Wine assessments

[Ted.B]

How many would need to attend an event for it to be worthwhile for those organising such an event ? I could learn a lot at this type of thing but would be wary of driving, I am weak.

A bus ride away would be nice. I am another in the 'works permanent nights' camp which also presents another hurdle.

I have tried to get my friends to give winemaking a go but without any success. Seems all are happy to pay the supermarket prices despite me proving to them what can be done quickly and easily at home.

[lockwood1956]

Cheers guys, thats the sort of feedback im looking for, just your thoughts, its in its embryonic stages, but we have the ear of the establishment right now, so lets make the most of it.

these things will become what the attendees want them to be

[robwrx]

In theory guided tasting and assessment of my wines would be great and I would love to attend such an event. I feel I need to learn more about tasting to be able to improve the quality of what I'm fermenting.

In practice it would need to be a taxi ride away or if too far away an overnight stay as I will not drink and drive and I just cannot bring myself to spit out perfectly good wine. I'm also a little time limited due to a young family and work commitments but as the children get older things get better.

If this was going to be pushed out nation wide for all wine circles put on then I would do my best to attend one as I do have a Wine Circle about 45mins away from me at East Coker in Somerset.

Rob

[wayne]

My thoughts on this are pretty much the same as leon, I am not an expert and as such would love to have an opinion on my wines and guidance on what I'm doing well or not so well. The idea of someone guiding me in tasting a wine and telling me what to look for sounds great as it would no doubt help no end in improving my wines. At the moment I'm making a lot of fruit wines and would love to make a grape variety like the ones you use in grapefest, so advice on the difference would be great. If these meetings were regular it would mean that I could take the same wine at different stages of ageing and get feedback on wether it is going in the right direction. An hour's drive would be about the right amount of time for me.

[lockwood1956]

these meetings wouldn't necessarily be at wine circles, they could be at a local village hall, community centre, a phone box etc etc

we are just trying to reach out to the winemakers who are not involved in woine circles, trying to find the way forward for the hobby

regards
Bob

[Cellar_Rat]

Sounds good. Following on from the success at grapefest - what about a speaker and then a tasting. I would be prepared to travel 1 hour.

[robwrx]

these meetings wouldn't necessarily be at wine circles, they could be at a local village hall, community centre, a phone box etc etc

Bob

If you are going to make this sort of meeting a one off stand alone thing, I could probably provide a suitable venue in North Dorset FOC.

Rob

[mcblades]

I think this is a great idea. I would be prepared to travel an hour or poss. host an evening though my location is not exactly central!

I would have to learn to spit though and this is problematic for me (Yorkshire men do not waste good wine!)

[lockwood1956]

No need for venue to be central, there are judges in every county, someone hosting it at their home and getting a group of wine/beer makers together is an interesting idea

regards
bob

[NorthernWiner]

I would have to learn to spit though and this is problematic for me (Yorkshire men do not waste good wine!)

Lol... just keep in mind that if you are spitting the wine for educational purposes, it isn't wasted.

[Leon]

In theory guided tasting and assessment of my wines would be great and I would love to attend such an event. I feel I need to learn more about tasting to be able to improve the quality of what I'm fermenting.........
I just cannot bring myself to spit out perfectly good wine.Rob

What he said.

No need for venue to be central, there are judges in every county, someone hosting it at their home and getting a group of wine/beer makers together is an interesting idea

I would love to have you all over at my house, beats body shop parties.

Lol... just keep in mind that if you are spitting the wine for educational purposes, it isn't wasted.

You will never convince me of this, good Sir!

Just in the same way I have learnt so much more from this site than I could from a book, simply because of its interactive nature, so I could learn so much more from an experienced winemaker face to face.

[goldseal]

Believe me, when you are tasting your wine pre-bottling at 7.30am, spitting is essential

[blocky129]

As a novice I would be particularly interested if analysis and guidence on my own wines could be given - e.g. this would be better if the acid level was adjusted etc.
Good luck with this.
Cheers,
Kev

[Bertie]

I think it is a good idea, ideally it would be under an hours drive but I am not sure if that would be possible. What I feel I would learn most from is someone finding the faults in the wine and then being taught how to correct them.........and in the long run hopefully being able to spot the faults in the wine myself (learning to taste properly)

[RTPFUN]

As for a venue. Every one is talking about the drink and driving. What about one of the pubs on the Penine real ale rail trail that would be good for everyone Leeds, Bradford Hull(at a push) and Manchester, Bolton then no one has to drive. I'm sure one of the pubs will have a room for free as long as we all promise to buy a pie and a pint from them.