I'm supposed to say lots of intelligent things about wine now.

On Wednesday I was invited by Qype to go to an LVMH wine tasting event at Il Bottaccio, one of those beautiful Belgravia houses that only usually exist in period dramas. I'm fairly sure I visited the same place a few years back for Julien MacDonald's aftershow party (hello, did I just do a fashion namedrop?) but all these buildings look them same once the lights are dimmed and the cocktails are free, so I could well have been three doors down for all I know.

Getting back to the wine, I joined Qype's Rob and Andrew and fellow London bloggers / Qypers Annie Mole, Tiki Chris (from whom I 'borrowed' the above photo) Tim and Guernican for a 'multi-sensory' look at some New World wines. This involved a makeshift beach, an indoor Chinese-English garden, a 'mountain' terrace and various mystery canapes created to compliment each of the wines we tries.

Tim has written a fairly in-depth analysis of what was on offer if that kind of thing floats your boat. I will just say that the highlights for me was a sparkling rosé from Green Point accompanied by a red peach jelly with raspberry foam, and a Terrazas de los Andes Malbec with a (supposed) hint of chocolate.

Of course, I'll continue to drink house white for now. I have other obsessions to fund...