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Showing posts with label wine tasting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine tasting. Show all posts

16 October 2019

Wine Education Service Belfast wine workshops, tastings and courses winter-spring 2020

You can now book these Wine Education Service NI wine workshops, tastings and courses online, scheduled to run from February to May 2020. All delivered with enthusiasm, insight and a sense of humour by wine tutor and blogger Richard Mark James, and held in Belfast city centre. Also available to buy as gift vouchers. Go to the WES Belfast web page for more details and online booking:
wine-education-service.co.uk/location/wine-tasting-belfast.

14 October 2018

Belfast wine tastings and courses autumn 2018 to spring 2019

Updated November 2018:
The Wine Education Service NI (that's me) program of wine tasting courses starting this autumn is (drum roll)...
Saturday 2 February 2019 - France and Italy workshop.
Saturday 30 March 2019 - Grape to Glass workshop.
Thursday evenings 25 April to 23 May 2019 inclusive - Essential Wine Tasting five-week course.

02 October 2017

10 May 2017

Wine Education Service NI tastings and courses autumn 2017

Updated June 2017
Château de La Ligne owned by Belfast businessman Terry Cross
From www.chateaudelaligne.com
Saturday 30 September 2017 - 'International grape varieties' one-day workshop £90
Including lunch from the hotel's bar menu, course manual and at least a dozen top-quality classic varietals tasted, compared and talked about... We'll pick half-a-dozen or so pairs of wines made from the world's most popular grapes, each pair being the same variety but sourced from different wine regions. For example, contrasting New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc vs Sancerre from the Loire Valley, Australian Shiraz vs Syrah from the Rhone Valley, German vs USA Riesling... Runs 10.45 to 16.45 approx with lunch break.

Essential Wine Tasting five-week course £125 (£129 by PayPal) - Thursday evenings October 5, 12, 19, 26 and 2 November 2017 from 6.45-8.30pm.
Six high-quality wines tasted each session covering the world's great wine regions, grape varieties and winemaking styles, as well as some lesser-known examples. We'll also talk about tasting, enjoying and keeping wine, how different types of wine are made and how climate and what goes on in the vineyard shape them as we go along each week, in addition to many other general topics. Course manual included. Full details can be found on the WES site HERE.

Thursday 30 November 2017 - 'Irish themed' wine tasting! £32.50
This evening tutored wine tasting (starts 18.45 to 20.30 approx.) will focus on six to eight wines (depending on numbers) with a link to Ireland, whether produced by a winemaker originally from Northern Ireland or an Irish-owned wine estate; such as Château de ​l​a Ligne​ in Bordeaux, Creu Celta​ in Catalonia or the Miquel family in the Languedoc...

The venue for these events is the Ramada Encore Hotel in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter. More info and online booking via the Wine Education Service site (payment by bank transfer or cheque):
Wine-Education-Service.co.uk/wine-tasting-belfast or Facebook.com/WineEducationServiceNI (sign in to Facebook to view).
Or you can pay by card or your own PayPal account by clicking on the button below (you don't need a PP account to do this though: just click on 'pay as guest'). You can change the quantity of tickets on the secure web form:




Select event:



Click here for more about PayPal payments and your privacy. WES terms & conditions apply, which will be emailed with your invoice or can be viewed on this blog HERE. Wine Education Service NI does not sell wine - our wine tastings and classes are designed to be purely educational and informal while focusing on getting more enjoyment out of tasting wine; we source high quality representative samples from a variety of different retailers.

24 January 2017

Belfast wine tastings and courses: Wine Education Service NI dates 2017

Saturday 4 February 2017 10.45am to 4.30pm 'New World' wines one-day workshop £90
Including lunch from the hotel's bar menu, course manual and at least a dozen high-quality classic-style wines tasted and discussed, which will be sourced from across the southern hemisphere wine-producing nations and North America. STILL A FEW PLACES LEFT!

02 October 2016

Wine Education Service Belfast tastings and courses: revised programme

Saturday 8 October 11am-2pm Italian wine tasting with lunch £50
STILL A FEW PLACES LEFT!
Eight premium Italian wines tasted from around one of the world's most diverse and exciting wine producing nations, from the far north to deep south and the well-known to obscure, followed by your choice of a main course from the hotel's bar menu. Molto bene!

24 May 2016

Wine Education Service NI: new dates added in Belfast

The fully updated programme of wine tastings, wine workshops and wine courses scheduled in Belfast from summer 2016 to spring 2017 is (drum roll)...

Friday 1 July 6.45-8.30pm Champagne & sparkling wine tasting £36
We'll sample and compare six top-notch bottles of fizz from around the wine cosmos, including well-known favourites such as Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, alongside a few eye-openers from the Southern Hemisphere like New Zealand, Australia or South Africa... Add some sparkle to your weekend!

13 April 2016

New wine tasting events in Belfast

First of all, a quick reminder of the next tasting coming up in May:

Looney Tunes' Tasmanian Devil
downloaded from You Tube.

Thursday 19 May 6.45-8.30pm
'Island wines' tasting £28.95
This original tutored tasting will hop around from one island to another across the world taking in six to eight wines (depending on numbers), travelling from the Mediterranean (Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Greece...) to where the Indian Ocean meets the South Pacific (Tasmania, New Zealand...).

05 February 2016

WES Belfast wine tastings update

Here are the latest dates and details of forthcoming Wine Education Service NI courses and tastings running in Belfast city centre, with an updated PayPal button for card payments at the bottom of the post.

Impossible castle in Slovenia
(not where the vineyards are!)

08 January 2016

Wine Education Service: tastings & courses Belfast 2016 update

See below for the latest on forthcoming wine courses and tastings running in Belfast, plus a new evening tasting added to the programme at the end of April and updated PayPal button for card payments at the bottom.

Impossible castle in Slovenia
Saturday 30 January 2016: Spain and Portugal one-day workshop £90
LAST FEW PLACES LEFT!

01 December 2015

WES NI wine tastings & courses in Belfast 2016

Vineyards overlooking Pinhao, Douro Valley
Saturday 30 January 2016: Spain and Portugal one-day workshop £90
Including at least a dozen wines tasted with your tutor, two-course lunch at the hotel and course manual - "We'll taste and talk about a selection of quality red, white, rosé and fortified wines highlighting the very different regions, grape varieties and wine styles found across the 'Iberian peninsular'.

12 November 2015

Wine tastings & courses: Nov 15 to Mar 16 in Belfast

From Italtrade.com
​​Thursday 26 November 7-8.45pm: Italian wines​ £28.95
​"​At​ ​this wines of Italy ​evening tasting​, we'll take you on a guided tour around several of this very​ varied country's wine producing regions ​by​ tasting and talking about ​a carefully selected range of​ tasty red and white​ wines. These will probably include classics from northern Italy, such as Piemonte and Veneto, central Italy such as Tuscany and Umbria, and the deep south e.g. Sicily, ​Campania,​ Puglia..."

31 August 2015

Wine tastings & workshops Belfast update: Oct 2015 to Feb 2016


I've changed one date - the first autumn workshop has been put back a couple of weeks into October - on the forthcoming WES NI wine tasting and workshop programme, and added some new dates for your diary in the New Year 2016! Booking options are found at the bottom:

Saturday 10 October: Spain and Portugal one-day workshop £90
"We'll taste and talk about a dozen or so red, white, rosé and fortified wines selected to highlight the very different regions, grape varieties and wine styles found across the 'Iberian peninsular'. This will include well-known 'classics' such as Rioja, Port​/Douro Valley and (real) Sherry​; but throwing in a few surprises too like Galici​a and Vinho Verde for dry whites, serious reds from Dao or the Alentejo and not forgetting the wine 'super-state' of Catalonia, home to some great reds, whites and Cava..." Includes two-course lunch at the hotel.

​​Thursday 29 October​ 7-9 pm​: ​​France vs ​​the 'New World' classic grape varieties tutored tasting £28.95
​"​We'll compare three or four pairs of well-known grape varieties from different regions of France ​with​ certain Southern Hemisphere countries, 'classic' styles of say Chardonnay, Riesling, Syrah/Shiraz, Malbec... (two of each). Which is 'better', or are they just different?!"​

​​Saturday 14 November ​11 am-​2 pm​: "off the beaten track" ​wine tasting and ​lunch £49
"Come and explore the lesser-known, although certainly not less exciting, wine world with this morning tasting of about eight diverse high-quality wines from countries such as Lebanon, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and fine English sparkling wine too. Includes a two-course lunch at the hotel afterwards."

​​Thursday 26 November 7-9 pm: Italian wines​ £28.95
​"​At​ ​this wines of Italy ​evening tasting​, we'll take you on a guided tour around several of this very​ varied country's wine producing regions ​by​ tasting and talking about ​a carefully selected range of​ tasty red and white​ wines. These will probably include classics from northern Italy, such as Piemonte and Veneto, central Italy such as Tuscany and Umbria, and the deep south e.g. Sicily, ​Campania,​ Puglia..."

Saturday 30 January 2016 one-day workshop (topic to be confirmed) - £90 including at least a dozen wines tasted with your tutor, two-course lunch at the hotel and course manual.

"Essential Wine Tasting" five-week course 2016 - £125
Thursday evenings (7-9pm approx) February 4, 11, 18, 25 and March 3. Full details are on our website:


The venue for all these events is the Ramada Encore Hotel in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter. More info and online booking on our site:

Facebook.com/WineEducationServiceNI (you have to sign in to FB). Or you can pay by card or your own Paypal account using the PP button below (you don't need an account to do this though). You can change the quantity of tickets on the secure web form:


Select event:


01 August 2015

Wine tastings & workshops in Belfast September to November

The autumn programme for wine tastings and workshops scheduled to run in Belfast city centre (Ramada Encore Hotel Cathedral Quarter) by Wine Education Service NI (that's me) from late September to late November 2015 is as follows (drum roll)...
Booking options are at the bottom:

Saturday 26 September: Spain and Portugal one-day workshop £90
"We'll taste and talk about a dozen or so red, white, rosé and fortified wines selected to highlight the very different regions, grape varieties and wine styles found across the 'Iberian peninsular'. This will include well-known 'classics' such as Rioja, Port​/Douro Valley and (real) Sherry​; but throwing in a few surprises too like Galici​a and Vinho Verde for dry whites, serious reds from Dao or the Alentejo and not forgetting the wine 'super-state' of Catalonia, home to some great reds, whites and Cava..." Includes two-course lunch at the hotel.

​​Thursday 29 October​ 7-9 pm​: ​​France vs ​​the 'New World' classic grape varieties tutored tasting £28.95
​"​We'll compare three or four pairs of well-known grape varieties from different regions of France ​with​ certain Southern Hemisphere countries, 'classic' styles of say Chardonnay, Riesling, Syrah/Shiraz, Malbec... (two of each). Which is 'better', or are they just different?!"​

​​Saturday 14 November ​11 am-​2 pm​: "off the beaten track" ​wine tasting and ​lunch £49
"Come and explore the lesser-known, although certainly not less exciting, wine world with this morning tasting of about eight diverse high-quality wines from countries such as Lebanon, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece and fine English sparkling wine too. Includes a two-course lunch at the hotel afterwards."

​​Thursday 26 November 7-9 pm: Italian wines​ £28.95
​"​At​ ​this wines of Italy ​evening tasting​, we'll take you on a guided tour around several of this very​ varied country's wine producing regions ​by​ tasting and talking about ​a carefully selected range of​ tasty red and white​ wines. These will probably include classics from northern Italy, such as Piemonte and Veneto, central Italy such as Tuscany and Umbria, and the deep south e.g. Sicily, ​Campania,​ Puglia..."

Book online on our site:
Wine-education-service.co.uk/wine-tasting-belfast
Facebook.com/WineEducationServiceNI (you have to sign in to FB). Or you can pay by card or your own Paypal account using the PP button below (you don't need an account to do this though). You can change the quantity of tickets on the secure web form:


Select event:


18 June 2015

Wine Education Service NI summer and autumn events

First of all, a reminder about the next evening tasting at beginning of July in Belfast:

North & South American wines tutored tasting
Thursday 2 July 7-9 pm - £27.50
"A whirlwind mini-tour across the American continent, northern and southern hemisphere, taking in 6 to 8 wines (depending on numbers) from the US, Canada (maybe), Chile, Argentina and any surprises from South America I can lay my hands on!"

02 June 2015

WES NI: North & South America tasting 2 July

North & South American wines tutored tasting Thursday 2 July 7-9 pm - £27.50
"A whirlwind mini-tour across the American continent, northern and southern hemisphere, taking in 6 to 8 wines (depending on numbers) from the US, Canada (maybe), Chile, Argentina and any surprises from South America I can lay my hands on!"
Pay by card or with your own Paypal account using the PP button below (you don't need an account to do this though):

Select event:


05 May 2015

Wine tastings & workshops May-June Belfast

NEW! 'Wines with cheese' tutored tasting
Thursday May 28   7 - 8.30 pm - £27.50
"Is there a perfect cheese wine? Depends on which cheese and what wine, probably... We'll taste and talk about half-a-dozen different wine styles - sparkling, red, dry white, rosé, sweet and fortified - picked from around the world, and attempt to pair them up with a small selection of Irish cheeses..."

12 March 2015

WES Belfast update: wine tastings, courses and workshops

RMJ snorting Chardonnay @ the Ramada Encore.
LAST FEW PLACES'New Spain' tasting
Thursday 26 March 7 to 9 pm - £27.50
"We'll taste and talk about classic reds from, for example, Rioja and Ribeira del Duero and also venture into lesser-known territory like (real) Sherry country, Galicia for whites and Catalonia, including some very good Cava no doubt!"

06 February 2015

WES NI latest: wine tastings, courses and workshops in Belfast

'Classic Grape Varieties' tasting Thursday 26 February - now sold out!

'New Spain' tutored tasting - Thursday 26 March 7 to 9 pm - £27.50
"We'll taste and talk about classic reds from, for example, Rioja and Ribeira del Duero and also venture into lesser-known territory like (real) Sherry country, Galicia for whites and Catalonia, including some very good Cava no doubt!"

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