We were kindly sent a box from The Wine List to try and what better way to do so than on a gorgeous summer evening. The Wine List is a discovery and education-focused wine subscription box. Scroll to the bottom of this post to get 30% OFF! We’ve been pondering on whether to get a wine subscription for a while, as it is nice to try something new and we do drink our fair share of wine! However, we are quite set in our ways when it comes to wine so we usually just buy one of our favourites. We may venture out of our comfort zone if something on offer catches our eye!
The Wine List differs from other wine subscriptions as it not only introduces you to new wines but teaches you about the wine and the industry as a whole. The Wine List is aimed at the amateur enthusiast who is looking to level up their knowledge. That sounds like us!
Included in the box each month is the following:
- Two bottles of wines worth between £15-£20. These will be from lesser-known regions, grapes and winemakers.
- Wine Roots, a wine course programme consisting of 12 lessons explaining key concepts from tasting through to winemaking
- Interactive tasting cards
- Access to the Wine List community (recipes, videos, connections)
This is all priced at £39. Not bad if the wines are more towards the £20 mark!
The wine was well packaged in nice air containers and the tasting notes and information was presented in a branded envelope. The container securely held a bottle of red and a bottle of white. We don’t often drink white wine but it’s summer and we have been looking for a refreshing white to enjoy in hot weather.
One sunny evening on the green fields behind our house we cracked open the bottle of white wine. The white was a 2018 Massaya Blanc from the Mount Lebanon region of Lebanon. I don’t think we’ve ever had a Lebanese wine before so we were really excited to try this one!
On first impressions, it looked good. The screw cap was of good quality and the bottle was simple yet attractive. Being amateurs that we are, we read the tasting cards before we tried the wine so our opinions were somewhat skewed! We just so happened to “taste” all the flavours mentioned on the tasting cards – I wonder why! Top tip for all you first-time wine tasters – taste and make a judgement before reading about the wine! Otherwise, it somewhat spoils the fun!
The wine was quite yellow in colour and medium in body. It was a dry wine but very easy to drink. I don’t often like dry wines but with this one, I could have happily had another glass, or two, which I did! We could taste elderflower, apple, lemon and honey. It was a pleasant easy-drinking wine, perfect for warm weather although we probably wouldn’t rush out to buy it. We scored it a 7/10.
The red wine was a 2019 Cara Sucia from the Durigutti Family. It’s from Rivadavia in the region of Mendoza, Argentina. We do love our Argentinian reds and this one was completely different from anything we have tried before. Again, the bottle was attractive and the cork of good quality. A poor quality or plastic cork REALLY puts us off. This red was very light in colour and we put it in the fridge for a short while before opening, as instructed, and this worked well. This time we tasted the wine before reading the notes and I correctly guessed the red currant flavour which I was rather happy about!
The wine was pleasant at first but when we finished the rest of the bottle the night after, it was incredibly acidic and difficult to drink. I’m not sure why the taste changed so much, we usually leave bottles of red open a couple of days and usually they get better. I guess this wine was different.
I really loved the tasting notes which came with each wine, they included a lot of information about the grape, region, process, winemaker, food pairings and more! We enjoyed filling in the tasting cards and it made having a glass of wine into a fun and social event.
Our Wine Roots book was about ‘Vessels’ and it taught us all about the different vessels used in winemaking and how this has an effect on the final style and taste of the wine. We certainly learnt a lot about wine! The only thing we would have loved to see included is a little step by step guide on how we should go about tasting the wine – we really are novices – and a little reminder to taste it for ourselves before reading what it ought to taste like.
Our readers can get a generous 30% off their first box of wine. Just Click here and enter code LIVE30 at checkout. Let us know which wines you receive and what you thought!
Living life, loving wine!
H x