When the Going Gets Tough…the Tough Get Tasting!
Now that the winter months are firmly behind us, we can look forward to warmer weather, longer days, and spring sunshine. Well, that’s the theory anyway.
The start of the year is normally a period we look to get out of the way as it is as flat as the pancakes we enjoy on Shrove Tuesday. Despite the lull, it is a time when most of our wine suppliers kindly open a bottle or two for us to try at their Trade Tasting events. These events, which are mainly London-based, can include over 200 bottles of wine being open at a single time. We try to get through as many as possible all in the name of research, of course, as we seek the best wines for the fairest price.
Believe me, there’s a lot of average stuff on show and there’s nothing better than finding the wine that gives you that WOW moment. All we want to do after such an occasion is to get it onto our shelves and start sharing it with our customers.
Such events also provide the opportunity to engage and interact with the winemakers, which makes you appreciate more the work that goes into making the products that we sell and adds to the overall experience. After all, every bottle has a story, and it is our job to be the storytellers.
The enjoyment we experience at these tastings is what we try to replicate through hosting our own wine tasting events in the shop. Such tastings are vital to help us tell those stories and bring our customers closer to the products that we sell. Even better is when we get an actual winemaker or someone from the winery to tell you the story through first-hand experience. So far, we have had wine producers visit us from Italy, Portugal, and Spain. In the future we hope to welcome guests from Australia and NZ- as well as whisky producers for the “Grain” element to our business. It is all a part of our aim to bring the best to Morpeth.
So, how do you keep up-to-date with our tasting events? Mainly through our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram, or you can sign up to our monthly newsletter on our website www.grapeandgrainmorpeth.co.uk . Lastly, you can simply visit us in the shop at 3/3a Bridge Street.
Finally, what three wines have given us that “WOW moment” in the past few months? The three that come to mind are Seifreid Pinot Gris from NZ (£18.00), Nelemans Garnacha/Marselan from Valencia, Spain (£13.75), and Los Olivos Malbec from Argentina for £14.00. All truly excellent wines and all available at G&G now!
