Veeno Italian wine cafe Leicester Wine Tasting Experience

We were kindly invited to visit Veeno Italian wine cafe in Leicester for a wine tasting experience, to be quite honest before this invite, I didn't know this gorgeous little place existed, we accepted the invitation as it was a great excuse for a date night as we never really go out without the kids just the two of us!

The History of Veeno.

It started off with two Italian guys who shared a passion for relaxing with drinks and nibbles after a long day at work. This soon evolved to include their friends and family and before long they opened their very first Veeno – an amazing Italian wine cafe a place to enjoy great wine and various platters of meats, cheeses and other appetisers known as ‘Spuntini’.

The day before we visited (We choose a Saturday night to visit) Veeno the wine cafe sent us an e-mail, saying they were looking forward to our visit and it had a brief history of the business which I thought was a really nice touch, there was also an option to re-book in case we couldn't make it the following day which was nice as well it makes things hassle free if you are thinking of making a booking and then something comes up unexpectedly.

On approach to Veeno the wine cafe it looked really cosy from the outside it had pretty twinkling white lights hanging in the window there was also a small seating area outside for the warmer weather.

Inside we were greeted with a relaxed atmosphere it was really busy, but not too crowded it was cosy The interior of Veeno Leicester – St Martins Square is beautiful. On closer inspection of the website, it seems Each Veeno has a similar theme throughout in that it always has twinkling white lights hanging in the window. With a wooden theme and bottle/cork decorations, the venue really has a warm and friendly feel to it.

We approached the counter and I told them we had a table booked for seven the staff were really friendly they explained that the table wasn't quite ready and we ordered drinks whilst we waited they were very friendly and accommodating. Which I thought was amazing as often sometimes in venues you find on a Saturday night that staff are so rushed off their feet they forget the small, but still very important parts of hospitality.

We didn't have to wait long for our table and to be seated by our host and wine-expert for the evening which was a lady, now very rude of me but I didn't quite catch her name and at the end of the evening I still didn't catch it but she was an amazing help and host.

They left us for a short while to get settled into our seats and drink some of our drinks we had already bought the host then brought over the bottles of wine that we would be tasting that evening there were two white, a rose, and two reds I wasn't sure how this would work I was worried that we would be sniffing and spitting wine but it turns out you get a glass wine from each bottle - of course you don't have to drink the whole glass!

Veeno offers three various options for their Wine-tasting, their ‘Classic’ option, the ‘Blind’ option and the ‘Selezione’ wine-tasting experience. The Selezione option was the option we experienced and It made up of some more of their premium wines.

The host then brought over a beautifully presented platter and our first glasses of white wine, she explained to us that each thing on the platter was meticulously paired with one of the wines in the experience and to try not to eat all the food and save something of each thing on there with to try with each individual wine, so at this stage the platter was really just to observe, despite the temptation to tuck-in and eat it all right away!

I don't think I should go into to much detail about the wine or what each individual ‘Spuntini’ (part of the platter) that they were paired with its better if you go and try it for yourself as I would hate to get it wrong  as much as I learned a lot recalling everything from memory is difficult and I am not a wine expert plus it would spoil the fun. What I will tell you is that our host was an absolute expert in her knowledge of the wines on offer. She gave us plenty of interesting knowledge and insight into each individual wine getting us to describe them and asking us what we thought of each one and the wines pairing.It was really interesting, not too full on and made the experience very unique personal and exciting

We were very well-looked after by our host and after each wine and food-combination pairing, we were given some time before our host returned. I think this is important it gave us time to chat and savour the flavours and the wine, Veeno got it spot-on. Even though this was a paid-for experience to learn more about the wines and to take in Veeno, for us it was still very much a much-needed date night for just us and I am so glad we were given enough time to ourselves to make the most of the of the great atmosphere and enjoy what was in front of us.

To top off the evening we were offered either a large slice of Tiramisu or lemon sorbet we choose the lemon sorbet which was beautifully paired with this delicious sweet wine Tagos Grillo, and a Limoncello shot.

Of course, it’s not just wine on offer here. There are oodles of cocktails to choose from and coffees too. While we were there, people were just popping in for a glass of wine or a quiet Saturday night drink.

Thank you so much to Veeno Leicesters for inviting us along and hosting such a wonderful evening for us. The wine tasting experience is such a great night out it would be perfect for celebrations such as birthdays or anniversaries I could also picture having a work get together doing something like this it is really enjoyable. The Selezione experience in particular costs £26.90 per person. Veeno is a fast-growing brand and there’s currently 14 Veeno’s across the UK, so if you are near one I would highly recommend visiting and trying it out for yourself. Check out their website to find out more or book you experience www.theveenocompany.com

We were kindly given the opportunity to visit Veeno for the purpose of this review all opinions remain honest and my own.