All Wells and good
The core of my wine and gourmet weekends is Saturday, although technically they kick off at 7pm the night before with an introduction to wine-tasting and dinner, when the wines tasted are matched to the menu.
The whole idea took off last August. Wine is one of my great passions, so when bookings for the shoulder months looked quiet, I decided to advertise a series of wine and gourmet weekends.
Previously, I had steered clear of themed marketing - ever since we tried to set up an antiques weekend and it fell flat. But for this, we ended up with 24 guests for the first event, and the second one brought in 30.
I was particularly gobsmacked that there were so many repeat participants for the second one, and now there are even advanced bookings for the next batch. It has taken off so well that we're planning another four, to which we hope to attract about 35 each.
At 10am, after breakfast, I introduce our tutor, Robert Hudson, of the Wine and Spirit Education Trust. He then gives a talk on specific grape varieties from around the world or a range of wines from a particular area, such as Provence or Burgundy.
There is then another tasting - I'm usually the only one who makes use of the spittoon. People nearly always make amusing comments about smell - "cat's pee" crops up a lot.
Robert's style is very laid back and he has a good sense of humour. Participants are aged from 35 up to 70 and their level of wine knowledge is varied, but most get on very well. In fact, I'm constantly amazed at how strangers become friendly so quickly, although I expect the wine helps.
At about 11.30am, I take everyone on a trip to our local vineyard at Moorlynch. That allows them to see the whole process of viticulture in action. This is followed by another wine tasting and then back to the hotel for a late buffet lunch at about 1.30pm.
Due to popular request, I've introduced some free time so that participants can look around Wells in the afternoon. It is such a beautiful place.
At about 5pm, I organise a light-hearted quiz based on what the guests have seen and done over the weekend. This also, inevitably, includes a tasting session. The winner receives a bottle of vintage port.
By 8pm, everyone's ready for our gourmet dinner, at which I serve a selection of wines that were tasted during the weekend. The atmosphere is excellent and I don't usually get to bed until well past midnight.
But that's not the end of it. The weekend is rounded off on Sunday morning with a blind tasting session at about 11am. Everyone splits into teams of four. Some people are very nervous while others have to stop themselves from showing off. After that, everyone heads off.
The weekends have been a really good trial for the experimental wine lists in our restaurant because they act as market research. We have a shortlist of just 26 varieties but I now plan to double it to make sure there is a grape variety of each sort and from each country available.
My advice to others thinking of running such weekends would be to ensure you get a really good tutor or speaker as that's crucial to its success. They have to be good with a mixed bag of people drinking lots of wine.
