Yelp Manchester Meets: Veeno

Once again Yelp gets Emily good and drunk on a school night. I think my colleagues are used to me crawling in clutching a bacon sandwich the morning after a Yelp event.

I really like Veeno so was very pleased to get a spot at the event here. The crowd was a good mix of regulars and new faces and so it was lovely to grab a complimentary glass of house red and settle in for a chat.

After discussing game plans, Jess H and I decided that we would go for food and wine pairings first and then do blind wine tasting second, after a few wines had warmed us up cerebrally.

For the paired food and wine we were given a nice chilled glass of white, and a glass of red. We were told to drink the white first along with some bread with olive tapenade and some cheese with honey. (By the way, cheese with honey is sensational and I want more of it.) I would never have chosen a strong flavour like black olives to go with a white but it was a superb match. The white wine was also really nice, even though I never usually drink white wine. With the red wine we had parma ham with crackers and Parmesan. The Parmesan was, as expected, very strong tasting but actually really delicious with wine, although I found it best to cut it into small chunks.

It's not long before everyone's tipsy and the tables change over, and it is time for blind wine tasting. Our team comprising myself, Jess, Neil, Gayle and Edel had a lot of fun but ultimately did not get the answers right and did not win. I was happy to drink some more delicious wine though and to have a few more snacks. The bread and olive oil was so delicious, the oil was such high quality that it made me understand why people rave about it sometimes. There was also some tiny olives, soft cheese, and salami with pistachios which I loved.

Next up we were served a Tiramisu and some dessert wine, which was incredibly lovely, and given a token to get an Aperol Spritz from the bar - yay! Perhaps the Spritz was the straw that broke the camel's back as soon after finishing it I realised that it was time to slink away in my drunken stupor and get myself to bed.

We were incredibly well looked after by the staff at Veeno and I had a really great time. Thanks to Veeno and as ever to JQ!

This was my second event and my favourite event by far, the staff were so friendly and informative about there products.

When we arrived at the event we were greeted by Jonny and given a drinks voucher I had a glass of fruity white wine it was really nice.we then got divided up in to two groups, one group did blind wine tasting with nibbles and the other group tasted two types of wine with food that complemented them then we swapped over.

I have never done wine tasting before and I though it was a great experience as I had wine I wouldnt normally have chosen. They served us tirmsue I don't usually like it but there's was delicious you should definitely try it.

It was a great place and it's lovely to know that all the wine comes from the vineyard in sicilia and the food and olive oil come from there too. The prices are very reasonable for a bottle of wine starting from £9.99.

Overall the staff at veeno couldn't have done more for us they were very generous with the wine and food and I don't think anyone left without being a little merry, what a great place so thank you to Jonny for the event and the veeno staff for the fantastic evening. I will definitely be returning.

It's safe to say that this is my first event where I have been drunk as a skunk..

For what I do remember this was a fantastic night :p so pardon the vagueness..

All the staff were very passionate, informative and the foods they selected married well with the wine..

For the first round we had a choice of red and white wine (I remember the lady saying how famous the grapes were in it, but i struggled to hear) . The white went brilliantly with the olive pate and thinly cut cheese. While the red paired up nicely with the parmaham (apparently- ) as well as this thicker dryer cheese dashed with a balsamic vinegar.. 4 glasses later we were moved to another table.

This table had more of a wine tasting element to it than actual drinking which was life saving!. Here we had a wine guessing game followed by more food paring of cheese and bread.

To round the evening.off there was tiramisu which was divine!

Overall everything was well explained and structured. I really enjoyed the more social aspect of it, as wine drinking is quite a sociable thing to do.. next time I will make sure I eat more than cocopops! Sorry for the drunkness haha

This was my first ever Yelp event and boy was I glad I got on the list! The evening kicked off with a voucher for a free glass wine / beer / soft drink - I dived straight into a fruity white and basically didn't look back! Wine tasting began with being split into 2 teams (go Team ValpoliYelpi) and sampling 2 whites, then 2 reds - we were given info cards to read and guess which wine was which. This was preceded with an informative talk by one of the ladies who run the wine cafe - who explained that all the wine at Veeno comes from the family vineyard in Sicily as does the olive oil.

The wine tasting was accompanied by some apertivo - bread, salami, cheese and olives. Our teams then swapped tables, to sample another white, then red with sputtini (parma ham with crostini style bread, parmesan with balsamic glaze and also cheese with honey - which I am now OBSESSED with). By this point, we had had 7 glasses of wine which was so incredibly generous of the family at Veeno and I was a tad tiddly to say the least. To finish we were given a dessert of tiramisu and an Aperol spritzer, both were delicious and perfectly completed the night. Alas, my team didn't win the wine tasting quiz - maybe next time!

We were cocooned by the warm atmosphere of Veeno for the entire event - you can tell it is family run and that there is a great deal of passion there for the wine and hospitality. I cannot wait to visit again and will certainly be bringing friends to enjoy their Wednesday evening offer; £7 for a glass of wine and unlimited apertivo.

A million thanks to our hosts at Veeno & to Jonny Q for arranging!

Tuesday is notoriously the worst day of the week, so what could be better than the promise of a wine tasting?

Having been to Veeno only once before, when it had only been open a few short weeks, I was glad to see it absolutely buzzing with people both inside and outside. A quick greeting from Jonny Q and flyer (good for one drink from the bar) from the lovely Lene saw us quickly ease in to the evening's proceedings.

One table were taken through a wine and food pairing, the other a blind wine tasting, for which there was a competition for sought after 'wine expert' certificates. I drink a lot of wine but am no expert, so it was very unlikely for one to be heading my way!

Eyeing up the delicious nibbles that were being served from the moment I stepped in the door, it had to be the food first! A platter of ham on crispbread, cheese & honey - a new combination for me that I'll certainly be trying again - parmesan and bread with olive tapenade were wolfed down with their accompanying white or red white.

The blind wine tasting was less than successful for our team, though a great interactive activity with no pressure to be an expert. Perfect. Food here was bread and oil, cheese, olives and some cured meat, all of which again worked really well with their denoted wines.

As ever the evening moved on to some additional drinks - Aperol spritz on this occasion, though they were happy for me to replace with a regular wine - and chatting between this ever expanding community of Yelp.

What an absolutely fantastic evening (and not so fantastic day at work after)!! As soon as I saw this event go up I knew it was going to be a good one and it really didn't disappoint.

I've never been to veeno before and on entering the chilled and welcoming bar I immediately questioned why on earth not. We were treated to a free glass of house wine to get us warmed up.. Possibly my immediate downfall on hindsight.. But my was it a delicious rose!

The group were split into two tables, and after a brilliant welcome from the staff we started on the blind tasting game. The way the staff had put together the tasting was relaxed and fun, with select food items chosen for each wine - olives, cheese, bread and olive oil, salami. It may have perhaps been good to advise us to use the spitoon instead of drinking all the wine or maybe been less generous in the quantities they gave as we had to move through at a relatively fast pace = a lot of wine consumed (albeit very delicious wine at that!)

After our four wines and a share of Jonny Qs that we pinched (I think with consent?!) We moved across to the second table which was all about matching foods with wine. This was a little lost on me as I was already one wine too many in but the food was absolutely incredible - Parmaham, cheese and honey, olive tapande.. Mmm... And I'm sure the wines worked perfectly with them!

Never do I turn dessert down and the tirimasu looked to die for but I was absolutely full to the brim so I had to pass on that and the sweet smelling dessert wine. Damn it.. Can I have it now?!

After learning our team were the tasting champs and getting a cheeky wine tasting diploma certificate I decided it was time for me and my dignity to make a quick get away. An absolutely fantastic night, thanks so much to the veeno staff for looking after us and Jonny Q for arranging such a fab night. Would it be possible to find out the wines we were drinking for when I return?! All I know is I liked the apricot white and the herby red!

Wine tasting on a Tuesday night - why the hell not.
This is such a cute little place and the staff were super friendly.
I loved the whole concept and how they made it fun with little competitions as well as being interesting.
I can't say that I remember the names of any of the wines, but I can remember that they were all delicious. There was no spitting in the bucket during this event, every mouthful was drunk - which is possibly why we all felt hungover the next day.

The hangover was well worth it though!!

The best Manchester Meets event there's been. That's a coveted title given there's been a few decent ones. Veeno is opposite Wing's and would be my choice for a quiet Italian ahead of the likes of San Carlo's and Rosso's of this world. A small understated venue with a big heart. When someone who's not the biggest fan of the Veeno (but still curious and open minded) gives a five star to this event, you know it was a good one.

Our host Lene did a cheeky scout mission to our last Yelp Manchester Meets and had clearly done her homework. The event was a great success with our group split into two and given taste tests. Finger food complimenting the beverage of the night went down just as well as the Veeno.

It was great hearing about Veeno's history and the Sicilian family Vineyard which goes back four generations. That family atmosphere reverberates around the venue and captured the imagination of the Yelp family on the night.

Needless to say our team won and were granted the much coveted Wine diploma. (I'm not ashamed to admit Jonny Q and I were carried by Roz W, Naomie H and Claire P) Tiramisu and Aperol Spritzers was the only way to round off a brilliant night and that's exactly what went down. There was a great buzz and atmosphere at this event which was a combination of well set tables, structured sequence of events, smooth running of the food / beverage turnover and all in all brilliant organisation.

Grazie Mille Veeno and Jonny Q for another bellissimo notte!

Wine tasting: An occasion on which various different wines are tasted and evaluated.

Replace the word 'tasted' with 'guzzled' and we'd be on the right lines.

Yet another fantastic event in the Yelp Manchester Meets series, this one being held at local Italian wine cafe, Veeno.
Upon arrival we were greeted by Lene, one of the managers at Veeno, who handed us a drinks token redeemable for either a beer, house wine or a soft drink. Given this was a wine tasting event, the sensible Laura says I SHOULD have opted for a soft drink here but I jumped straight in with a house red. It was fruity and crisp - a nice drink to start my Tuesday night.

The evening progressed into some nibbles that were delightfully paired with each of the red and white wines that were chosen for us to try. I expected minimal amounts of wine at this tasting, maybe enough for a sip or two, but man was I wrong!
I devoured some Parma Ham and some olive bread with my lovely wines.
Next we were asked to try 4 wines and guess which one was which - this was great fun, although I didn't get any of them right!

The evening ended with a lovely bit of tiramisu and a shot of sweet desert wine, followed by one final Aeperol Spritz at the bar.

Thanks to JQ for another fantastic event. I'll be heading to Veeno for my next wine session when this hangover wears off.

If only there was a sixth star, this Yelp event would earn it. I had a fantastic evening from start to finish. I enjoyed a lovely glass of house red to get me warmed up whilst chatting to some familiar faces as well as some newbies.

The group split in two and my group did the blind wine tasting first. After an introduction from JQ and the staff from Veeno we were all keen to get stuck in! It was interesting to note that ALL the wine sold at Veeno is from the same family owned vineyard in Sicily. We sampled 2 white wines and 2 red wines and attempted to match them with 4 cards that had a wine experts description of each. When I say sampled, I mean we had a full glass of each!! A platter of nibbles on the table helped the wine go down even easier.

We then swapped tables to try some wine paired with particular food. Another 2 glasses of wine!! All delicious and amazingly enjoyable. Finished off with some delightful Tiramisu. We were given a voucher for another drink from the bar which unfortunately I didn't manage to use as my level of inebriation at this point was getting quite high and I had to slope off home.

Brilliant evening, brilliant venue, brilliant company. Thanks JQ and Veeno. I'm already planning a return visit on a works night out (after we've done breakout next door!).