By Ruth Worthington
When it comes to wine, I'm usually only one step up from Lambrini and Liebfraumilch so I was interested to see what Vinea could offer to a complete novice like myself.
Vinea is a bar and deli situated on the Albert Dock's Britannia Pavilion. Managing Director James McGrory came up with the idea when he was on honeymoon in the Napa Valley. James and his wife visited many venues specialising in wine and noted there was a lack of them in the UK, particularly in the North West, and the idea for Vinea was born.
The entrance to Vinea is decorated to resemble a cavernous wine cellar to set the scene. This leads you through to a light, spacious bar and shop full of every variety of wine you can think of.
There are many ways to spend your time at Vinea, including walk-in wine tastings, relaxing with a glass of wine and an antipasto platter or even taking part in one of the many wine tasting courses. I decided to get a taste of all three.
The platters on offer are hard and soft cheeses from the British Isles, various cured meats or a combination of both. I tried the Mixed Board Platter (£10.95) which included cheese, meat, stuffed peppers and bread along with various dips, crudites and olives. James chose four wines (Merlot, Shiraz Cabernet, Cabernet Sauvignon and Argentinean Malbec) he though would compliment the meat and cheese.
I was advised on the order I should taste the wines and was given a brief lesson in what I should be looking for. James is very knowledgeable about the wines in stock but is particularly proud of the Wine Waiters he has working at Vinea, "We encourage people to try before they buy and our Wine Waiters are always happy to help customers out with any wine questions they may have," James said.
My crash course in wine tasting over, I was invited to take part in one of the popular wine tasting courses at Vinea. It was the final week in the Classic Regions course and as it focussed on South America, the class had brought along a suitably spicy picnic to enjoy with their wine.
Our teacher, Caroline Murphy, is a WSET trained wine tutor who teaches at level two (just below ‘master of wine' level). Caroline's lesson was both informative and entertaining. There was a lot to learn about the regions and four wines (two white, two red) on offer, but it was also very accessible to a newcomer like myself. By the end of the evening I'd discovered how to look for ‘the legs' in a glass of wine, and how wine can taste completely different when paired with food. The forthcoming champagne and sparkling wine course sounds very appealing!
Wine courses cost £15 per class which is payable either upfront for the whole course, or per class. Walk-in wine tasting starts at £12 (six wines) and goes up to £107 for the Robust Red Selection (six bottles which can be taken away).
The bar is a lovely, relaxed waterfront facing venue and with upcoming features like an acoustic night on Thursday it's bound to get very popular, I'll drink to that.
Price: Reasonable to very expensive, however all wine is cheaper than in bars. Fixed £5 corkage on all priced wine.
Atmosphere: relaxed and sophisticated
Opening Times: Sun-Wed 11am-7.30pm, Thurs 12pm-1am, Fri-Sat 11am-12am
