Wine-tasting in aid of Action Cancer, 24 June 2010
Posted: 23 June '10 by Niall
Direct Wine Shipments
This November Susan from Direct Wine Shipments will be running the New York Marathon in aid of Action Cancer. To help raise money there’s a wine-tasting evening on Thursday 24th June 2010, 7.30 for 8pm.
Susan will be hosting the wine-tasting evening with Denis Broderick, one of Northern Ireland’s leading wine educators, the featured speaker. A buffet supper will be provided by Crumbs catering.
Action Cancer is a Northern Ireland cancer charity. At Action Cancer the mission is to save lives and support people and they maintain a pioneering role in the development of cancer services, including, early detection services for the Northern Ireland community, counselling and support services for cancer patients and their families, cancer prevention & health promotion.
The details
- When: Thursday 24th June 2010, 7.30 for 8pm
- Cost: £25
- How to book: contact 028 9050 8000 or email susan@directwine.co.uk
- More information: www.directwine.co.uk
It’s not very often that you can savour a delicious wine knowing that you’re helping a very good cause.. And that someone else will have to run a marathon – so make sure that you get in touch!
Best of luck, Susan!
Categories: Things to do
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We’re going walkabout with Direct Wine Shipments, are you?
Posted: 31 May '10 by Niall
Direct Wine Shipments
Direct Wine Shipments are holding another one of their “walkabout” wine-tastings on 18 June, 2010.
These events are always fun – a great way to sample a wide range of DWS-recommended wines and to have a chat with their friendly team – all in an informal and relaxed atmosphere.
Megan Daily from Sainte Eugénie, a producer in the Corbières AOC of Languedoc-Roussillon, will also be attending.
The details
The details of the walkabout wine-tasting event are:
- Date: Friday 18th June 2010
- Time: 4.30pm – 7.30pm
- Cost: £15 per person
- Tickets: You can buy the tickets online at www.directwineshipments.com
Hopefully we’ll see you there!
Chilli and Chocolate members:
As a member of Chilli and Chocolate you get a big discount on the ticket-price for this event. Visit the Members’ Section for more details.
Categories: Things to do
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Wine-tasting evening at Direct Wine Shipments
Posted: 10 February '10 by Kelly
Wine-tasting at Direct Wine Shipments
In our last post we mentioned the exciting work that we’re doing with Direct Wine Shipments and that there was another announcement to come..
Chilli and Chocolate are holding a wine-tasting evening at Direct Wine Shipments on Friday the 12th of March 2010!!
Not only will you get to taste an array of selected wines but there will also be some of our favourite producers and stores there too – with samples for you to enjoy.
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Susan Rees from Direct Wine Shipments |
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Deirdre McCanny from Co Couture, the gourmet chocolatiers |
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Antoinette Morrow from Clydesdale and Morrow, purveyors of fine cheese |
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Ronan McElherron from Biostore, specialising in imported olive oil and balsamic vinegar |
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Bernadette McIlhatton from Cupcakes and Fairycakes |
As well as getting to taste all of the delicious treats on display there’ll be some short introductions to the owners (who are more than willing to chat away to you), a bit of a discussion about how to properly taste wine, how to select the perfect cheeseboard, and more.
It’s an informal evening and a chance for all our members to meet over a good glass of wine. It certainly is an alternative to your usual Friday night out in Belfast.. We’re really looking forward to it!
DWS have also been good enough to give you an extra incentive to become a member of Chilli and Chocolate – any wine purchased that night comes with a 15% discount!
The details:
- All attendees must be members of Chilli and Chocolate;
- Tickets cost £10.00 per person – just a little more if you’re paying by PayPal. You can buy your tickets online through the member’s page. You do not need to have a PayPal account to pay using this method;
- The evening will start at 7pm at the Direct Wine Shipments premises: Direct Wine Shipments, 5-7 Corporation Square, Belfast BT1 3AJ;
- There won’t be any ticket sales on the night – you have to have bought your tickets before the evening itself – and ticket sales will stop on Wednesday 10th of March; and
- We’ll send everyone that is attending an email on Thursday 11th of March with details of the event.
Hopefully we’ll see you there!
Kelly and Niall
Other information
You can find the DWS store at:
Direct Wine Shipments
5-7 Corporation Square,
Belfast
BT1 3AJ
T: 028 9050 8000
E: shop@directwine.co.uk
W: www.directwine.co.uk
You can also find DWS on Google Maps.
Chilli and Chocolate members:
You can buy your ticket for the wine-tasting evening by visiting the Members’ Section.
Categories: Site Messages > Things to do
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I heard it through the grape vine
Posted: 02 December '09 by Niall
Direct Wine Shipments
There are times when I think that there is simply nothing to do in Belfast and then something new presents itself..
On Friday 13th of November I went along to the “Walkabout Wine Tasting” at Direct Wine Shipments accompanied by Linda, one of the Chilli and Chocolate members (Kelly was working and very distraught at missing the night). I only discovered that DWS was open to the public and held these sorts of events quite recently – apparently these evenings have been going on for some time, so why had I never heard of these wine-tastings before? Who knows, but I was determined to make up for lost time.
And what a fantastic night it turned out to be! At £10 a ticket the event certainly didn’t break the bank and I’m happy to report that it was more than value for money – which rarely seems to be the case where events in Belfast are concerned.
We were greeted at reception by the event staff and taken into the tasting room armed with the tasting notes, a map showing the layout of the wines, and a glass of chilled prosecco. There were 26 wines in all, from Old World to New World, red to white – and even a toffee-sweet Sauterne – a fantastic mix of flavours and aromas. The wines at DWS are from smaller, artisan producers, the vast majority of which you won’t have seen in the bigger off-licences and online stores – the sorts of people that produce wine because they love it, and have been making wine for generations. My particular favourites were the Chateau L’Escart Prestige 2007 (a delicious and darkly concentrated Bordeaux Superieur, with red berries, prunes, and cherries on the nose and a mouth-watering long finish) and the Crisita Collection Vacqueyras 2007 (a powerful but silky-smooth wine from the Rhone Valley that has plenty of ripe dark fruit). There were also some carafes of chilled water and nibbles on hand (cheese, focaccia, and some fantastic delicious Castilian olive oil) to help clear your palate between wines.
The fact that the tickets were only £10 did mean that there was a good mix of people, from those that clearly knew their wine to those just starting on the path to enlightenment, all of which made the event far less formal than you might have previously imagined. It should be said that the staff were also fantastic – visiting wine-tastings and dedicated wine stores can be a bit unnerving, but the event staff were very approachable, happily mingling and casually chatting about the wines on show, which clearly put everyone at ease.
The “walkabout” ran from 4.30pm to 7.30pm, with people coming and going when they needed to. We made in down by about 6pm, but it was still more than enough time to try all of the wines and chat to some of the other lucky attendees. I say “lucky” because the wine-tasting was limited to 100 participants, and the tickets were sold out before the night of the tasting. Infact, that night we heard that there is another wine-tasting planned for Saturday 5th December, “The Wines of Christmas”, but all of the tickets had already been snapped up!
Another big “plus” from the evening was that the wines at the tasting were all reduced – the Cristia Vacqueyras down from £13.50 to £11.48, for example – making your new favourite wine that much more appealing.
Our verdict
We had a great night out at Direct Wine Shipments: we met some nice people, tried some superb wines (several of which have already made an appearance in our wine cellar), learned more about some producers and wines that we hadn’t come across before, and made some savings on buying our favourite bottles.
You should give these wine-tastings a go – a “different” night out in Belfast – highly recommended.
Other information
You can find the DWS store at:
Direct Wine Shipments
5-7 Corporation Square,
Belfast
BT1 3AJ
T: 028 9050 8000
E: shop@directwine.co.uk
W: www.directwine.co.uk
You can also find DWS on Google Maps.
There are some other events that you might be interested in:
- Thursday 3rd December: Masterchef Dinner at Jeffers Bar & Grill. You can read more about this event
- Wednesday 10th February 2010: Eldredge Vineyards Wine Tasting & Supper at 8pm – £25. You can read more about this event
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