Café Rouge to host wine courses

UK-based French restaurant chain Café Rouge has launched a nationwide series of French wine courses.

The joint venture with wine educators Localwineschool.com aims to show people how accessible French wines are, especially when matched with French food.

The one-and-a-half hour courses will trial in 14 locations throughout the UK, with tastings lined up in February, March and April at various Café Rouge restaurants.

Taught by WSET-qualified tutors, the course will involve a tasting of six French wines in the Café Rouge range from Languedoc, Loire, Alsace, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and the Rhône.

Students will learn about the six different regions, the indigenous grape varieties found in each, and how climate and terroir influences how a wine tastes.

They will also be taught how to taste like a professional and will be given a pocket guide to French wines.

In addition to tasting, there will be a food and wine matching workshop, where each of the six wines are paired with small dishes of traditional French food from the restaurant.

“We’re as passionate about wine as we are about food, and want to make French wine as accessible and fun as possible.

“It’s exciting to have Localwineschool.com on board to help us achieve this for our customers” said James Bidgood, brand manager of Café Rouge.

“Localwineschool.com and Café Rouge share the same vision of teaching people about wine in a relaxed way, and opening up a new world of flavour experiences to our students,” said Jimmy Smith, owner and head tutor of the West London Wine School.

“A lot of people are keen to learn about French wine but are confused about it, especially when it comes to food and wine matching, so that’s where we come in,” Smith added.

The Introduction to French Wines course costs £27.50 per person. For an additional £11.50, students can stay for a main course after the tasting.

Localwineschool.com is the UK’s only network of independent wine schools.

Café Rouge operates over 120 sites throughout the UK.