Soon time to start thinking about wine classes, with the autumn term only weeks away. But here's another idea for broadening your wine horizons in a way that's guaranteed to be good fun. Why not start a club with a few like-minded friends? A wine-and-dine club, even, where you meet once a month to taste a line-up of bottles, taking it in turns to provide a meal to match?
"Anybody can do it - you don't need any special expertise," says Raymond Blake, drinks editor of Food & Wine magazine and treasurer of a club set up with friends 10 years ago. "Ours started because, when I used to go out to restaurants, the wine list would swim in front of my eyes. I had no idea what to order. One day I decided: I'm going to cure this. I talked to a few pals and we've been meeting regularly ever since."
Jacinta Delahaye, wine consultant to Dunnes Stores and an effervescent lecturer, also recommends tasting informally with a small group of people. "It's a great way to get started and build up a bit of confidence before going to wine appreciation classes," she says. "Or you can do it in tandem with more formal wine education. Let's face it, when it comes to wine, ignorance isn't bliss." Obviously, there's endless scope for flexibility. It will be up to the members to decide how often to meet, whether to have a meal or just wine, how much to pay into the kitty, whether to taste the wines in the usual way or "blind" (with the bottles concealed by a wrapper, so that you have no preconceived ideas) and so on. But here are a few general guidelines which may be useful.
First, numbers. Half-a-dozen people is probably about right. More, and organisation becomes difficult. Fewer, and your finances may be strained, because the general idea is that six people between them fund six bottles - a reasonable number of wines to taste at a sitting. Who to approach? Friends who are all at roughly the same level of wine knowledge. Nothing is more off-putting to beginners than a couple of know-alls spouting jargon.
Next, money. Decide how much you're prepared to pay per night - roughly the average price of the bottles you intend to buy with maybe a little extra for the occasional splurge.
Just £10 a month each will get you started very nicely - and that's not much for a good night out with half a dozen wines. Even £20 will leave a bit over for one or two ritzy nights a year. And for £30, you'll be able to afford some very special bottles indeed . . . Monthly standing orders paid into a special account (to be administered by whichever brave or bossy soul ends up as treasurer) save a lot of badgering and wasted time.
You then take it in turns to buy the wines for the evening, agreeing budget and theme in advance. This is where the fun begins, because there are so many possibilities. You might have a bargain bottle night, with nothing over £7. You might get to grips with a couple of key grape varieties - as in my Chardonnay and Cabernet plan below. You might have an Italian night, or a session tasting wines with Indian food, or a pre-millennium champagne blast. The higher up the scale you venture, the richer the rewards.
"You can have an evening of fine wines that you could never afford individually," says Raymond Blake, whose club has gradually progressed, over the years, to the stage where it buys a certain amount of wine to lay down - permitting indulgences like Chateau Palmer and old madeira at Christmas.
In the early stages, a good wine merchant will be able to offer invaluable help, suggesting worthwhile bottles to suit your chosen theme. Indeed, even when you're pretty damn expert - reading Decanter from cover to cover, remembering good and bad vintages in every region under the sun - you'll still rely on a decent wine merchant to come up with gems. So start chatting up the local wine wizard without delay.
You don't have to spend hours analysing your wines, but it's worth devoting a certain amount of time to them before the social (or gourmet) side of the evening takes over. My advice is to taste in silence before the meal, jotting down your impressions (how each wine looks, smells, tastes and your overall view). Then discuss. If you talk while tasting, it's too easy to be swayed by other people's opinions, when in fact the only verdict that matters is your own. Do you like this wine? That's the most important thing you need to know.
Once the club is up and running, you can develop it in all sorts of directions. You might decide to keep a scrapbook of labels with brief tasting notes, as a reminder of all the bottles you enjoyed. Or to read and discuss a wine book every so often. Or to go on a wine holiday together.
But back to basics. The bottles suggested below are the kind of thing that would provide plenty of fuel for discussion and delicious drinking, especially with a meal. And let nobody worry about kitchen pyrotechnics. Interesting wines are best appreciated with simple food.