Mansfield Traquair, Edinburgh 23 May @ 18:00

Presentation is everything. The great quit-smoking guru Allen Carr once pointed out how the allure of slickly inviting cigarette packets gets tangled in the smoker’s mind with the dank toxic sticks standing rigidly inside them. Just as a Camel Natural tastes better out of its smooth, musty-coloured box than it does off of the ear of an obliging stranger, so too does wine taste better from a tenderly thin-lipped glass than a coffee mug.

To celebrate the UK’s first National Wine Month, Gulpfood.com and Maximilian J Riedel of Riedel Crystal are hosting an event that, in their words, “will focus on the significance of the relationship between the shape of the wine glass and the enjoyment of wine, in marked contrast to the usual focus on the attributes of the wine being tasted”. So refined is the Riedel approach to this fascinating and intricate dynamic that they even have glass shapes specific to the grape of the wine sloshing around inside.

Such intricacies are generally swept aside by the mass-market products most of us get merry on. Just as Walter Benjamin felt the work of art would lose its aura through mass reproduction, so the subtleties of individual wines are sacrificed for the sake of profit. This May gives us the opportunity to remedy that, and lose ourselves in the complex, rich and transient pleasures of the world of fine wine.

Details:

Single Ticket £65 – includes complimentary Vinum XL Tasting Set (£100) http://www.riedel.co.uk/index.php/riedel/wine-tastings/tasting-with-maximilian-j-riedel-on-thursday-26th-may-2011-single-ticket-6.html

Group of Six Tickets £325/£54.15 each – includes six complimentary Vinum XL Tasting Sets £600) http://www.riedel.co.uk/index.php/riedel/wine-tastings/tasting-with-maximilian-j-riedel-on-thursday-26th-may-2011-single-ticket-7.html

VIP Grand Cru Pass for Two £395 – includes signed Mamba decanter (£375) and two Vinum XL Tasting Sets (£575) http://www.riedel.co.uk/index.php/riedel/wine-tastings/tasting-with-maximilian-j-riedel-on-thursday-26th-may-2011-single-ticket-8.html

Doors open at 6pm, wine tasting and demonstration 7pm, 8.30pm guests depart Mansfield Traquair. Dinner option at Le Café Saint Honore. Gulp has reserved the restaurant at Le Café Saint Honore, N.W. Thistle Street Lane with for a post-tasting dinner option. Le Café Saint Honore is a long-established Edinburgh eatery and its head chef, Neil Forbes was named Chef of the Year at Scottish Restaurant Awards earlier this month.