Virtual English Wine Tasting with Corkk by Nadia Zammal

A guide to Virtual English Wine Tasting with Corkk

by Nadia Zammal

Online activities must have been the most popular distraction to do during our several lockdowns, ranging from yoga classes, family karaoke sessions through to wine tastings and food pairings either on your own, with partners, or with friends and family (each in our own households of course!).

Let’s come back to wine tastings, who are they for? For everyone really, whether you have a considerable amount of wine knowledge or whether you are a complete novice, it is a fun, social and educational experience where you’ll meet other like-minded people and taste delectable wines!

How does it work?

With Corkk, it is very easy. Once you have placed your order on Corkk’s website , you’ll be sent a virtual wine tasting pack with 6 elegant vials of wine, labelled 1 to 6 together with a description of each wine and some background about the vineyards. You will also be sent all the instructions via   e-mail on how and where to join the virtual wine tasting with a simple link. For further information on the virtual wine tasting and to book, you can have a look on the Corkk Virtual Wine Tasting page here.

Who is leading the virtual wine tasting?

The virtual wine tasting is hosted by both, Corkk’s founder Jonathan and Clive Barlow, Corkk’s Master of Wine. As a Master of Wine, Clive has all the knowledge you need to have in terms of how to taste wine, how to describe the aromas you detect in a wine and why you can smell or taste a particular aroma in a wine, explaining which factors have influenced a certain wine to taste or smell a certain way. It really is a fascinating nose and taste buds journey for 90 minutes!

What is great about this specific virtual wine tasting is that you not only get to listen and interact with one of the 416 Masters of Wine in the world, Clive will also give you an insightful background of the English wine history and its industry, how to pair English wines and run you through the popular English grape varieties. What better to hear it from someone with such knowledge and passion?

Which wines?

6 delicious English wines, well I say delicious as they are delicious to me however that is obviously subjective as all the wines are purposely different so that we can sample, enjoy and hopefully find out which is our favourite out of the pack. From there we can decide which one or ones we would like to purchase in the future for example. We can also decide whether we prefer to drink them on their own as an aperitive or with some scrumptious food. Clive also recommends which food to pair the wines with. Personally, me and my tastebuds thought that all wines were succulent in their own way, although I do have a favourite, I will keep my favourite quiet so that you can go and discover it for yourself in the next virtual wine tasting.

Three different Bacchus wines

The Bacchus grape variety is the flagship still white wine grape in England however surprisingly it only takes up 5% of the total wine production in the country. This is because the most commonly produced and sold English wine in the UK is sparkling wine. English sparkling wine is traditionally made out of Pinot Meunier, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, those grape varieties are therefore the most grown on the English and Welsh soil.

Back to the virtual wine tasting and the Bacchus grape variety, Clive, the Master of Wine talked us through the aromatic grape variety itself which has the power to produce distinctively tasting different types of wines as it is such a versatile grape as well as talking us through its origins and how it got introduced onto the English wine industry.

I was amazed by the differences in the wines made from the same grape variety, one being slightly fruity with hints of acidity, another one had a more pronounced and more aromatic flavours and aromas and the last one was completely different with even an orange tint to it and was classified as an orange wine – who knew that only 1 grape variety could produce such an array of different tasting wines?! We tasted the Flint Bacchus Dry 2019, Hidden Spring’s Fume and Litmus Orange Bacchus,

The other wines showcased during the tasting were three other grape varieties, all from different vineyards and producers: Wayfarer Pinot Gris 2019, Simpsons Pinot Meunier 2019 and the only red of the tasting, Biddenden’s Dornfelder. The reason why there is only one red wine in the virtual English wine tasting is because few red wines are being produced in England and Wales at the moment compared to white wines. However it’s popularity and production is on the rise but still very shy and produced in small quantities as producers are treading carefully as white wine grape varieties are more suitable  to a colder climate like the one we have here.

To find out more details about the wines and vineyards showcased during the tasting, click here to go to the Virtual Tasting page.

If you cannot attend one of the virtual wine tastings however you still want to sample the wines, don’t worry, you can still do this by ordering one of the Corkk’s Tasting packs here.

What did other people have to say?

"Enhanced my knowledge of English Wines, all in the comfort of my own home, and good value for money!" - Rod M

"Great session! Got to taste some fantastic new English wines in a relaxed and very informative environment. I will be recommending this to my family and friends." - Jon B

"An informative, fun and delicious experience. A great way to spend an evening!" - Judith C

"Excellent evening! Really showed the differences in English wine. Very good packaging and communication and Clive was excellent as always. Hugely recommended!" - Ian J