I’ve been to a few corporate wine and charity events in my time, but the best and most entertaining by far was a recent Call My Wine Bluff evening at the Village Hall in Buckland to raise money for the local school.

The idea, brilliantly adapted from the popular TV show by Ted Sandbach of The Oxford Wine Company, essentially substitutes wines for words and works as follows. Several unknown wines are poured for both the panel of three wine experts and the audience. After each wine is tasted, the experts identify it in turn as convincingly and entertainingly as they can. But only one is telling the truth. It is then down to the audience (in teams) to guess who’s not bluffing.

As you can imagine, the night was one of ever increasing noise, hilarity and ribaldry, as ever taller tales were told. However, the highlight was probably the communal rendition of Cliff Richard’s ‘Summer Holiday’. This was orchestrated by Ted Sandbach, who was one of three brilliant panelists.

‘It’s really meant to be a lot of fun because so many wine events can be a little bit boring and passé’ says Ted ‘We do about ten of these a year for local charities and companies and they work terrifically well for audiences of up to 160.’ Moreover, you don’t need to be a wine expert to have a good time. Apart from enjoying some good wines from £4 to £10, the only other requirement is a sense of humour.

If your company or charity would like more information on a Call My Wine Bluff event, contact Ted Sandbach at the Oxford Wine Co.

John Stimpfig