What is Three Wine Men?
Three wine men is a in a wine tasting extravaganza for everyone to enjoy and is hosted by three very popular UK wine experts – Tim Atkin, Olly Smith and Oz Clarke. Tim Atkin has worked for various newspapers, Olly Smith is regularly seen on TV shows like BBC1’s Saturday Kitchen and Oz Clarke made a TV series with James May called Oz and James’s Big Wine Adventure (give it a watch it’s good stuff).
More information needed…..
The event occurs in different places throughout the UK such as London, Cambridge, Cardiff and conveniently for me and my friends, Manchester. The Manchester tasting took place across a weekend which is great because most of the other tastings seem to be a Thursday or mid-week when I have work the next morning……. (annoying!)
Three sessions were available which all last 3 hours. Two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Tickets can be bought directly from the Three Wine Men website and a double ticket cost me £55.00 GBP.
It was held within the extravagant setting of Manchester Town Hall Town Hall, Albert Square. A fantastic atmosphere and location for a wine tasting. Central to Manchester so easy to get to by public transport.
On the day
After a short train journey from Wilmslow, a quick lunch at Greggs (a pasty and a sausage roll….) we arrived at the Town Hall.
After navigating through the Christmas markets, we arrived at around 12.05 to find a huge queue. A bit surprising as last year we near enough walked right in! Although a little frustrating the wait would ultimately be worth it.
We dropped our coats off, picked up a menu and then grabbed the all-important wine glass. Then the fun began!
I was thinking tactically beforehand, either try the most expensive wines first as there is less chance I would have had them previously or buy them….or go from sparkling, to white and then finally red! These plans were out of the window straight away….. it was crazy busy!
So, we headed straight for the Carmelita stall which we were interested in and was a little quieter. Unusually they only offered three wines. Two malbecs and one cabinet franc. I’m familiar with these grapes and are very good. All three were amazing, full bodied and powerful red. We all jotted down scores for them out of five, so we could check them in later on Vivino….
After this we tasted a medley of different wines from all over with a huge mixture of grapes and styles. There were plenty of different stalls to try from. You had designated shops such as Co-op and Spar, stalls from big wine sellers such as the wine society and majestic wines to designated country specific stands such as Wines of Chile and Gem wines which were just Romanian!
Plenty to choose from.
The three wine men were mixing with everyone throughout the session. Me and my friend Tony were lucky enough to spend about 15 minutes with the legend that is Oz Clarke (Nice guy too I can now confirm). He asked us what we were drinking and then took us around 3 of the stalls tasting white grape varieties from New Zealand and Chile. He explained the regions where the grapes were grown, the climates, the tastes, everything really. It was much appreciated.
As he was leaving us I asked if there was anything American on offer as I hadn’t seen anything, which was a little disappointing. He said he would remember us and if there was anything he would come and let us know. To my surprise he came back and found us 5 minutes later carrying a very nice bottle of Negroamaro! He explained that this was the closest thing to an American wine at the show. Unfortunately, I had already tried this wine and recommended it to some friends earlier as its one of my favorite grapes.
We didn’t turn it down though……. I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity for Oz Clarke to personally serve us some wine!
As the session was coming to an end the crowds tend to thin out. This is the best bit of the session, its much easier to get the front of the stalls. By the end I managed to try 38 different wines (searching for them in Vivino the next day with a bit of a hangover was a bit tiring…..)
Then we were off to BrewDog for some IPA and then on to the curry house for a madras…
All in all, it’s a fantastic day out for all… lovers of wine, friends, people with a mild interest or people who just like a bit of a drink.
Ill be buying my tickets for the 2018 event as soon as they are on sale. You should too!
About the Grape 
you should think about the Sunday session next year. it was really quiet and early enough in the day to sober up before bed. it’s going to be in the Victoria baths isn’t it?
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