When you’re craving a taste of French wine country, look to Vivant. While nothing can replace walking through vineyards and perusing musty cellars with the winemakers themselves, Vivant comes close.
This is coming from someone who fell in love with wine while doing just that. Touching galets amongst the vineyards of the Southern Rhône Valley. Tasting Grenache directly from barrels in Gigondas. Asking the winemaker about the vintage in my glass. No, nothing can beat an authentic experience like that.
That being said, Vivant is a wine tasting experience that holds its own. An experience which I’d be happy to return to again and again.
For those times you can’t book a flight to Burgundy, book a virtual tasting experience with Vivant instead. This platform offers an entertaining way to discover new wines, learn about wine regions, connect with other wine lovers, and taste wines in a way which expands your wine knowledge.
What is Vivant?
Vivant offers on-demand virtual wine tasting experiences, but the platform is so much more than that. Users create a membership profile and then book their virtual tasting experience of choice. Currently, Vivant only offers French wine tasting experiences. Yet there are a ton to choose from. Tastings range from exploring Champagne to a Chenin Blanc experience in the Loire Valley to A Sea of Pinot Noir in the Côte de Nuits.
Once your tasting appointment is reserved, Vivant sends you a super stylish package of wine samples for the experience. The wines are packaged in glass tubes, each of which have enough wine for two people to complete the tasting experience.
Next, you log-on to the Vivant platform at the scheduled time to start the virtual experience. There’s a friendly and well-educated live host to guide you through the wine tasting. Plus, you can chat with other Vivant users in attendance and ask your host questions via the chat box. Though your video camera isn’t on and you cannot see others during the virtual tasting.
Additionally, Vivant makes the experience interactive, which I really loved. Attendees can participate in quizzes on information learned during the tasting, as well as determine aromas, flavors, and characteristics while tasting the wines. For me, it’s a smart way to keep people engaged during a virtual experience. These interactive features definitely held my attention. I also loved the competitive spirit behind the leaderboard, which shows the point total of each participant during the tasting. Through your Vivant membership page, you accumulate tasting and wine IQ points with every experience you complete.
Moreover, Vivant’s wine tasting experiences include videos from the winemakers whose wines you’re tasting. In this way, you get a feel for their winemaking philosophy and personality behind the wines.
Vivant Supports Sustainable & Organic Winemaking
Vivant is the future of wine in more ways than one. First, the company is ahead of the curve in offering virtual wine tasting experiences which are actually fun. Secondly, Vivant only partners with sustainable and organic wineries making wines with respect to the environment and future generations to come. Within the tasting experience, you’ll hear from the winemakers firsthand to learn what practices they’re implementing for sustainability.
A Sea of Pinot Noir in the Côtes de Nuits
I chose A Sea of Pinot Noir in Côtes de Nuits for my first Vivant virtual wine tasting experience. Actually, this was really the first virtual wine tasting I’ve ever completed. We tasted wines from Domaine Rossognol-Trapet and Domaine Antoine Lienhardt. All of the wines were exceptional, super elegant, and complex in a way that makes you always come back for more.
While I started the tasting scribbling down wine notes, by the third wine I was too engrossed in the interactive features to continue my note taking. But all the more reason for you to experience A Sea of Pinot Noir for yourself! For me, Domaine Rossignol-Trapet Latricières-Chambertin Grand Cru 2017 was the most outstanding wine of the tasting. Furthermore, the fact that we have the chance to taste a Grand Cru in this experience, which might not be accessible in terms of price otherwise, is truly special. (It’s only €191 in Vivant’s online wine shop!)
The Vivant Experience
Overall, Vivant makes some of the world’s most sought-after wines and wine regions accessible to anyone curious to learn more. And that’s pretty damn cool! The tasting kit arrived just two short days after booking my appointment, though I live in the city where the wines ship from. I loved how the tastings were hosted by a live person and absolutely adored the interactive component of the experience.
They also sell the wines from their tasting experiences in their online wine shop. So, if you absolutely fall in love with a wine, you know exactly where to get it. This is a virtual wine tasting experience I’d love to do again and plan to. I have my eyes set on a Chenin Blanc or Champagne tasting next! Let me know if you try Vivant and what you think of the experience when you do.
