Review: Birmingham Wine School is a classy affair

Pinot Grigio, Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc…the list of the wine that I love is endless. So when I had the chance to attend Birmingham Wine School’s ‘Introduction to Wine’ class, I knew I was in for a good night.

The class took place at one the city’s grandest pubs; The Old Joint Stock. I went there on a busy Friday night and headed into a tucked away function room where I was greeted by the hosts, talked through what the night would entail and noticed a table full of cheese, crackers and bread, which was very hard to resist.

The room filled up very quickly, with over 30 people taking part in the class wanting to learn about all things wine. The table set up is designed to encourage you all to talk to each other rather than stick with the people you came with, which works really well. It was also refreshing to learn that we were all wine amateurs and that none of us had travelled the world far and wide in the search of a good tipple – we knew what we liked from the local pub, and that was about it.

Each person helped themselves to a selection of breads, cheeses and crackers before we started the wine tasting. The hosts explained what food to try with each glass, and taught us how to taste flavours in a totally different way when paired with wine.

We were given a leaflet explaining each wine we were going to try, before we were poured three white wines, and three red wines. At this point, we were not told how much any of the bottles cost, that waited until the end. All we knew was the name and where it was from.

Whilst trying the different glasses, which included a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, a Malbec from Argentina and a Montepulciano from Italy, we were encouraged to write down what we thought of each and rating them.

After each glass, the room would have a discussion of what we liked and disliked about them. By doing this, I started to take real interest in the wine itself, how it tasted paired with certain cheeses, and took more notice of how light and acidic they each were, as well as if they were a short or long wine.

Throughout the night we were also told a range of interesting facts about wine and I learned much more than I anticipated for a Friday evening. By the end, we were all eager to find out how much each bottle cost, and to my surprise, my personal favourite, Germany’s Riesling Kabinett, was the cheapest. Since, I have filled my fridge with it.

I was pleasantly surprised by my evening with Birmingham Wine School. This is a company that takes wine tasting incredibly serious, and although it was a lot of fun to take part in, this isn’t for you if you just want to get ‘tired and emotional’, it is classier than that.

It is a class after all, and I would suggest attending only if you have a genuine interest in wine.

Although the night was thoroughly enjoyable, the only thing I would change was the function room itself. It backed onto a smoking area, which didn’t seem to bother many people, but as it was Friday night, it was very loud and sometimes I struggled to hear what the host was saying. Other than that, the experience is something that I would highly recommend. However, I will warn you, you will never drink a glass of wine the same again.

Birmingham Wine School also host classes at Hotel du Vin and themes range from champagne to cider, as well as professional courses for you to become a wine connoisseur yourself.

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