Nestled under brick arches that support the railways of Victoria, lies Vinopolis just yards from the newly constructed Shakespeares Globe Theater in London area of Southwark. Latin names Vinopolis precisely. The Romans once settled this area of London south of the River Thames. Vinopolis means City of Vine. Now he has come to mean wine center. The Center opened in 1999 in what used to be a warehouse. The South-Eastern Railroad Company built the original structure in 1866.
As you walk through the halls of Vinopolis, you see the graceful arches and brick vaults. Extensive work transformed long tunnels in a series of rooms that house the displays, objects, images and video. Other rooms are available for special events.
Tom Forrest, the Tour Development Manager, told us about the history of Vinopolis and vision. When asked if the mission was to educate Vinopolis the public about wine, Tom replied that the mission is to educate with a small "e" Education is a very relaxed atmosphere. Tom said that the public learns through enjoyment. Consequently, employees do not use the Vinopolis wine sophisticated vocabulary. They are very knowledgeable about the wine they have to offer for tasting and answer all your questions.
A visitor can choose from Vinopolis from a series of tours. Each tour includes a walk through rooms that focus on wines from different regions of the world. In one these rooms see displays of artifacts, videos and pictures. Each tour also comes with a number of tickets to use for tasting wines. The Original Tour offers five regular wine tastings and a Bombay Sapphire cocktail. Oenology Other wine "How to Taste" wine-session and others beer, whiskey, champagne, or wine tasting absinthe. A visitor can also use an audio guide. At various places along the tour, some number means that the number of tap the playback device and you can hear a story about what is exposed. The tour is self-paced. You can read as many descriptions display as they wish.
The tour started with displays that show that Georgia, an area surrounded by Russia, the Black Sea, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan was the cradle of wine. Points of archaeological evidence that viticulture was in Georgia around 6000 BC with over 500 varieties. Kvevri an ancient, formerly used for fermenting wine is exposed. These pitchers 300-500 decalitre was buried in the ground to near the top to control the temperature. Then we travel through exhibitions of the importance Bordeaux and Rhone regions of France.
We stopped for a period of twenty minutes of the meeting on how to taste wine. Our presenter offered each participant a glass of white wine. We sat comfortably in a small amphitheater. He showed how not to taste wine, looking at the wine quickly, taking a quick smell and drink it all at once. We noted that spitting the wine each time he has demonstrated how to taste. He then proceeded to demonstrate how to look, smell and taste wine. It gave us plenty of time to follow his instructions and we asked what we thought after each step. This session was very low and entertaining together. Throughout the rest of the tour, we noticed that many others have been swirling their wine and the smell of wine.
Following the tour own pace through exhibits on Burgundy in France and Germany. Visitors approach to the first tasting table where they can choose wines from different countries to taste. The wine consultants are very relevant and useful. If you do not know what to taste, they ask several questions to determine what you may want to try. We decided to choose a country and try a wine they suggested that country. The tour then continued through displays on Australia, New Zealand United States, Chile, Argentina and South Africa. Visitors approach while the second tasting table.
We took a slight detour from Argentina and South Africa has entered a series of rooms devoted to Bombay Sapphire. Bombay Sapphire is distilled London dry gin. A large round table holds copper bowls filled with different spices. All spices were fresh enough for one to smell. A corridor lined with glass of gin different results in the tasting bar. Three different Bombay Sapphire cocktails were available. We tasted the Summer Sapphire which consisted of 25 ml of Bombay Sapphire, 15 ml vanilla syrup and a little pineapple juice and Bombay Berry cocktail, which consisted of 25 ml of Bombay Sapphire, 15 ml of liquor blackberries and topped with cranberry juice. Both were delicious cocktails.
The tour took us to the hall of Italy, another table tasting, then on to postings on the health benefits of wine. A series of quotations from antiquity to the present day make the case for health benefits wine. Our favorite is a quote from Dr Thomas Stuttaford, London 1999, said: "One or two glasses of wine a day will not only prolong life but also strengthen the intellectual power in May during the additional years provided. "
The Vinopolis tour very informative and its employees are Vinopolis very useful and informative. When we left Vinopolis, we met a couple who we talked earlier on the tour. They would wished to have allocated more time for the tour. While visiting London in the future, consider making Vinopolis a destination and a plan for all the time.
About the Author:
Terry Sullivan is a retired educator and wine enthusiast who designed the website
Wine Trail Traveler
. He looks forward to relating his travels about wineries to the website visitors. He developed instructional modules about wine topics for readers.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Vinopolis: The London Wine Center
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