FOR CONSUMERS/CORPORATE

Wine Tasting Seminars

Wine tasting seminars are informative, entertaining, offering a great introduction to wine appreciation that also work as refresher sessions for the wine aficionado. Discover how wine is made, how to taste and how to recognize the major grape varieties, and have fun at the same time! VinSense seminars work for both formal corporate events and casual gatherings/parties for friends and family.

Your guests are guaranteed to learn while having fun. We take care of everything including handouts on the wines and regions, itemized tasting note forms for guests/participants to fill in and, of course, the wines.

Seminars are custom-tailored to each client's specific needs, taking into account both preferences for wine styles and the level of wine knowledge of the group. All seminars provide technical background, the basic guidelines for judging wines, and hands-on participation.  

A Vinsense tasting also offers you:

• A great party theme for friends and family
• A unique way to host a Christmas party, anniversary party, birthday party or other memorable events
• An enjoyable team-building experience for colleagues
• A relaxing and fun time for staff outside of the office
• An elegant yet friendly and fun event
  
  

Private Tutoring

If you need to know about how to taste and judge wines at your own pace, private tutoring may be right for you. You'll get acquainted with the classic grape varieties, learn to identify what you like (you will be amazed how much you already know), and hone your tasting skills. A personalized program will be tailored to your needs and you can decide how much information you require. With a recommended minimum of four sessions of two hours each, you will finish your program with a good level of knowledge including:

• major wine regions and their characteristics
• taste profile and style of leading grape varieties – and the trendy up-and-coming ones too
• a solid grounding in basic wine vocabulary
• how to select wines and how to taste wine in a restaurant
• how to pick best value wines, both in restaurants and retail stores
• how to build your confidence in a social environment when choosing wines
• how to select wines for ageing purposes
  

Customized Theme Tastings & Dinners

Explore the mysterious world of food and wine pairings – feel the wines change as you taste them with food. From the amuse-bouche to the main course to the dessert, Vinsense will organize dinners with wines to complement each course. Gilberto will personally host, present, decant, serve, and talk about food & wine while ensuring the enjoyment of all your guests. Some sample themes include:

• New World vs Old World - fusion and confusion
• Correct progression of wines - Champagne/sparking wines to white to red to dessert wines
• Wine appreciation – tailored to the theme of grapes, regions, or appellations
• Classic food pairings – oysters and Sauvignon Blanc, roast lamb and Bordeaux
• Casual wines for fun foods

VinSense tastings are fun, interactive and focused on pleasure. We believe a good tasting is not only an informative tasting, but also an entertaining one.

Our tastings can be fully customized. Whether you'd like to arrange an event for two in the comfort of your home or two hundred in a corporate setting, we'll design a tasting to suit your needs.

Tell us about your favourite wines and foods, or those you want to learn more about so that we may create your ideal experience.

Numerous corporate and organizations have asked VinSense to run theme tastings and dinners to reward staff with a great entertainment experience in a friendly atmosphere. Here are their testimonials.

FOR RESTAURANTS/CLUBS

Benefits of staff training

• Improves service staff knowledge and performance
• Encourages staff development and improves morale & retention
• Helps to develop a creative wine and food "culture"
• Increase revenues & profits
• Keeps the team up-to-date with current trends
• More fun than a regular staff meeting!

Staff Training – Food & Beverage Services

If the three most important things at your restaurant are service, service, and service, then you know that the next three are training, training, and training. VinSense can help you to further develop your team and ensure that first rate service becomes second nature. Our comprehensive guidelines will be tailored to your restaurant's specific needs and include:

• Steps of service – making sure the customer is comfortable
• How to use the menu to up-sell
• Presentation and service skills
• Post-service follow-up – making sure the customer wants to come back

We employ step-by-step techniques with a track record of success guaranteed to enhance your team's – and restaurant's – performance. A VinSense training program will help you to deliver the highest standard of service to your customers, from greeting to farewell.


Staff Training Plus – Chef's Table

A full meal where the staff gets served! Teaming up with your executive chef, we will develop a menu and the theme for the evening. Gilberto Bojaca will select, research, recommend and serve the wines while explaining the origin of the wines and the reasons for the selection. These functions are geared to entertain, develop staff members' wine appreciation skills and to have fun!

Staff Training Plus – Grand Cru Dinners

For more serious wine education with an emphasis on getting staff to experience the difference a proper food and wine pairing can make, we suggest a Grand Cru Dinner for your team.

Working with your Chef, we will develop a menu and the theme for the evening. Themes will be based on wine selection, i.e., Vertical (different vintages of the same wine), Regional (Burgundy, Alsace, Napa, Tuscany) or Grape Varieties (Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Riesling etc.). Each dish and wine when served will be explained briefly; tidbits of history and background information will be added. Your staff will emerge with a new appreciation of and enthusiasm for food and wine matches.
 

Wine List Development & Specifications

Few restaurants can afford to hire a full-time sommelier, but if your restaurant's wine list needs more input than an enthusiastic but untrained staff member can provide, we suggest using VinSense consulting services.

VinSense consulting services can work for you either as a one-off launch or re-launch of your list, or as an ongoing project where we monitor sales and adjust wine orders on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. We will assist you with:

• Wine selection
• Wine list maintenance
• Wine list specifications
• Identifying current trends, cutting-edge programs, new products
• Value driven, interesting & unique wines, for drinking or ageing purposes
  
  

Contact us with your specific needs.