Wine Holidays

Criterion Wine Tours is the official wine tour partner of Hertfordshire Wine School. Friendly, informative and great value trips to Champagne, Chile, South Africa, Porto, Madeira and more, led by wine educator Christos Ioannou. 

Auberge du Vin in the Southern Rhone for B&B, wine education courses and wine tours of the regions. Owned and operated from a beautiful, converted eighteenth Century farmhouse by English wine educator Lind Field. 

Eating

Thompson St Albans A three 'AA Rosette', fine dining restaurant located in the heart of St Albans, owned and managed by Head Chef Phil Thompson and the home of our ever-popular Saturday wine courses

Los Reyes Award winning Tapas Restaurant in Hitchin town centre and the venue for our wine courses in Hitchin, including our Spanish Wine & Tapas evening

Lussmanns Independent 'Fish & Grill' restaurant with branches in St Albans, Harpenden, Hitchin and Hertford

Wine Storage

Winestoragecompany.co.uk provides a range of wine cabinets and coolers, in various sizes, for anyone who needs to keep wine in perfect condition at home.

Local wine sellers

Flagship Wines, 417 Hatfield Road, St Albans

Cellar Door Wines, Verulam Industrial Estate, London Road, St Albans

Wine Rack, 52 High Street, Harpenden

Majestic Wine, Beech Road, St Albans and Fairlands Way, Stevenage

Waitrose, at Leyton Road, Harpenden and an even bigger selection on line at www.waitrosecellar.com

The Wine Society - based in Stevenage and one of the leading on-line wine retailers in the UK. Life membership costs just £40

Naked Wines - on line retailer supporting independent producers who are selected based upon the ratings received by Naked's consumers and 'Angels'.

General on-line help

www.jancisrobinson.com - from one of the most well-respected experts in the wine profession. A prolific website with free access and members' pages. Completely independent source of news, views and opinion on wine with a bit of food and travel thrown in, plus a database of over 100,000 tasting notes

eRobertParker.com - one of the worlds most influential wine critics - an independent consumer's guide to fine wines

www.winefolly.com - great resource for wine knowledge all laid out in an attractive and accessible style

www.wine-pages.com - a comprehensive UK wine portal

www.thewinedoctor.com - Chris Kissack is a medic with a passion for wine

www.decanter.com - one of the best monthly magazines in the UK, full of useful and in-depth information on wines, regions and all the latest news.

Great Venues and other useful stuff

The County Club in St Albans - conveniently situated, flexible meeting space for seminars, functions, celebrations and other events

The Salisbury Arms Hotel in Hertford - town centre hotel, pub and restaurant with meeting and function room for hire

The Big House Comapny - country house accommodation in beautiful Somerset for weddings, family celebrations and house party weekends with friends

Jaspers in Luton - friendly one-stop shop for hire of all your catering and banqueting needs

The Choccie Drop - chocolate-making parties for children and grown-ups. What's not to like?

The Cheesemonger - see Martijn every Wednesday and Saturday at St Albans Market for an unrivalled range of British and European cheeses