How to become a wine expert without leaving home

There are great books and online classes – and here’s a few bottles you could order to help you on your way

“Coronavirus is just not winetasting conducive!” Those are the words on the website of Michael Schuster, perhaps the most respected wine educator in the UK, explaining, almost apologetically, why he is not currently taking bookings for his much-loved, long-running courses in the City of London.

You can see what Schuster means. Hundreds of wine courses and clubs that used to run each week all over the country – not to mention large-scale events with audiences running in the hundreds or thousands such as Tesco’s Wine Fairs or Decanter magazine’s Fine Wine Encounters – have not been in session for the best part of a year. With all that spitting and slurping, they’re the definition of a super-spreader event.