Time to wine down: A conversation with Warwickshire Wine School

Picture this: you’re having a wine night with your flatmates. You’re standing in Tesco, and you’re overwhelmed by the rows of bottles of wine that to you, a novice, all look exactly the same. How do you decide which one to pick? I sat down with the founder of Warwickshire Wine School, Wendy Adams, to discuss all things wine.  

I asked Wendy if she had any tips for students who don’t know a lot about wine. “Do not get adventurous because you’re going to blow your money on something you don’t know”, she begins. “Every grape is like a person. It has its own personality. So, Chardonnay is a girl that you can take anywhere. And that means she can be anywhere in the world, and she’ll have a different personality. Sunny, warm climates will make her rich and rounded and luscious. Take her to a cool climate, like France, and she’ll be a little bit skinny, and austere, and a bit acidic.” But she warns that Chardonnay is too much of a risk for a beginner because of its variance. “You can do the Pinot Grigio. They’re very light, very lemony … [or] a Sauvignon Blanc, which has a little bit more body to it.” 

Pairing food and wine is like a big chemistry lesson

– Wendy Adams

If you’re having a flat dinner and are struggling to decide on a wine, Wendy recommends that you treat wine like another ingredient in the meal. “Essentially, pairing food and wine is like a big chemistry lesson.” For example, if you have an acidic wine like a Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc, “you’d look for food that has maybe salt, so fish and chips, for instance, because the acidity is essentially vinegar, and salt and vinegar go really well together.” Alternatively, you could mirror the wine’s flavour in what is already on your plate; red wine and red meat complement each other so well because the flavour compound in red meat is very similar in red wine. Wendy recommends that we use the sauce in our dishes as the binding ingredient between the food itself and the wine. For instance, if a sauce has a peppery creaminess to it, then a Chardonnay would couple well with it, “because Chardonnay can be quite full and creamy”.  

If you want to try bubbles but don’t know where to start, Wendy advises that we start with the sparkling wines Cava or Crémant. “Prosecco is not made like Champagne. It’s been marketed so beautifully that everybody’s accepted it”, but Crémant has been made by the same methods that Champagne has. However, it can’t be called Champagne because it isn’t made in the Champagne region of France. Around Christmas, you can buy a decent bottle of Champagne from Aldi or Lidl for around £13. Similarly, Iceland and Home Bargains have a small selection of wines, but they’re the same ones in other high street stores for a much cheaper price.  

Warwickshire Wine School is all about making wine accessible

It’s very easy to be intimidated by wine. There can be a perception that it is for the older generation, and if you’ve ever seen a cooking show, you’ll know that talking about wine can be like another language. Wendy advises us to “never be intimidated by wine and never be intimidated by stuffy snobbery”. We shouldn’t let ourselves be too affected by other people’s opinions about wine. “If you pour it into that glass and it makes you feel great, it’s a fabulous glass of wine”, Wendy emphasises.  

Warwickshire Wine School is all about making wine accessible. Wendy says that through founding the school, “I love that I’m able to strip back some of that snobbery and talk from the essence of everybody’s original palate.” Wine tasting can be very expensive, Wendy saw this and decided to do something about it. As well as offering masterclasses for hospitality professionals, Wendy also offers The Tiny Wine Club, which is “for everybody”. The Club moves around the Warwickshire area: on November 26, the Club will have a sparkling wine night in Leamington Spa, where guests will be able to taste a range of sparkling wine and Champagne for £30 per person.  

Before we leave, I ask Wendy for any final tips. She emphasises again not to be intimidated by wine, but “don’t drink it out of a mug”. As a person who brought wine glasses to university since day one, I’m inclined to agree.