This isn’t about memorising tasting notes or faking your way through a wine list. Over the three weeks, we're here to make wine make sense—by tasting it, talking about it, and learning how to trust your palate. No snobbery. No pressure. Just really good wine and some eye-opening conversations. Each session focuses on a different lens through which we can understand and enjoy wine.

Join Pete from By The Bottle for a 3-week beginners course every Thursday from 7-9pm - 4 Sep, 11 Sep, 18 Sep

Session 1 - Taste Basics | Thurs 9 October

Get to know your palate. Understand the components that make up a wine and how they interact with each other. Consider the wine as a whole, and the language we use to describe it.

4 classic wine styles served blind to avoid preconceptions. Each wine will demonstrate the components described, e.g. Riesling and acidity/sweetness.

Session 2 - Time and Place | Thurs 16 October

Consider the role that time and place play, both in regard to growing wine and enjoying wine. Explore the many variables of wine growing. Consider wine enjoyment being less about judging a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ wine, and more about choosing the wine to suit the occasion.

4 wines are served that are good expressions of place, vintage variability, and varietal suitability. Use wines at varied price points.

Session 3 - Wine Style and the Future | Thurs 23 October

Explore wine making and ‘style’ including both the conventional and less conventional (oxidative (e.g. sherry), skin contact, methode ancentrale). Discuss the future of wine.