Come Taste through the Styles through the Seasons

For the first time this year we have decided to hold a series of tastings aimed at taking you through the various wine styles available, with a view to helping you make more informed and confident choices when you buy wine, whether that be here, in a restaurant or on holiday.

More than ever before, wine is an extraordinarily abundant, diverse and arguably confusing world. Rather than taking a more traditional look at wine producing regions individually, we've decided to look at straight forward, easy-to-understand groupings of wines that are designed to reflect your own tastes (and maybe develop new ones).

Click on the image above to expand and you'll see that we kick off with Full Bodied Reds in February and move through to Crisp, Fresh Whites in the summer months.

We were tempted to look at a different grape variety each month, and indeed in such a bewildering market it can be all too easy to discover you like a particular Shiraz, for example, get stuck in a rut and keep buying the same or other brands of the same grape. Of course it depends entirely on where a grape is grown, how it's grown, how it's vinified and how it's aged as to what style of wine it ultimately makes.

Each of the most popular grapes will however be featured over the course of the year, because Shiraz does, for example, typically produce full bodied reds, and Sauvignon Blanc, crisp, fresh whites.

Thursday 25th February
Full Bodied Reds
Looking indepth at wines made with grapes such as Shiraz, Malbec and Nebbiolo, this will be a line up of intense, concentrated and rich, red wines.

Thursday 25th March
Rich, Rounded Whites
A look at the more full bodied whites, typically made from Chardonnay and some of the Rhone varietals such as Viognier.

Thursday 29th April
Smooth, Medium Bodied Reds
Focusing on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, we'll compare traditional Bordeaux with some New World examples.

Friday 21st May
Domaine Jean Bousquet Tasting
This month, we welcome our new Organic Argentinian producer to the White Hart, Leek where we taste through the diversity of styles, from sparkling, to white, red and even a dessert wine made from Malbec.

Thursday 24th June
Aromatic Whites
The least mainstream and most eclectic wine style, we'll taste examples of lesser known varietals such as Gewurztraminer, Riesling, Pinot Gris and Torrontes.

Thursday 29th July
Rosé
We will show the tremendous diversity of this style, from light, delicate French examples to big, full-flavoured New World wines.

Thursday 26th August
Crisp, Fresh Whites
Dry, zesty wines with bags of refreshing acidity, we will naturally cover Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio and seek out some interesting alternatives.

Wednesday 29th September
Light, Fruity Reds
A range of wines through light, fresh Gamay and simple Burgundy, Chianti and finally more serious, weightier examples of oaked Pinot Noir.

Thursday 28th October
Organic Wines
This month we will taste through a range of sparkling, white and red wines with an indepth look at what sets these wines apart from the rest.

Thursday 25th November
Fortified Wines
We welcome back Chris Mooney of John E Fells, but this year we will also taste Sherry and Madeira, as well as a range of styles of Port.

We do ask that you book in advance for these events, and a charge of £10 per head will be made to cover the cost of the wines tasted. However, these are fun, informal, yet informative tastings, held at the shop itself, where you will get to taste everything from fantastic value everyday wines up to aged rarities at £30 per bottle.

At each session we will give advice on food matching that style, storing and serving it, and even clues on what to look for on the labels wherever you may be when buying wine!

You may want to attend simply the category/ies that are currently your favourite/s but if you'd like to build up your experience of wines and understand a little more about why you enjoy certain styles more than others, I would urge you to let us know as soon as possible as spaces are limited and some tastings may become oversubscribed.

Personally, I'm really excited about looking at wines in this way, and having just finalised the Rich, Rounded Whites selection, I am literally salivating at the thought of tasting Guigal Condrieu, mature Tyrrell's Vat 1 Hunter Valley Semillon and Vouvray from leading producer Marc Brédif...

(wistful sigh)

Léonie