Curated Blind Wine Tastings & Enthralling Stories.
—— PARTICIPANTS SAMPLE WINE WITHOUT KNOWING THE VARIETY,LABEL, PRICE OR ORIGIN. WINES ARE THEN DISCUSSED, EXPLORED AND REVEALED.
—— ESTATE & VINTAGE CREATE SHORT INTRIGUING STORIES FOCUSED ON ENGAGING PEOPLE IN THE WINE INDUSTRY.
The wine before the label. A different kind of wine tasting
- What happens when you taste the wine before the label tells you what to think?
- The Shiner is an intimate tasting experience built around finished wines that sit outside the usual spotlight — second labels, alternative cuvées, surplus parcels, experimental wines and other releases that rarely receive the attention given to an estate’s headline bottle. There is no grand cru hierarchy to follow. No famous label to impress you
- No tasting sheet telling you what you are supposed to think. Instead, we taste the wine. Then we uncover where it came from, why it exists and what it might become.
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CREATING UNFORGETTABLE WINE EXPERIENCES
Each tasting is built around wines selected for their character, provenance, sense of place and ability to challenge expectations. The aim is not simply to identify what is in the glass, but to explore what the wine is saying before the label tells us what to think. The Shiner Tasting may take the form of private tastings, hosted events, wine dinners or carefully curated sessions for groups who want to approach wine without the usual assumptions.
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WHERE GUESTS TASTE WITHOUT BIAS
Estate & Vintage remains the sourcing and curatorial foundation behind the tastings, providing access to wines that might otherwise remain beyond the usual channels of distribution. The wines, themes and format change regularly. Each tasting is an opportunity to encounter something unfamiliar, taste without preconceptions and discover the wine before the label.
DISCOVER HIDDEN DEPTH AND SEE WINE ANEW
It is wine tasting without the usual shortcuts. A chance to encounter remarkable wines with fresh eyes, challenge your assumptions and discover what a wine might become before you know where it comes from.
Whose tastes and curiosities are we hoping to indulge?
UNCOVER HIDDEN CHARACTER / RETHINK WHAT MATTERS
Wine Enthusiasts.
For people who enjoy discovering wines beyond the obvious names..
Hospitality.
- For restaurants, hotels, clubs and wine-led businesses looking for distinctive wines and new ideas.
Private Groups.
A deliberately different format for private dinners, clubs and corporate gatherings.
Chronicles of the Cork: Chivalric Quests in Viticulture.
The Ingenious Storyteller.
To ride alongside Neil Phillips is to chase the roaring, effervescent wind, where the grand herald of Prosecco DOC transforms every simple gathering.
To partake of Maeli is to tilt at the mundane with a chalice of volcanic gold. Read.
To drink of Aquilaia is to heed the sovereign call of the Etruscan eagle, soaring high above fields of untamed crimson soil. Read.
To lift a glass of Parés Baltà is to toast the dual sorcery of wise enchantresses and a living earth. Read.
Aitken Pearson / Founder.
- FdA International Wine Business Plumpton College. WSET 1,2,3.
- I independently curate and organise The Shiner Tasting — a different approach to discovering wine, centred on tasting the wine before its identity, provenance or price is revealed. I work with producers, estates, collectors and trusted wine contacts to uncover previous vintages, estate-held wines, library releases, small-producer parcels and bottles rarely encountered through conventional channels.
“ In the wine industry, a shiner is a bottle of wine that has been fermented, aged, and bottled—but leaves the winery without a label. Because the bare glass bottle reflects light, it appears shiny.”
CONTACT ME