I tweeted yesterday that of the 54 photographs I had taken at the Sunday ARSE3 tasting 5 were not actually taken by me, 18 were blurred and 4 were of a building in Reading. I would also have added, if not constrained by the 140 character limit, that 6 were of a cupcake, 3 were of a couple of the girls looking very stern indeed and actually all were blurred to one degree or another. Very disappointing really in having so few images to illustrate the event; I even neglected to snap the obligatory group shot before we began. Rubbish…
Gracing this little post is a photoshoped image (photo to a pencil drawing) in honour of Ailbhe of AilbheTweets who done the previous ARSE tasting well proud with a cartoon immortalising our climb up Coombe Hill. This picture is of Hennie Huskisson who we were damn lucky to lasso into the tasting and for him to showcase his South African wine range, Linton Park.
As is the tradition of these ARSE tastings – ARSE being Andrew’s Really Secret Event – the participants were given little information prior to the day; apart from being told to gather at West Brompton tube station for midday. With so little info it is surprising ANYONE would pay me money in advance! But they did despite the inevitable drop outs citing Mothering Sunday guilt, and almost all managed to turn up at the allotted hour.
Just to keep them all guessing they were informed that after a quick stop for a glass of lubricating bubbly we would move on to the venue proper. The delightful Finborough Wine Café has a downstairs cellar that I had hired for the day, which could, just, be construed as a different venue… the bubbly incidentally was the New Zealand Morton Estate Sparkling.
Who came? An excellent cross section of people- some of the most influential bloggers in the UK and each to the man some of the most interesting people you could ever hope to meet, each one oozing enthusiasm and interest in that most fascinating of subjects: wine. It is they that make these ARSE tastings so much fun.

• Abbie Moulton abbielikeswine
• Ailbhe Phelan Ailbhetweets
• Andrew Barrow Wine_scribbler
• Cassie Agirlhastoeat
• David Lowe BigPinots
• Douglas Blyde douglasblyde
• Gerald Coakley partner of Luiz
• Jez Greenspan The_WineTwit
• Julia Stafford Winepantry
• Luiz Hara thelondonfoodie
• Ruth Lang Sundaegirl
• Sarah Belizaire Butler sarahbb1
• Tony Braimbridge husband of Ailbhe

Many thanks to Hennie and the girls from Westbury PR for helping make ARSE3 so successful. And to the Finborough Wine Café for allowing us to use their cellar. A follow up post will detail the wines tasted. Photos on flickr.