Wine Couture is the ultimate wine club for women. This first event in the capital is a unique occasion – a tutored tasting of German wines, including the exclusive wine from the Handel family vineyard.

With summer iseemingly started, diaries are slowly beginning to fill up with picnic days, lazy lunches and alfresco drinking sessions. Now all that’s left to do is find a vibrant wine, full of character that’s the perfect match for any social occasion.

If you’re looking for a guilt-free way to enjoy summertime drinking with friends, Fairhills – the world’s leading Fairtrade wine brand – makes it easy with its wide range of reds, whites and rosés from South Africa and Argentina.

Argentine restaurant specialist, Gaucho, which lists 199 Argentine wines, has grown its own label range to include nine specially produced wines.
The Terruño range, Terruño being the Spanish translation of ‘terroir’, has been put together by Gaucho Director of Wines, Phil Crozier to represent all of the major grape varieties in Argentina.

You’ve already bought her chocolates; you’ve already given her flowers. This year, the best way to truly indulge your mum this Mothering Sunday is with some home-grown, English sparkling wine. Chapel Down has the perfect gift for every mum, ranging from a single indulgent bottle to a whole set of her very own vines.

Now I must confess that I have never been convinced about wine with Indian food. I’ve been to no end of press events where a top sommelier hired by a fancy Indian restaurant has introduced a wine and food pairing menu. Some have been fun, all have been interesting, but throughout I have been unable to rid myself of one cynical thought – they want to convince us to drink wine with Indian because there’s a bigger mark up on wine than on lager. There I’ve said it.

Joe Wadsack, the former Wine Communicator of the Year, will be at Richard Phillips at Chapel Down on Friday 30 January to give budding food and wine connoisseurs the opportunity to enhance their understanding of wine making by explaining the entire process, from tank to table and grape to glass.

Fairhills, a progressive Fairtrade wine brand, is using Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 as a way to urge its customers to think about ‘what’s in a glass’. This year, Fairhills is investing over £220,000 in Fairtrade projects across South Africa, Argentina and Chile. In one glass of Fairhills wine, drinkers can not only enjoy fruity reds and whites, but they can also be assured that 5p from every glass will go toward helping people in South Africa, Argentina – and now Chile, which has just this month been awarded Fairtrade accreditation.

Tradition dictates that the sale of wine ‘En Primeur’ is not something that generally happens to the blushing pinks of the wine world, but is the preserve of more ‘serious’ wines from a particular left or right bank. The decision by the novel online wine retailer www.fromvineyardsdirect.com to release the 2008 vintage of Château Pontet Bagatelle Rosé En Primeur is, therefore, likely to raise a few eyebrows – with orders limited to a maximum of five cases per person.