history, geography, production and tasting, with exams at the end of each course. Ultimately this would lead you to MW (Master of Wine qualification), but you'd need a lot of spare time or be working in the industry to get that.

A few members of the course (a really lively mix of young & old) have now set up a monthly wine club which a dozen or so meet up, have tastings presented by various suppliers or they all bring in a bottle in for theme evenings.

So WSET is well worth looking into. Also, If you pick up a copy of Decanter magazine, there are often quite a few courses and tastings advertised which would help as an introduction.

[prand]

Also, I've just seen where you live, have you checked out the Hotel Mondovino up the road in the New Forest, lovely hotel, and a lot about wine going on! They might have a themed tasting supper or special event it arrange ir even something special to suit what you are after!

Edit; is this the High End boutique hotel you are talking about, makes sense with the connection to wine!X

Edited by prand on Friday 20th July 09:11

[alock]

It's possibly not quite what you are after, but the wine tasting evening at Hotel du Vin are very good.
You typically get a 5 course meal with each course matched to a wine. A short talk is given for each wine/course.

[danyeates]

prand said:

Also, I've just seen where you live, have you checked out the Hotel Mondovino up the road in the New Forest, lovely hotel, and a lot about wine going on! They might have a themed tasting supper or special event it arrange ir even something special to suit what you are after!

Edit; is this the High End boutique hotel you are talking about, makes sense with the connection to wine!X

Edited by prand on Friday 20th July 09:11

Thanks. Not heard of Hotel Mondovino...can't find it on Google either!

No, my girlfriend works at the Mill at Gordleton, http://www.themillatgordleton.co.uk/

[prand]

danyeates said:

Thanks. Not heard of Hotel Mondovino...can't find it on Google either!

No, my girlfriend works at the Mill at Gordleton, http://www.themillatgordleton.co.uk/

Sorry - I meant Hotel Terravina, just north of Lyndhurst, it's owned by the man who founded Hotel Du Vin, and is highly recommended by friends of mine - we're due to stay there later in the summer.

Looks like they might run some events that will suit too!

http://www.hotelterravina.co.uk/Wine_Events_Hampsh...

I was confusing the name with Mondovino - the film documentary, which is an interesting, but a bit dry look at the world of wine (as you might have guessed by the name). Sideways is far more entertaining!

Might also be good to have a look locally for producers - Danebury and Whickam wineries in Hampshire, Sherborne and Purbeck in Dorset would be good places to visit and might hold events, as might any local wine merchants who hold tasting evenings (I've been, for instance to the Palmers Brewery Wine Store on one of their regular monthly tastings, so a weekend trip over to the Foodie region of Dorset (stay in the Bull, dinner at the Waterside in West Bay, Lunch at Hix's in Lyme Regis etc etc might be a good place to go!)

Edited by prand on Friday 20th July 09:55

[danyeates]

prand said:

danyeates said:

Thanks. Not heard of Hotel Mondovino...can't find it on Google either!

No, my girlfriend works at the Mill at Gordleton, http://www.themillatgordleton.co.uk/

Sorry - I meant Hotel Terravina, just north of Lyndhurst, it's owned by the man who founded Hotel Du Vin, and is highly recommended by friends of mine - we're due to stay there later in the summer.

Looks like they might run some events that will suit too!

http://www.hotelterravina.co.uk/Wine_Events_Hampsh...

I was confusing the name with Mondovino - the film documentary, which is an interesting, but a bit dry look at the world of wine (as you might have guessed by the name). Sideways is far more entertaining!

Might also be good to have a look locally for producers - Danebury and Whickam wineries in Hampshire, Sherborne and Purbeck in Dorset would be good places to visit and might hold events, as might any local wine merchants who hold tasting evenings (I've been, for instance to the Palmers Brewery Wine Store on one of their regular monthly tastings, so a weekend trip over to the Foodie region of Dorset (stay in the Bull, dinner at the Waterside in West Bay, Lunch at Hix's in Lyme Regis etc etc might be a good place to go!)

Edited by prand on Friday 20th July 09:55

Superb, thank you very much. Someone elsewhere recommended Wickham. I'm pretty busy at work now, so will have a good look through the recommendations later. Sounds great.

[danyeates]

Thanks for your help.

We're going with the Wickham Vineyard one day course with 2 course lunch, then a 1 mile taxi ride to the Mariott Hotel at Meon Valley for dinner and overnight. Might try out their spa too! Looking forward to it.

[prand]

Sounds like a great plan - hope you enjoy it and learn something useful too.

The 2011 UK vintage sounds like it's going to be a bit of a washout, but hoep you get to taste some nice stuff!