When we attended the recent launch of Oxford School of Food and Wine, Becca and I got chatting to one of their teachers, Toby Chiles AIWS. Being fairly well versed with food, but less knowledgeable with wine, we were fascinated by Toby’s ‘The Wine Experience’ course. He’d posed some rather interesting questions that had piqued our interest. Do you think red wine works with all cheeses? Why doesn’t fish work with red wine? Would a dab of salt on your tongue ruin a red wine?
Toby clearly knew a lot more than us when it came to wine, but that’s not too difficult. With a background in wine that includes visits to many wine regions of the world and time spent working in the Beaujolais vineyards in 1999, Toby started working in wine wholesale in 2002 back in the UK, obtaining his diploma in wine in 2014. Currently working for local wine merchant S. H. Jones, Toby regularly hosts wine tastings and experience days to share as much of his knowledge as possible with newcomers and avid followers of wine.
With Toby’s first course taking place in February 2015, we asked him to give us some more teasers of what you could expect from his class. Do you know the answer to any of these questions:
– If you were to suck on a lemon and sip a dry white wine afterwards, would it be less acidic?
– What happens when you pair savoury food with sweet wine?
– Could you recognise quality on a blind taste?
– How do you cope with spicy food and wine?
– How can you soften the tannin in wine?
– What is the correct way to serve wine?
Not only that but Toby’s course will be a guide to tasting techniques, food and wine matching do’s and don’ts, and aroma deciphering, all slotted neatly around seven rounds of tasting, comparing and contrasting great wines from around the world.
The Wine Experience runs from 6 – 8.30pm on Thursday 5th February 2015 and costs £60 per person, then monthly thereafter.
READER DISCOUNT: We have an early Christmas gift for our readers this week, courtesy of Oxford School of Food and Wine. For any bookings made in December 2014 and January 2015, on all courses, you’ll receive a 10% discount if you quote BITTEN when booking. Enjoy!
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