This new style tasting was designed to respond to the ongoing challenge of keeping everyone Covid-safe whilst ensuring that we still host key trade and press for a fantastic tasting of California wines from some of the UK’s most exciting importers. This two-day event took place on 24^th and 25^th March and featured regional masterclasses with Elaine Chukan Brown and opportunities for virtual meetings and seminars with Producers and Importers.

By means of a specially prepared online-directory, key tasters were invited to choose up to 48 wine samples to taste. These wines were re-bottled into 50ml tasting samples under extremely careful conditions in a specifically chosen UK bottling plant before being packaged in a bespoke ‘selection pack’. This was then delivered to each taster in the comfort of their homes as part of a California Wines marketing pack.

Our primary goal for Essential California At Home was to generate an uplift in orders and in sales of California wines and an increase in press attention. A secondary goal was to provide a broad tasting of California wine to all sectors of the trade. This new format offered a unique experience, one that allowed them to safely taste California’s wines in their own, focused environment whilst enjoying recorded education sessions to get tasters primed for specific California AVAs.