Chloe and Freya had been planning the friends’ weekend away for months. The group did it every year, usually with the same broad ingredients. A big cottage, too much food, a few long walks if the weather behaved, and plenty of wine once everyone had finally unpacked. This year, they wanted one evening to feel a bit different without turning the weekend into something too organised.
They booked Wine Night In for a private tasting at their Airbnb in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, where five couples were staying in a large Cotswolds cottage for the weekend. There were ten of them altogether: Oliver and Chloe, Jack and Freya, Harry and Isla, Leo and Mia, and Archie and Poppy. Everyone knew each other well, which meant Jonny was walking into exactly the kind of group where people were ready to talk, laugh, disagree and then pretend they had been right all along.
Chloe and Freya asked for three reds and three whites, but with one extra request. They wanted an orange wine included because a couple of the group had been curious about it, but nobody had really tried one properly before. That was always going to be interesting. The tone of the night was relaxed and lively from the start. The weather outside was miserable, which actually helped. Nobody was trying to go anywhere. Everyone was very happy to stay inside, pour another glass and let the evening take over.
The tasting games brought out the group’s competitive side almost immediately. Some people took it very seriously. Some people took it seriously while pretending not to. That is usually the more dangerous version. Then came the orange wine. It divided the room completely. Four people loved it straight away. Four people were not quite sure what to do with it. Two people were firmly against it and made their position very clear, just in case anyone at the far end of the table had missed it.
Jonny let the debate run, because sometimes that is the whole point. Wine does not have to be something everyone agrees on. It is much more fun when people actually say what they think, especially when the bottle gives the room something to talk about. By the end of the evening, the same two people who had been most against the orange wine had quietly finished their glasses and asked what it was called.
Nobody let them forget it. The takeaway arrived late, the rain kept coming down, and nobody cared in the slightest. The tasting had already done what Chloe and Freya wanted it to do. It gave the group a night that felt different from previous years, without needing to leave the cottage or make a big plan around it.
The following week, Leo ordered a case of the Pacifico Sur Reserva Pinot Noir, and Archie ordered the orange wine despite having spent most of the evening insisting it was not for him. That is the nice thing about a private wine tasting on a weekend away. It does not need to be polished or formal. It just gives the evening a bit of structure, gets everyone around the same table, and gives the group something to remember beyond the weather, the walk and the late takeaway.
For groups staying in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, or elsewhere in the Cotswolds, Wine Night In is an easy way to make one night of a weekend away feel more memorable without overcomplicating it.
