How to set up a tasting group
Published: 19 Oct 04
Enrich your wine experience and expand your knowledge by getting together regularly with like-minded souls. Sara Steer finds out how to get a tasting group going. The bug has bitten and now you want to spe
nd every spare moment sniffing, swirling
and analysing varietal characteristics, regional differences, vintages and tannin
structures. But being a social creature you're a bit averse to doing this
all on your own. So it's time to seek out fellow devotees and form a wine
tasting club.
Depending on your level of interest and degree of knowledge you can choose to join an intimate, informal "let's guess the vintage over chips 'n dips" group or a larger, more formally organised "vertical tastings and gourmet evenings" society. And there's no limit on the kind of spin you can give the club. What about an all-girls group or a singles club? Let your imagination run wild, suggest those already signed up.
"Most importantly, it's gotta be fun," emphasises Tanja Beutler. With partner Clive Torr, she runs the "10 of the Best" Wine Tasting Club, based in Somerset West and Stellenbosch. "Leave the serious stuff to the wine judging panels. There's no need to be intimidated or intimidating - it's guesswork for everyone! Don't be afraid to voice your opinion."
It's true that the more you taste, the more you know, but there are few absolutes in wine tasting. "It's not about getting it right every time, it's whether you like a wine or not - and why. It's all about that excitement of discovering a wine and the satisfaction of using all your senses to assess it. "
There may be no hard and fast rules, but the following practical pointers should help make your club a resounding success:
Rally the troops: It's best to assign the reins to one individual, who'll take responsibility for keeping members up to date with club activities and set up a tasting schedule. Ideally, the club should meet at least once a month. The size of the group is entirely up to you. Five or six is enough for a lively debate, but you may find it easier to persuade a winemaker to guide you through his range, say, if there are 15 to 20 of you.
Get inspired and stay informed: As a group take out a subscription to a wine publication such as WINE magazine and use it to guide your tastings. It's also a good idea to follow a course or two at the Cape Wine Academy. Contact 021 809 7597 for info.
Select a theme for each tasting: Themed tastings can be great fun and tremendously educational. Members can take turns coordinating each tasting and providing samples. There are an unlimited number of themes. You could compare single variety wines from various Cape cellars or tackle more complex issues by doing a vertical tasting of one particular wine to track vintage changes.
Tastings don't need to take place between four walls - trek off to the beach to pair seafood with Sauvignon Blanc or visit a cellar with al fresco tasting facilities.
Food and wine matching is a guaranteed winner. Apart from cheese and wine combos, experiment with traditional French/Spanish/German dishes and their accompanying wines or arrange gourmet evenings (with each member contributing a different course).
Maintain the element of surprise: Blind tastings (with bottles covered to keep the wine's identity a secret) are often the best way to hone your tasting techniques and know-ledge. Serve six or so "mystery" wines in glasses and give members about 15 to 20 minutes to evaluate them, then score and finally hazard guesses as to variety, age, country and winemaker. Points are scored for correct answers.
(Bonus points for the name of the winemaker's dog!)
Add a prize such as a case of fine wine to the mix and you've got the makings of some cut-throat competition.
HOW THEY DID IT
KwaZulu-Natal wine club, the Highway Wine Society, celebrated its 21st anniversary last year. WINE magazine quizzed members Jane and Nicola Jenvey on what it takes to get clubbing.
How is your group organised - serious and formal or casual and fun?
Our tastings are fairly serious and structured with the information and discussions being quite technical, but not so serious as to put off the casual taster.
Who are you aimed at?
The average age tends to be older (around 45 years), but we constantly recruit younger members to prevent the club from becoming too old. We have two Cape Wine Masters, several Cape Wine Academy diploma graduates and a host of certificate qualifications.
How many members?
80
Club hierarchy?
The club is headed by a committee that includes a chairman, cellarmaster, secretary, treasurer and several committee members without portfolios.
When and where do you meet?
We meet at a community hall. Meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month.
What type of tastings do you present?
Our tastings are fairly evenly divided between trade tastings with guest speakers (winemakers, winery marketing managers or local wine reps) and cellar tastings. Cellar tastings can be themed (Champagne/sparkling) or divided into flights with smaller themes (Rhône style, different Cabernets, etc).
The committee also organises social excursions (casual tastings on a train trip, at a braai, or while listening to the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in the Botanical Gardens) as well as an annual dinner at a restaurant.
How is it financed?
Members pay a once-off cellar fee on joining the club, annual subscription fees and an ad hoc fee for each monthly tasting attended. It is the cellarmaster's responsibility to source special or award-winning local and international wines during his or her tenure. The society hires cellar space from a private individual living in the neighbourhood.
Tips for getting started?
- Getting started requires a venue (someone's house is a good start) and a small group of people keen on learning about wine.
- Make sure speakers are interesting and keep costs realistic.
- Listen to members' suggestions and be prepared to try new and different ideas!
PRACTICAL POINTERS
The Cape Wine Academy offers useful guidelines:
No puffing: Smoke in the tasting room interferes with the sniffing process, obscuring subtle aromas.
Serve wine at the correct temperature:
White wines and rosés: 5 to 12ºC
Red wines: 14 to 18ºC
Sweet wines: 10 to 12ºC.
Serve wine in the correct order: Dry before sweet; young before old; modest before fine; dry, off-dry and semi-sweet before red; sweet wines after red and fortified at the end.
Timing: Although our senses are keenest early in the morning, it's not always practical to hold tastings directly after breakfast! Early in the evening will do, before a meal.
No perfume or aftershave: it masks the wine's aromas.
Avoid: tasting when you've got a cold, directly after brushing your teeth, smoking and after eating spicy foods.
Write it down: Wine-tasting ability is 75% memory. Making notes will provide you with a reference for comparisons and reflection at a later stage.
Spit: There's no need to swallow wine to taste it. In fact, ingesting alcohol impairs your tasting ability. Swirl the wine around in your mouth, coat the taste buds and then SPIT! Remember you've got to drive home after the tasting!
WANT TO JOIN?
Speak to these people:
- Wine Tasters' Guild of South Africa (Western Cape), contact Ken Kynoch on 021 531 2778
- Wine Explorers (Western Cape), contact Cobie or Bjorn on 021 981 0216 or email mwcobie@mweb.co.za
- PE Owls (Eastern Cape), contact Deleen Venter on 041 501 5553
- Highway Wine Society (Kwazulu-Natal), contact Jane Jenvey on 073 167 7475
- Grapes of Wrath (Gauteng), contact Jonathan Searle on 011 507 0509
- Oude Molen Wynkring (Potchefstroom, North West), contact Anita Swart on 018 294 7023
- "10 of the Best" Wine Tastings (Somerset West and Stellenbosch), contact Clive or Tanya on 021 855 5086 or email topazwines@mweb.co.za
What you'll need:
- Tasting glasses: clean, clear and colourless. Ideally one glass per wine per person with an average line-up of six wines
- Tasting mats: an A4 sheet of paper with six numbered circles on which to place the glasses
- Plain white tablecloths: a wine's appearance is best assessed against a plain white background
- Crackers or water biscuits: to cleanse the palate between sips (and line the stomach!)
- Jugs of water: to cleanse palates and rinse glasses
- Spittoons: even if you're in the comfort of your own home, it's best to spit lest you repeat that unfortunate lap-dancing episode!
- Corkscrew
- Bottle bags: any type of cover (paper, material or even a clean old sock) with which to disguise the identity of the wines
- A fridge: to chill whites, desserts and bubblies prior to uncorking
- Tasting sheets: for recording notes and scores
- Paper towels or serviettes
- Pens and pencils
- A sense of humour
Test those tastebuds
For the past 21 years wine clubs around the country have been invited to take part in the annual Blaauwklippen Blending Competition (BBC). Each year the focus is on a different style of wine. Participating clubs are supplied with the individual blend components from the estate - then it's up to them to deliver a polished finished product.
The late Peter Devereux, food and wine gourmet, hosted the first BBC in Johannesburg, after which it was held on the estate in Stellenbosch. "The blending wine for 2004 is Sauvignon Blanc and we aim to have the wine, made from the winning blend, ready for sale in October of this year," reveals Blaauwklippen sales and marketing manager NC Krone.
The finals followed by a dinner will be held on 14 August 2004. For further information contact Sheila Buitenbos on 021 880 0133 or email heila@blaauwklippen.com.
Depending on your level of interest and degree of knowledge you can choose to join an intimate, informal "let's guess the vintage over chips 'n dips" group or a larger, more formally organised "vertical tastings and gourmet evenings" society. And there's no limit on the kind of spin you can give the club. What about an all-girls group or a singles club? Let your imagination run wild, suggest those already signed up.
"Most importantly, it's gotta be fun," emphasises Tanja Beutler. With partner Clive Torr, she runs the "10 of the Best" Wine Tasting Club, based in Somerset West and Stellenbosch. "Leave the serious stuff to the wine judging panels. There's no need to be intimidated or intimidating - it's guesswork for everyone! Don't be afraid to voice your opinion."
It's true that the more you taste, the more you know, but there are few absolutes in wine tasting. "It's not about getting it right every time, it's whether you like a wine or not - and why. It's all about that excitement of discovering a wine and the satisfaction of using all your senses to assess it. "
There may be no hard and fast rules, but the following practical pointers should help make your club a resounding success:
Rally the troops: It's best to assign the reins to one individual, who'll take responsibility for keeping members up to date with club activities and set up a tasting schedule. Ideally, the club should meet at least once a month. The size of the group is entirely up to you. Five or six is enough for a lively debate, but you may find it easier to persuade a winemaker to guide you through his range, say, if there are 15 to 20 of you.
Get inspired and stay informed: As a group take out a subscription to a wine publication such as WINE magazine and use it to guide your tastings. It's also a good idea to follow a course or two at the Cape Wine Academy. Contact 021 809 7597 for info.
Select a theme for each tasting: Themed tastings can be great fun and tremendously educational. Members can take turns coordinating each tasting and providing samples. There are an unlimited number of themes. You could compare single variety wines from various Cape cellars or tackle more complex issues by doing a vertical tasting of one particular wine to track vintage changes.
Tastings don't need to take place between four walls - trek off to the beach to pair seafood with Sauvignon Blanc or visit a cellar with al fresco tasting facilities.
Food and wine matching is a guaranteed winner. Apart from cheese and wine combos, experiment with traditional French/Spanish/German dishes and their accompanying wines or arrange gourmet evenings (with each member contributing a different course).
Maintain the element of surprise: Blind tastings (with bottles covered to keep the wine's identity a secret) are often the best way to hone your tasting techniques and know-ledge. Serve six or so "mystery" wines in glasses and give members about 15 to 20 minutes to evaluate them, then score and finally hazard guesses as to variety, age, country and winemaker. Points are scored for correct answers.
(Bonus points for the name of the winemaker's dog!)
Add a prize such as a case of fine wine to the mix and you've got the makings of some cut-throat competition.
HOW THEY DID IT
KwaZulu-Natal wine club, the Highway Wine Society, celebrated its 21st anniversary last year. WINE magazine quizzed members Jane and Nicola Jenvey on what it takes to get clubbing.
How is your group organised - serious and formal or casual and fun?
Our tastings are fairly serious and structured with the information and discussions being quite technical, but not so serious as to put off the casual taster.
Who are you aimed at?
The average age tends to be older (around 45 years), but we constantly recruit younger members to prevent the club from becoming too old. We have two Cape Wine Masters, several Cape Wine Academy diploma graduates and a host of certificate qualifications.
How many members?
80
Club hierarchy?
The club is headed by a committee that includes a chairman, cellarmaster, secretary, treasurer and several committee members without portfolios.
When and where do you meet?
We meet at a community hall. Meetings are held on the last Wednesday of each month.
What type of tastings do you present?
Our tastings are fairly evenly divided between trade tastings with guest speakers (winemakers, winery marketing managers or local wine reps) and cellar tastings. Cellar tastings can be themed (Champagne/sparkling) or divided into flights with smaller themes (Rhône style, different Cabernets, etc).
The committee also organises social excursions (casual tastings on a train trip, at a braai, or while listening to the Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in the Botanical Gardens) as well as an annual dinner at a restaurant.
How is it financed?
Members pay a once-off cellar fee on joining the club, annual subscription fees and an ad hoc fee for each monthly tasting attended. It is the cellarmaster's responsibility to source special or award-winning local and international wines during his or her tenure. The society hires cellar space from a private individual living in the neighbourhood.
Tips for getting started?
- Getting started requires a venue (someone's house is a good start) and a small group of people keen on learning about wine.
- Make sure speakers are interesting and keep costs realistic.
- Listen to members' suggestions and be prepared to try new and different ideas!
PRACTICAL POINTERS
The Cape Wine Academy offers useful guidelines:
No puffing: Smoke in the tasting room interferes with the sniffing process, obscuring subtle aromas.
Serve wine at the correct temperature:
White wines and rosés: 5 to 12ºC
Red wines: 14 to 18ºC
Sweet wines: 10 to 12ºC.
Serve wine in the correct order: Dry before sweet; young before old; modest before fine; dry, off-dry and semi-sweet before red; sweet wines after red and fortified at the end.
Timing: Although our senses are keenest early in the morning, it's not always practical to hold tastings directly after breakfast! Early in the evening will do, before a meal.
No perfume or aftershave: it masks the wine's aromas.
Avoid: tasting when you've got a cold, directly after brushing your teeth, smoking and after eating spicy foods.
Write it down: Wine-tasting ability is 75% memory. Making notes will provide you with a reference for comparisons and reflection at a later stage.
Spit: There's no need to swallow wine to taste it. In fact, ingesting alcohol impairs your tasting ability. Swirl the wine around in your mouth, coat the taste buds and then SPIT! Remember you've got to drive home after the tasting!
WANT TO JOIN?
Speak to these people:
- Wine Tasters' Guild of South Africa (Western Cape), contact Ken Kynoch on 021 531 2778
- Wine Explorers (Western Cape), contact Cobie or Bjorn on 021 981 0216 or email mwcobie@mweb.co.za
- PE Owls (Eastern Cape), contact Deleen Venter on 041 501 5553
- Highway Wine Society (Kwazulu-Natal), contact Jane Jenvey on 073 167 7475
- Grapes of Wrath (Gauteng), contact Jonathan Searle on 011 507 0509
- Oude Molen Wynkring (Potchefstroom, North West), contact Anita Swart on 018 294 7023
- "10 of the Best" Wine Tastings (Somerset West and Stellenbosch), contact Clive or Tanya on 021 855 5086 or email topazwines@mweb.co.za
What you'll need:
- Tasting glasses: clean, clear and colourless. Ideally one glass per wine per person with an average line-up of six wines
- Tasting mats: an A4 sheet of paper with six numbered circles on which to place the glasses
- Plain white tablecloths: a wine's appearance is best assessed against a plain white background
- Crackers or water biscuits: to cleanse the palate between sips (and line the stomach!)
- Jugs of water: to cleanse palates and rinse glasses
- Spittoons: even if you're in the comfort of your own home, it's best to spit lest you repeat that unfortunate lap-dancing episode!
- Corkscrew
- Bottle bags: any type of cover (paper, material or even a clean old sock) with which to disguise the identity of the wines
- A fridge: to chill whites, desserts and bubblies prior to uncorking
- Tasting sheets: for recording notes and scores
- Paper towels or serviettes
- Pens and pencils
- A sense of humour
Test those tastebuds
For the past 21 years wine clubs around the country have been invited to take part in the annual Blaauwklippen Blending Competition (BBC). Each year the focus is on a different style of wine. Participating clubs are supplied with the individual blend components from the estate - then it's up to them to deliver a polished finished product.
The late Peter Devereux, food and wine gourmet, hosted the first BBC in Johannesburg, after which it was held on the estate in Stellenbosch. "The blending wine for 2004 is Sauvignon Blanc and we aim to have the wine, made from the winning blend, ready for sale in October of this year," reveals Blaauwklippen sales and marketing manager NC Krone.
The finals followed by a dinner will be held on 14 August 2004. For further information contact Sheila Buitenbos on 021 880 0133 or email heila@blaauwklippen.com.
