We Love Wine, It’s All We Drink (or something like that) | The Wine List Subscription Service

When The Wine List – a wine course startup – asked us if we’d like to educate ourselves in the comfort of our own home, it seemed like a pretty good way to use up some lock-downtime, so of course, we said yes.

We don’t know much about wine, apart from that we like it. A lot. We have our faves that we’ll scan wine lists for in restaurants, such as a Primitivo. Not just because it’s often cheaper although that does help, but because we fell in love with it when we travelled to Puglia to get married.

Here’s how The Wine List works. It’s a subscription service where each month they send you a couple of bottles of wine alongside some light educational information. They claim: ‘With some practice, after six-to-twelve months, you should be able to look at a restaurant wine list, or the shelves in your local merchant, and have an inkling of what a bottle should taste like.’ That’s all we need!

We decided to share the love and got to know our wines with friends and family (socially distanced, naturally). The Cara Sucia Tinto de Rivadavia 2018 from Argentina was crying out to be sipped alongside a Smoke Barbecue (handily suggested as a food pairing) and that was a good enough excuse for us to order in a Deliveroo.

The Wine List sent a little chart for us to note aromas profiles and characteristics. We didn’t have a clue what we were doing but it made for an interesting chat and a much-needed break from the C-word. We all loved this young wine, especially as it evoked memories of the wine we drink in Sicily – fresh, light and bursting with berries.

My white wine-loving dad and girlfriend were next in line to let us know their thoughts on our second bottle, a Massaya White 2018 from Lebanon – not a region we know much about at all. According to the notes that came with it from The Wine List, if we liked this, we ought to try a White Rioja – we didn’t even know a White Rioja existed – oh, so much to learn!

The folks found this wine fascinating too, as like us, Lebanese wine or the grapes used in this refreshing white isn’t something they knew much about – Obeïdi, Rolle, Clairette, alongside the better known Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

The Wine List subscription service comes in at a pretty reasonable £39 per month which includes:

• An introduction to wine tasting
• Two wines
• Interactive tasting cards
• Your learning plan for the next 12 months

Once funds pick up again, this is something we’d definitely consider signing up for. We’d like to see the tasting notes a bit easier on the eye and less text-heavy to make it easier to digest though and some paired snacks from indie brands wouldn’t go amiss either! We love that the wines retail between £15-20 and they value lesser-known regions, grapes, and winemakers. If it’s not for you, it could be a great gift idea for a wine enthusiast friend.

Find out more here

We were gifted a Wine List box, this does not affect our review in any way.
We always write with complete honesty.