I was recently very lucky to be invited to an event at the lovely Lythe Hill Hotel near Haslemere in Surrey. Now I don't normally mention venues on the blog however I have to admit I was impressed by this country house hotel due to the shear range and versatility of it's facilities. Not only does it have a huge array of licenced rooms to choose from (including the only licenced gazebo in Surrey and a dungeon room!); a lovely spa, modern and character bedrooms, immense grounds including a rather picturesque lake and (and if that's not enough) an award winning restaurant. Manager Marsha Goodwin and the team are more than welcoming and are truly providing clients with a personal and bespoke service when it comes to weddings, or any event for that matter.
After the grand tour myself and some other guests were invited to stay for dinner (well it would have been rude to say no!), but before Marsha had organised a little ice breaker: wine tasting! I adore a little drop of 'grape juice' now and again and I've been to numerous wine tasting events, however none were as informative or as fun as this one. Firstly we were taught by the amazing Taste of the Vines chief sommerlier Francis Gimlett on how to taste the wines properly. I won't give this part away as this is what I believe stands this company out from the crowd; but Francis was thoroughly entertaining, informative and he truly helped us to understand the wines better when it came to trying them.
Over an hour or so we tasted a variety of wines from around the world both brought in by Francis and also snaffled from Lythes well stocked cellar. These were accompanied by various cheeses and nibbles so we could fully appreciate what went well with what (and to obviously not get us too drunk!). We each had to score the wines separately and as part of a team; nothing like bonding with strangers when in a competition! At the end some fab prizes were given out and everyone took something to take away with them, for me it was I'll never look down my nose at a Riesling again!
I found out afterwards Taste of the Vine had been going for over 13 years and have accomplished more than 2300 events. This is phenomenal and a testament to their professional approach, knowledge and passion about wine (they've even written books for goodness sake!). These guys are fabulous for any event, especially for a rehearsal dinner or hen and stag parties. They can also hold tasting events for beer, whiskey and even cocktails - now that's what I'm talking about!
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