Wine Club - better than book club!

So I thought a good way of trying new wines would be to do it with friends. So I gathered a bunch of like minded individuals to commit to regularly trying new wines.

It works like this:

One person hosts the wine party approximately every month/6 weeks. Each guest puts in £20, so if there are 5 of you, the budget is £100 and if there are 10 of you, the budget is £200 etc.

You then buy wine from a specific country and a specific colour if you like (e.g. Italian Reds). The wines should range in price from cheap wines (approx £6) up to - well as much as you like! It's great if you can get expensive wines on offer, e.g. I got a £50 bottle of wine for £25 on a special offer!

The host also provides nibbles from that country - preferably home made, but bought is fine!
I found the split of budget for 2/3rds on wine and 1/3rd on food works well.

Go for about 1 bottle of wine per person, and a number of savoury snacks, e.g. for Italy I made chicken and pesto bruschetta, mozzarella basil and tomato salad, pea and mozzarella arancini, grissini and Italian meats. I also made turkey meat lasagne, but that was only because  there were just 5 people and it was easy enough to do. I would stay with snacks wherever possible as they are easy for people to eat. 

You then try the wines, tell people what region they are from, show them on a map, tell them the grape, and let them know what notes are in the wine. 

Then you get to the fun bit of guessing the cost of each bottle.

It's a really fun evening, so try it! It's more fun than a book club and no preparation is needed (except for the host). 

Our next wine evening will be Spain in a few weeks time, so I will write it up on here, and share some photos.

The start of a new journey in wine...

I don't know about you, but I have got into quite a habit with my wine drinking. I know what I like and I drink what I know! Generally New World, obviously New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, but also I enjoy Chilean and Argentinian reds. I'll drink lots of different wines, but I always go back to the same wines, and I don't really expand my horizons. I think I've got into a rut...there is literally a world of red and white wine (and I'll concede the occasional rose) that is waiting to be discovered.

So this blog is about my experience of trying new wines, finding out more about different wines, different countries and regions, and generally being more knowledgeable about the beautiful grape juice I love so much! 

I can guarantee I won't like everything I try, but I will have fun trying it on this journey of discovery.

Hopefully I'll inspire you to try some new grapes, countries and wines too!