Last evening I was lucky enough to enjoy a very tasty journey indeed….on a tube. No, not the London Tube, the WineTube!
Nikki Fletcher of Convivium Wine has developed an extremely innovative, original and refreshing concept around the exploration and enjoyment of wine.
Before I reveal a little of the evening, it will help you to know something about the WineTube and the WineTubeMap.
The WineTubeMap is very clever indeed. It has the look and feel of a map of the London Tube but it is ever so much fun!
There are seven lines in total:
Aromatic; White Central; Red Central: Easy Loop; Fizz; Rediscovery and Revaluation.
Each line comprises a number of stations. For example, on the Aromatic line, you’ll find Pinot Grigio as one of the seven stops. On the Red Central line, you’ll find stops such as Bordeaux and Rioja.
Just like the London Tube, there are interchanges (“Chance here for …”) . You might ‘arrive’ at the Sauvignon Blanc interchange on the Aromatic line but switch to White Central by moving on from SB to experimenting with a wine close in taste to SB but perhaps not something you’ve tried or even heard of before……anyone for Rueda?
Convivium are running series of series of eight events to explore the WineTubeMap in depth. The first of those exploratory journeys was last evening and I was lucky enough to be on the maiden voyage: “A whistle-stop tour of the WineTubeMap, wine tasting and food matching covering red, white and rose. With bites to match.” The venue was The Bon Vivant, Edinburgh.
Deeee Lish….
We ‘did’ the interchanges. What a ride….two styles of wine awaited at each interchange which required (!) to be tasted and compared. There was additional fun to be had at each intersection - eating the amazing ‘bites’ that The Bon Vivant’s talented young chef had prepared to complement the wines.
Read on. I defy you not to salivate!
• Sauvignon Blancs and goat’s cheese on oatcakes (Note to self: from now on, don’t spread goat’s cheese on oakcakes, use a little mini scoop (like the WMF one I use for cookie dough) instead. Ever so elegant).
• Chardonnays (loved, loved, loved the Bogle from California) and beignets of fois gras(interesting!)
• New World Pinots with savory sables aka cookies - easily the crumbliest I’ve ever tasted. How does he do that?
• Shiraz/Syrah accompanied by duck breast that had been smoked, on the premises, earlier that day.
• Pink Fizz (twice) with mini panacotta(made with pink peppercorns!). Hooray for pink!
• Mucats with the most moorish honeycomb I’ve ever tasted. Please sir, can I have some more?
What a journey! Well, someone has got to do it!
The concept of the WineTubeMap is very cool. And I really get it. The ethos is all about making wine more approachable, less intimidating and even more fun. This approach very much resonates with one of my missions at Gulpfood.com, namely, to make cooking less scary (I’m still working on it!) . In time, I hope to post a series of realistic recipes to get you out of a recipe rut (if you’re in one).
Similarly, Convivium reckons that lots of us are in a wine-buying rut, playing safe and sticking with the tried and tested. I totally get that too. Sound familiar?
Seems to me that the creator of WineTubeMap and I have a similar take on the important things in life – eating and drinking!
I think do believe that clever deduction makes it imperative that I attend the next seven WineTubeMap adventures……
WineTubeMap and details of the next seven events: http://conviviumwine.com/
The Bon Vivant: Shop, Pub (champagne available by the glass!) and Deli: http://bonvivantedinburgh.co.uk/
Life Changing
October 5th, 2012 by Miriam“Life-changing” was not what I was expecting to hear when I asked a (paying) guest what she thought of the hour and a half we (and 170 others) had spent in the company of Georg Riedel, the suave and exceedingly polished President of RIEDEL CRYSTAL.
The Monday evening event in Edinburgh was billed as a “Wine Tasting and Glass Demonstration”!
Come on!!
Even I, a RIEDEL devotee for 15 years was stumped. I was momentarily lost for words – a rare phenomenon.
I managed to compose myself before the conversation moved on to ask “Why? …. “Do you mind my asking why you would describe it as life changing?”
“Because anything that changes our perception, the way we view things is a hugely significant event – it is life-changing”.
Wow.
I had very much enjoyed the evening. I’d found it fascinating, fun, instructive and inspiring. But up to this point in time, even fifteen years on from my discovery the ‘RIEDEL’ truth (the shape of a glass affects the smell, taste and enjoyment of wine), it had never occurred to me to describe the discovery as “life-changing”.
Do I agree? Yes, I do actually. I do.
There is so much truth in the simple statement: “What we are familiar with we cease to see”. However sceptical or cynical one is or has become and for whatever reason, there is little doubt but that a RIEDEL “Wine Tasting and Glass Demonstration” experience, particularly with Georg Riedel or his son Maximilian, shakes up the familiar wine drinking ritual in an exceptional way. “……as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it”.
Footnote: Three days later, Georg Riedel went to London to do a similar event at Lords Cricket Ground. Incredibly (and reassuringly!), this reviewer too described the event as “nothing short of life-changing”.
“Riedel does it his way”; Drinks International; 28th September 2012:
View article here
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