It's been too long!!!

So it's been ages since my last blog post. "What have you been up to since you last blogged?" I hear you say...

Well I have been buying wine (obviously) from Davy's and Majestic mainly and have tagged a number of my more expensive bottles with the price and when I bought them and am currently deciding whether to purchase a small wine fridge...

In a change from wine, I went on a beer and cheese tasting session as part of a conference session (very civilised!) at The Grove in Watford. The session was put on by Hampton Wine and Cheese: http://hamptoncheeseandwinecompany.co.uk/
and as it was St Patrick's Day we tried 6 different Irish beers with 6 different Irish cheeses. I am not a massive lover of beer, but these were really enjoyable and quite unusual! The cheeses were also superb. An oak smoked cheese was my fave. The guy running the session was very knowledgeable and I will be sure to drop in to the shop the next time I am in that part of town.

I have started my WSET Level 3 (which has been taking up my blogging time as I have been reading the mammoth text book instead of being on here) and am on week 6 of the course. It quite a step up from Level 2 and far more learning than I anticipated. I am enjoying it, but it is a lot more detailed particularly about the viticulture and managing the vines...Not sure how much of that I will be doing from a 2nd floor flat in East London.

My knowledge has already been put to good use. I went for a meal at The Gilbert Scott at St Pancras Station after a lovely day at Newmarket Racing and was perusing the wine list, when the Sommelier came up to us and let us know about a Beaujolais that wasn't on the menu but was sold by the glass.

My immediate response was: "Ah no thank you, he (my dining companion) likes a full bodied red..." To which I got the response that this was a full bodied wine! Well that is the first time I have ever heard a Beaujolais described as full bodied. I politely disagreed with him, (much to the embarrassment of my dining companion) and ordered a Malbec instead. Just to double check, I spoke to my tutor at my next WSET session and he agreed that I was right.

Me - 1, Sommelier - 0.