REVIEW: Wine Tasting with Novel Wines and Food Platter by Goodness Grazers

Last week, lucky Team Total were invited down to one of Bath Boutique's luxury self-catering properties in the heart of Bath city to indulge in wine tasting with Novel Wines, as well as a beautiful lunch platter by Goodness Grazers.

When we entered 1 Park View, one of Bath Boutique Stays' luxury houses in Bath, we were all blown away by the quality of the accommodation. The light, airy open plan kitchen diner made the perfect location for our wine tasting. From the kitchen, steps lead you down to a huge living room with double doors leading out on to the decking, a lovely sun-trap to catch some rays.

Once we'd managed to drag ourselves back into the kitchen after admiring the stunning outdoor area, we sat down to a truly stunning, picture perfect food platter. We were all mesmerised by the work and effort Goodness Grazers must have put into the display of our platter - we'd never seen anything like it! 

The platter was full of colour, packed with ripe, juicy fruits such as strawberries, cherries, watermelon, grapes, kiwi, pineapple and more, as well as a selection of breads, cheeses and sauces to accompany each other. We almost didn’t want to touch and ruin the display because it looked so beautiful! It was the perfect platter to accompany our wine tasting, and the types of foods had been matched with the wine we were going to be tasting which made it all the more special.

• The first wine that Ben from Novel Wines served us was the 2016 Casa Valduga, which is a dry sparkling white wine from Brazil. The taste was divine – it was delicate and easy drinking, with a tropical and fruity taste.
• The second wine we tasted was the 2016 Tbilvino 'Iveriuli' Rkatsiteli, a Georgian white wine which is paired well with fish and blue cheese. When tasting, we tried it with and without the cheese – and what a difference it makes, the wine was so much softer with!
• The third wine we tasted was a 2015 dry red wine from Romania – Budureasca Premium Feteasca Neagra – which was a haven for spicy, tangy flavours and oozed of red berries, giving it a delicious fruity flavour.
• The fourth and final wine was our favourite – the 2016 Kardos Tundermese “Fairytale”, which was a white dessert wine which had a delicate and very sweet taste. With hints of honey, pear and melon, there was a perfect amount of sweetness without it tasting sickly.

Ben talked us through each and every wine, telling us the interesting backstory behind each one, where it came from and the processes each country goes through to actually make the wine. Ben was attentive to detail when it came to explaining each wine and added little touches to make our experience even more unique and special.

We all absolutely loved the experience of wine tasting with Novel Wines – Ben delivered an excellent and informative wine tasting session and we all enjoyed it so much, we’re going to book another Novel Wines tasting session at Christmas!

Find out more about Novel Wines here!