Hugo's Wine Nights at Moka

I've been trying to support local businesses in a variety of ways of late. One of the approaches I've tried is to make introductions between local businesses who seem like they might have reason to collaborate. A few months back I introduced Kevin Vanthem at Moka to Hugo Read, HoL's resident wine blogger and owner of Harringay-based wine business Viavino. I wasn't sure what, if anything, would come of it.

I was pleased to hear a couple of months back that they'd decided to team up and host monthly wine nights at Moka. I couldn't make the first night, but was grateful to Hugo for extending his invitation to me to join the group for the second event on the last Thursday in May.

Somehow Kevin managed to seat more than two dozen people round a cluster of tables at Moka. We all had a chance to mix and chat when we arrived before being treated to a great evening.

Hugo played it just right for the audience, I thought. We weren't subjected to any haughty pretentious wine snobbery. He just gave us an excellent tour of Portugal's little known wines, presenting the facts, sharing some stories and of course his expertise. Around that he allowed us to chat and try the wines along with a great spread of tapas style food served by Kevin and the team.

As well as being a nice gastronomic treat, the evening was a great social event too. There was a real sense of neighbourly bonhomie around the table and everyone seemed to truly enjoy themselves.

First class guys. Thank you. Highly recommended. 

Word seems to have got around quickly, so the July June event is already fully booked, but I think there were a few spaces left for August September (corrections made following Hugo's comment below).  

You can connect with Hugo here on HoL.

Viavino website here.