Reflection: Wine Cocoon Amsterdam

“What’s the deal with decanting?” “Do you swirl sparkling wine in your glass or is there a different way to taste it?” Questions like these bubble up in a wine-newbie’s mind. Silently. Because what if this is a stupid question?

Hypothesis:

I come from a family where food is not a central point of conversation and recipes aren’t handed down from mother to daughter. My folks drink beer, not wine. I didn’t grow up collecting family food secrets on the sideline of the dinner table. Yet, I love food and wine against these odds.

As an adult, I started choosing quality over quantity and educating myself about how food and wine are produced. It has been a journey. “Just ask questions,” is the common recommendation. This is easier said than done when the restaurant waiter explains the special maceration techniques of your wine, when you can barely remember the word “maceration” to google later.

I know a bit about wine now. I’m familiar with Chardonnay and Syrah, about oakiness and can maneuver a menu in an elegant restaurant. I still catch myself nodding when I don’t have a clue. It feels intimidating when it shouldn’t.

There aren’t many options to learn in a group that don’t get you drunk or deplete your bank account if you aren’t a professional. I decided to organize a wine tasting with friends, but had no idea how to introduce technical wine knowledge into it.

I had to go all the way to New York City to get a connection in Amsterdam that could help make my idea happen. Enter Thirsty Thirsty: I met Bruxa in New York in June 2022 at the NFT launch event at the NFT.NYC. I loved her enthusiasm and excitement to try out things that could build out the community. With this connection my initial idea got a bit more shape. I felt it was worth a shot to ask for her help. Not only did she agree to answer our questions about wine, she also introduced me to Sauvage; a natural wine cellar in Amsterdam with a tasting room.

What we did:

Besides the general idea I had three aspects I had to find a solution for: Location, wine knowledge and wine selection. I approached the Sauvage owners, Dorian and Chad with a rough proposal (see an excerpt below).

They were keen to give it a try. Besides allowing us to use their space, they agreed to put together a selection of their wines for us (a big thank you to them for being so trusting and open-minded). Together with this and Bruxa’s knowledge at my fingertips, I felt ready to give it a first try. On October 19, 2022 we hosted the first of four wine club sessions.

Below is a summary of the implementation.

The Proposal

“There are many stories to be told about wine: about who made it, about where it came from and the season it grew in, about varieties and soil, about craftsmanship. What’s a “good wine” anyway? You might have been curious about the topic for a while but how and where do you get started?

The goal of this project is to demystify the world of wine for prospective connoisseurs; Drinkers who are likely to become wine enthusiasts. Create an opportunity to learn. If you understand something you can value it much more. I see it as an opportunity for stakeholders in the wine industry, too. To find new fans, showcase producers, and raise awareness for their work.“

The Audience

I decided to go with a soft launch within my personal network. These direct contacts were encouraged to invite people from their own network. Every session had a few new people that also I didn’t know.

Everyone considered themselves a beginner with natural wines.

We had a total of 22 participants. Besides me, one other person joined all four sessions. Two joined for three sessions. Eight joined for two sessions. Ten people joined 1 session.

The Specifics:

• 10 people (limited by the space)

• 4 sessions in a 2-3 weeks cycle (19.10.2022; 9.11.2022; 23.11.2022; 7.12.2022)

• 5-6 wines per session

• ± €30 per person per session (everything included)

• Tested different food options: e.g. bread & dips, empanadas, pizza

• Always hosted on Wednesdays, experimented with starting time: from 18.00-19.00; open-ended sessions.

• Announcements and communication via WhatsApp group, from session 2 onwards using Google Sheets for the signup process (simplification & more clarity)

Example invite:

During the evening:

• We started roughly 15 min. after starting time, to allow everyone to arrive relaxed (most people came straight from work).

• Participants helped to set up the space (setting up glasses, putting the food on trays, etc.

• Every session had new faces so we started with a little intro round:

  • Background explanation of the project, how and what I wanted to accomplish for expectation management; emphasis and encouragement to ask “stupid questions”;

  • Each participant introduced themselves (name, country of origin, how they heard about the evening/who invited them, their “relationship” with wine, 1 silly question (e.g. what do you usually eat for breakfast, what stupid question have you recently googled?, etc.)

  • Introduction of the first wine

• There was no fixed schedule or program

• Sauvage provided me with background info on the wines (name, grape variety(ies), country, winemaker, alcohol, some specifics about the production, tasting notes), some background about the wine maker, sometimes extra articles, etc.

• “Stupid questions” - post-it’s for writing down questions no participant could answer, or things we wanted to learn more about; I forwarded these questions to Bruxa on Discord; answers were shared in the following session.

What Went Well & Wrong:

This is a summary of my own perceptions and feedback I collected via a typeform after all four sessions

• 2 weeks is too often, better 1x month

  • Only 10 spots on an ever expanding group created some competitiveness for the last two sessions (first come first serve principle).

• The time frame 19.00-23.00 seems to work well (all sessions naturally came to an end around this time).

• The introduction was a great way to set the tone on the entry level of wine knowledge. It helped to make people feel comfortable.

  • Everyone had entry level wine knowledge, but were enthusiastic to learn more.

  • Every session had different characters, yet each group found its own dynamic and worked out well.

• Information transfer

  • Difficult to present written content (reading out loud a long article didn’t fit the mood); used an iPad to show infos on wine.

  • We need a better solution to bring the information to the group; previous participants didn’t hear the answer to their question because they weren’t there in the following session.

  • Need to set up a ‘Notion’-board with a Wine-101 where participants will have access to; this board can constantly be extended and altered.

  • Helpful resources and material could be incorporated (e.g. aroma wheel, key vocab).

  • Want to set up: when people sign up, folks get a first article to create a foundation and bring everyone on one level.

  • I experimented with different formats to introduce content about a specific topic:

    • Long-form articles don’t work (too formal).

    • Quiz-format worked well (needs proper preparation, maybe extra material).

    • Send written content after the session.

• In the last two sessions we included a quick “how to taste wine correctly” at the end of the introduction round.

• In a few sessions we had an extra bottle of supermarket wine from the same grape to compare; was well perceived.

• In the responses people stated that price-value ratio was very fair, but expressed overall the willingness to pay a little extra for improving the quality of the experience.

Future Visions

Lastly, I want to share some of the feedback I especially loved and give you some outlook on what could be coming next.

“I liked the diverse group of people, the nice atmosphere and the curiosity everyone had towards wine.”

“I liked the fact we could ask "silly" questions without feeling ashamed for not knowing something.”

“I liked that it allowed drinking and experiencing very different wines than what I’m used to (bc all natural!)”

“I have come to know and appreciate wine differently.”

Receiving purely positive feedback made me really happy. Surely, there are things to work on, but it seems this project hit a nerve. People are excited to join again and even requested following sessions.

For the future I’d love to incorporate more comparisons (e.g. same grapes, different area, different soil). People were excited and mind-blown by the differences. This was lovely to see. Personally I’m also very keen to hold some sessions specifically on wine pairings and dive deeper in maceration processes out there.

The time frame asks for a dinner option for the participants. It seems difficult to match one option with all wines. Ideas include to be working together with local food providers (local restaurants, catering, take aways, food startups) or to adapt the schedule, e.g. matching the food to the 3rd wine of the evening.

Do you have ideas for improvement or more questions about my experience? Feel free to contact me in the #🌷amsterdam-wine-cocoon channel on discord.