I'm on a course please leave a message after the tone!

It's an age old excuse isn't it that still actually works and I have heard and witnessed it first hand. This time however I was actually on a golf course not a 'Learn how to conquer the world and do what Steve Jobs did' kind of course at top end business college on Victoria Street, London! I was with the very lovely folk at Dale Hill Golf Club (part of the Leaderboard selection of golf clubs). My auntie had the pleasure of getting married here back in June of 2011 and so I had been there before and seen what a grand job they do - their food was terrific, and dare I say it, their wine list was pretty damn exciting too!
This part of Kent is one of my favourites spots in the South East; the ungilating roads that meander through villages unknown to most of us, the quaint little pubs along the way, the small cottages advertising boxes of fresh eggs, honey and jams. All leading to the driveway which always catches me out to the golf club. If a had a rally car it would be the perfect place to perfect a Scandanavian flick!
This time round my class was 7 people that represented Dale Hill plus another couple of their clubs within the group. They travelled from afar to be here...so I simply had to deliver the goods or else I may have found a 9 iron where I would not want it to be! A large room with perfect natural daylight overlooking the 7th whole was where I was situated, so what did I do? I drew the curtains and dimmed the lights for I needed to unleash my mini projector (warning, this is not a euphamism).
Kit setup, glasses cleaned and attendees primed for a couple of hours of Ellis of Richmond style ENGAGEMENT - no such thing as EDUCATION when we speak about wine! Lift off! Where did wine come from? - covered...How is it basically made? - covered... who drinks the stuff?...covered and all from the perpetually engaging (there's that word again!) piece of ingenuity that is the iPad, what actually did we have before iPads....I struggle to remember! I digress though, a few light hearted videos helps to soften even the notion that a wine training session may be a bit boring and that they did. I find showing different types of media helps people to understand certain things a bit better and from past experiences of sitting in the most laborious of training sessions, I will happily vouch for this. So we then went onto the part where we put our senses to the test - the tasting! A small but importantly diverse selection from their wine list which included the marvelous Condes de Albarei Albarino, an unwooded Chardonnay from South Africa (but one that had some 'lees' ageing which the guys and gals now understand what this process is and so can apply their thoughts when tasting) and some other delights. Needless to say, the tasting part of a session is where your instincts should be trusted and your mind open - and I cannot fault any of the staff here for that because they did just that and so made for all the more an ENGAGING session altogether. My thanks to James McTrusty for the organisation part at their end and of course to the rest of the people that travelled from other clubs within the group. I certainly enjoyed it; sharing my passion and enthusiasm for the humble grape and mixing with some lovely people. I will leave you with the wonderful 7th hole at Dale Hill Golf Club, I am not a massive golf fan, but I think I could spend some time here and swing a few bats!