Time for something new? Time to take up wine tasting?
Sunday 21st November at 7.00pm at Bridges Centre saw the second Tutored Wine Tasting event hosted by the Monmouth/Carbonne Town Twinning Association.
Tom Innes, the well-known local wine merchant and owner of Fingal’s Rock in Monnow Street for over 32 years, was our tutor for the evening. As a previous winner of the Decanter International Wine Challenge award and Wine Merchant of the Year for Wales he has put himself through all the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) exams, to achieve the prestigious Diploma in Wines & Spirits. Tom’s expertise will introduce us to a selection of handmade wines from small family vineyards from around France to delight and amaze us and bring us to understand our pinot noirs from our sauvignon blancs, our Burgundies from our Bordeaux.
There was something for everyone, with reds, whites, and very possibly a dessert wine. The tasting took us through the wines, with anecdotes about the growers with whom Tom deals direct, and knows personally. Tom’s aim is always to explain the wines and make them come alive, rather than thinking of them being inert bottles of liquid on the shelf of a shop.