My favourite wines from the Naked Wines Summer Tasting Tour 2019

With some of the lovely
Angels and Archangels
on the tour - love them!

The Naked Wines Tasting Events are an amazing opportunity to try over 100 wines. You get to try new wines and meet the wine makers who tell you all about them, all for around £20. An absolute bargain in my book.

These are my favourite NEW wines that I tried this year:

The fabulous Los
Despachos from
Edgard Carter

Edgard Carter
I'd never met Chilean winemaker Edgard Carter before this year's tour. He's a lovely, polite and unassuming sort of man but who makes the most delicious wines. So great, that two of his wines have made my list:
- Sureno 2016 (£11.99) - made from a blend of Cab Sav, Carmenere, Malbec and Syrah, this smooth, silky red is full of fresh fruit with a kick of blackberry.
- Los Despachos Petit Verdot 2015 (£19.99) - Definitely not a cheap drop, but worth every penny if you want to treat yourself to a glass of blueberry and blackberry wonderfulness! 

Mauricio Lorca's Angels Selection Pedro Gimenez 2018 (£7.99)
Argentinian Mauricio is always a big hit at the Naked Wines Events. And, as always he was friendly and affable this year. I absolutely loved his Pedro Gimenez which is a completely new type of grape for me and a complete steal at £7.99. This crisp and fresh lip-smacker is like a glass of apples and citrus and perfect for a BBQ in the sunshine.

Gerd's amazing new
Pinot Noir Rose

Gerd Stepp's Pinot Noir Rose 2018 (£9.99)
Gerd really is like the professor of wine making. His Pinot Noir *8* is one of my favourite wines on the Naked Wines website and is delicious both warm and cold. So, I was fascinated to try his new rose which is made from the juice extracted from the first crush of his Pinot Noir grapes. Although this is a bit punchier than some roses (and a bit more alcoholic!) it is still light, fresh and zingy and a new firm favourite. If you're unfamiliar with German wines, try any of Gerd's range and I promise you will be impressed.

Dominic Hentall's Terra Nera 2017 (£10.99)
I love Dominic Hentall - he is always the life and soul of the party on the Naked Tour. I love his Terra Calda and his Terra Forte so I was fascinated to try his Terra Nera. I love Italian wines, but I'm more familiar with those from Northern Italy from regions such as Tuscany and Piedmont. However, this one is from Sicily so from a much warmer, sunnier region. And so the wine is big, fruity, spicy and with some vanilla from the oak barrels. This wine is great now and will probably be even better in a few months.

Sam Plunkett's Victorian Zinfandel 2018 (£10.99)

Dominic's amazing
Terra Nera

In the programme, it describes Sam as one of the nicest guy's around. And they aren't wrong. Naked Wines Australia have done this amazing podcast with him which is really worth a listen to understand his amazing journey to master wine maker. I loved his new Zinfandel which is packed with jammy fruits as well as juicy strawberries. (I also loved his Halo Effect Viognier 2016 which is a new sweet wine for me, so I thought I would give it a mention).

Ray and Eamon's picks
Every year, Naked Wine's chief taster, Ray teams up with the boss, Eamon, to champion their top picks at the "Ramon Table". All of their wines are always amazing. They had four on their table this year, some of which have been (or will be) available through the Naked Wines Fine Wine Club. I especially enjoyed the following from their top picks:
- Anna Espelt Sol i Vent 2017 (£13.99)
- Repetto Piemonte Rosso 2017 (£9.99)

Me with the lovely Mike
Paterson

I can't leave a review of my favourite wines without mentioning Mike Paterson. He didn't have any new wines on his tasting table this year, but he is such an utter legend, I couldn't miss him out. Especially as his Lay of the Land Marlborough Pinot Noir is perhaps my favourite Pinot Noir on the Website. His 2017 vintage is his best in my opinion - it's really fresh fruit forward and packed with strawberries and vanilla.

These are just a few of the wines I enjoyed this year. And, as always we were spoilt for choice. Especially as Naked Wines seems to be bringing on new wines and winemakers everyday! If you follow Eamon on Instagram, you'll see his quest to sniff out new wines from all over the globe (and be really rather jealous!).

My first ever Naked Wines Tasting Tour

At the beginning of the tasting

Ever since I joined Naked Wines in April 2012 I've wanted to go to one of the events on their tasting tour. But for one reason or another (work, then pregnancy then babysitter) I've been unable to go.

So, I was delighted this year when I was neither pregnant nor working and the tour was coming to Southampton, on a Sunday!

The tasting programme

The pre-event marketing claimed there was going to be 30 wine makers and 139 wines to try. I literally could not have been more excited! Plus, all the Angels on the Naked Wines forums were chatting about it and I literally could not wait. I was so excited that I had three cocktails beforehand, which in hindsight was an error....

The tasting started at 2pm and all the visitors joined an orderly queue outside the Guildhall in Southampton (we are so British!). When we got in, there was a huge hall full of wines. It was just fabulous.

139 wines to try

I've been to lots of tasting events before and they have often been pretty snobby. However, it immediately became clear that this was not that sort of event. In fact, the organisers were actively encouraging us to take selfies with the winemakers (I'm yet to discover if I won the selfie competition!). 

With Serena from Cordero
wines and ArchAngel Leon

Plus, nearly all of the people working the stands were the winemakers themselves, not just some rep or agency staff. I guess some of that comes down to the whole Naked Wines ethos. The money that the Naked Wines Members (or Angels) invest into Naked Wines goes towards funding independent wine growers. So, I guess for most of the winemakers attending the event, this was an opportunity to promote their wines to their key audience.

Rocking it like a redhead with
Jen Pfeiffer.

Either way, I had an amazing time. I chatted to loads of winemakers, other Naked Angels and also some of the Archangels (Archangels are the elite members of the Naked Wines crew and their job is to help promote Naked Wines via the forums and events such as the tasting tour). Everyone was super friendly, no-one mocked my pitiful wine knowledge and most of all I tried some delicious wines!

My highlights included (and there were loads, so I'm sorry if I've missed you out):

Ian Kellet and son from
Old Winchester Hill

- Meeting Serena from Gianfranco and Serena Cordero wines. We got married in Italy and we are a bit obsessed with Italian wines. In fact, I am drinking one of their Barbarescos that we bought at the tasting as we speak! She was so friendly and I'd never tried any of their wines before and I loved them.
- Rocking it like a redhead with Jen Pfeiffer. Jen Pfeiffer is an Australian winemaker and something of a legend on the Naked Wines Forums. Again, I'd never tried any of her wines before and I especially loved her "The Rebel Bubbles", which was light, fresh and zingy and my new favourite sparkling wine.

Rod Easthope, an absolute
legend

- Trying Naked Wines' first English grown wine. For ages, Naked Wines has been promising us an English wine. And, finally we have one and it is grown just down the road from where I live. Ian Kellett was there with his son serving his new "Old Winchester Hill" sparkling wines. At the end of the tasting, we ended up stood chatting while drinking a bottle of Gerd Stepp Reisling. Absolutely delicious and what a nice man. I hope his venture is a huge success.
- Meeting one of my favourite Naked Wines growers, Rod Easthope. I love his pinot noirs, I love his Sauvignon Blancs and I got to try his Merlot Cab Franc which I'd never tasted before. The man lived up to my expectations! 

Lovely Serena from Cordera

- Finally speaking face to face with some of the Naked Wines Crew. Highlights were (very slurred) thanking the event organiser Seb for organising such an incredible event. And meeting some of the Archangels including lovely Leon who even indulged me with a selfie. 

Overall, it was a great event. The brochure encouraged us to use the spittoons. However, to my chagrin, I did not and drank far too much. I lost my brochure, I broke my selfie stick. I took photos of people and have no idea who they were. 

Who are these people? Does
Anyone know?

If you get the chance to go along to one of the events, I'd really urge you to. The tickets were only £15 and you got the price of those back if you ordered a case of wine (which we did). And, for that price you get a lot of really high quality wines, great conversation and a lot of fun. My advice though? Use the spittoons and don't have three cocktails beforehand.....