‘So what do you think the wine tastes of?’ is one of the one of the most frightening questions to be asked during an evening class in wine appreciation. Because not only is your ability to pronounce waffle being judged but also how well you’ve got the whole body language thing under control. Because bum shuffling and mumbling gets ‘nul points’ when you’re face-to-face with teacher. But what if all that could be avoided? It can if your wine class meets online through Twitter.
Twitter is a way for a bunch of people to talk to one another online. And if they have a shared interest even better. So wine enthusiasts can interact and type messages discussing what a wine tastes like and whether it matches certain foods – all without setting eyes on each other and from the comfort of the front room.
Which should reduce the pressure a bit if your last experience of learning was a draughty classroom and a chalk-chucking teacher.
So how do you go about organising a wine class on Twitter?
First you’ll need to create a Twitter account (just go to Twitter.com and fill in the online form) and convince several like-minded friends to do the same. Then encourage everyone to ‘follow’ each other (that’s Twitter language for reading messages from the people you chose) and announce with your first ‘tweet’ when the first tasting takes place.
Use your second 140-character tweet (time and messages are short on Twitter) to announce the particular wine to taste during the first ‘class’. Suggest a wine that’ll be easy to get – a well-known brand available from supermarkets and corner shops is a good choice.
And on the night of the tasting make sure all your tweets, and everyone else’s, contains a keyword preceded by the # symbol so that the #tasteclass tweets are tagged and don’t get lost among the rest of the Twitter traffic.
The following wines are readily available and make good choices for a Twitter tasting.
Then let me know how it goes through Twitter @huxelrebe.
PG Wine Reviews
Carlino Bianco, Italy £5.99 Majestic
A good value wine-friendly white that cuts through rich food flavours with its pineapple and straw-edge nuances.
Tesco Australian Limestone Coast Merlot 2016 £6 Tesco
Lots to discuss within 140 characters on this wine – did you get the pronounced liquorice flavour overlaying the plum and cherry?
Tesco Finest Terre di Chieti Passerina 2015 £6.50 Tesco
One of the new-breed of wines that is trying to encourage us to drink wines made from local grape varieties that used to be the preserve of small farmers and country inhabitants and now being made modern with pretty labels. It doesn’t need it. This white is pleasant enough without any fancy stuff – try as a light lunch-time wine.
Domaine Jaume Cotes du Rhone 2015 £7.75 The Wine Society
Great value easy-drinking red with flavours of cherries, redcurrants and squares of chocolate.
Marquis de Pennautier French Viognier 2015 £9.99 Majestic
Initial aromas of fennel followed by flavours of creamy pear. Nice.
Majestic Definition Italian Gavi 2016 £9.99 Majestic
Honey, lemon and almonds.
Tweet me a wine question @huxelrebe
© Paula Goddard 2017 www.paulagoddard.com
