Going it alone at the Naked Wines Summer Tasting Tour 2019

I've been with Naked Wines now for 7 years and one of my favourite things is going to their tasting events.

The fabulous Lindley
Hall where the London
Tasting was held

I attended my first in 2016 and have been pretty much every year since. You get to meet all the wine makers, chat to other Naked Wines Angels (the members) and, frankly best of all, there are normally over 100 wines to try.

One of my fellow
Archangels who
looked after me

This year, I decided to go on my own. Normally I go with my husband and some of my friends have come with me in the past. But, this year, Naked Wines had organised a meeting for all the Archangels beforehand and that, together with babysitting issues, meant I decided to go it alone.

The Tasting Tour
Brochure

Pretty nervous doesn't even begin to describe how I felt beforehand. I don't really do anything on my own these days. I would never go to the pub on my own or to the cinema. And, thanks to my small children and running my own business, I rarely even leave the house these days.

However, I needn't have worried as I was utterly looked after by the other Naked Wines Angels and Archangels. Everyone is so friendly and chatty, it really doesn't matter if you're on your own. 

If you order wine
on the tour, you get
the cost of your
ticket back. Win win.

I drank some delicious wines (I've written about my favourites on another blog post if you are interested), met some really interesting people and learned more about Naked Wines and their wine makers. I even managed to make a few notes in my Tour Programme (which I'm sure has never happened before).

I genuinely had a great time and it was quite liberating. 

Naked Wines have already released the dates for their Winter Tasting tour here. The Winter Tour tends to be slightly smaller than the summer one, but they still have over 100 wines to try, lots of wine makers from all over the globe and it's a really great day out.

You can read about my favourite wines from the Summer Tasting Tour here.

What I drank on British Airways this month

I've noticed on the last few flights I've caught, that airlines seem to be upping their booze game. 

I loved the theatre of
mixing my own cocktail
at altitude 

I was especially impressed with the range of British and exclusive drinks ranges that were available on a recent British Airways flight. 

Did you know your taste-buds are impacted by flying? No, me neither. Air pressure, lack of humidity, and even the noise of the plane's engines can apparently impact how we taste things. So British Airways has introduced a selection of exclusive drinks that have been blended specifically to be enjoyed at 30,000 feet. And, the best thing? A whole load of them are British.

OK, so the plastic cup didn't
exactly dress the drink.
But the Gin Jam was lovely
and the drink was v special

On the flight to Spain, I very much enjoyed a glass (well a plastic) of Pickerings Small Batch Raspberry Gin. This was presented with a very funky "Pinkster Gin Jam". This mildly alcholic jam is made from the leftovers from the production of the Raspberry gin and is designed to be poured into the G&T to turn it into more of a cocktail. I absolutely loved it. There was also the option of a Pickerings Small Batch London Dry Gin which was apparently blended especially by "ginventors" who trialled different recipes at different altitudes and this blend is exclusive to BA. 

I think I would like a job as a ginventor.

Whilst I tried to stop my gin cocktail from being knocked over by my children, the husband chose a Scottish beer. He opted for the Brewdog Speedbird 100 IPA which had been "specifically brewed to work perfectly in the air and adapt to the reduction in taste and smell sensitivity at high altitudes." I'm not sure whether it tasted better at high altitude, but he definitely enjoyed it and we always love a Brewdog Beer. I practically lived off their Nanny State when I was pregnant.

Great to see an English
wine challenging
more standard in flight
wine brands

Then, on the way back to a very rainy Heathrow Airport after a three-hour delay at Barcelona, we treated ourselves to a glass of Chapel Down English Bacchus. 

OK, so this wine wasn't a BA exclusive blend and not specifically made for the mile high club, but I've never tried Chapel Down wines before and it's so nice to find an English wine being displayed on an international sphere like this. And, we both absolutely loved it and I'm considering booking a winery tour at Chapel Down so I can see what else they have on offer.

Overall, we were really impressed and it's great to see British alcohol being sold by a British Airline. Maybe it's the new collaboration with M&S or maybe it's BA being brand faithful and supporting British. Either way, I'm a big fan and long may it continue!