Wine with Vidya

05/12/2025

🤩 💛 What a fun, inspiring and fulfilling Monday evening it was to chair a panel of Winners and finalists of the BIH Spotlight Awards and to hear two winners deliver Key note speeches at the Andaz Hotel in London!

💛 It was sheer joy at this end of year Community event to hear these ladies share their journeys in the world of hospitality via their writing, cafe / restaurant or book!

💛 Angela Zaher () shared her personal story of her family migrating under difficult circumstances and yet she has managed to carve a space for herself honouring her Palestinian heritage via her food writing!

💛 Nikkai Whyte started her Jamaican food business Patois () soon after she had had her baby and and is now winning awards for it! She is keen to cook with her Mum more often as she doesnt want her family recipes lost

💛 Eron Mibo started her cocktails business Tales and Tails UK () after working at the Scotland Yard and spoke about the importance of rest and recovery for running a successful business!

💛Jusnah Gadi of HotnJuicy Shrimp () on reflected on start of her business upon seeing a gap in the market and converting dissatisfied customers to brand ambassadors

💛Sara Kiani spoke about feeling liberated after she stopped trying to ‘fit in’ and being proud of her heritage running a Persian Tea shop in Central London

💛Tasha Marikkar on the diversity of Sri Lankan food and how recipes and stories reflect the rich cultural heritage!

🙏🏽Thanks to Liberty Wines for sponsoring the wine!
🙏🏽👏 Special thanks to Lorraine Copes .copes and Be Inclusive Hospitality for giving me the opportunity to host this winning panel!

📸Pic Credit to

17/10/2025

🤩✨It was a night of celebration of talent, passion, connection and community!! A night where we celebrated each other in hospitality and owned the space to be unapologetically ourselves!!
🥇Kudos to all the finalists and the winners!! The competition was stiff from the few categories that I judged.
🙏🏽🤩 Honoured to have presented the Prize for the Industry Icon category to Tevin Tobun - Founder of ROUTD and GV group!
🙏🏽Thanks to all our BIH sponsors and collaborators for making this a truly memorable evening!
🎉🎊An evening that came together with the committed and reliable BIH team 🙏🏽

🤩Can’t wait for the next year’s BIH Spotlight Awards!!

20/06/2025

Thrilled to be one of the judges for the BIH awards 2025 !

Head to link in my bio and nominate yourself!

Nominations close on 18th July 2025!!

02/05/2025

08/04/2025

🍷🧀 Red Wine tasting with Cheese 🧀🍷

🌞The sun is out in London and Rosé season has officially begun!

🤔 You think you can shed your jackets and sit in the garden.... well... not quite yet! The sunlight is deceptive, isn’t it? 😳

🤩 How about joining for a Red wine only tasting with cheese 🧀 pairing to make sure you are warm and cosy? 🍷🤩

🍷 We will taste a range of red wines - light to full bodied, red fruit character to black fruit character, light and easy drinking to complex, smoky, earthy wines.... we might even have a Tawny Port (and you thought Port is only for Christmas 🎄?!)

📍Join us at in Pinner in North London to secure your spot and to learn which wine and cheese style you prefer the most!

🔗 Link in Bio

—

05/03/2025

💜 International Women’s Day will be celebrated on Saturday 8th March 2025 and this year’s theme is Accelerate Action.

💜 The wine industry is filled with passionate individuals and is a friendly space - that’s why we’re all here. 🤩

😔 But, there is still a a long way to go - before everyone can feel equally included, valued and, above all, safe.

💟The UK Women in Wine Survey 2023, initiated by Curious Vines, flagged that discrimination, sexism and harassment are key issues that women face in the wine industry. Of survey respondents:
🟣92% feel that wine culture is still male dominated
🟣78% feel that sexism, gender bias and harassment were serious issues
🟣76% feel women are underrepresented in leadership roles
🟣54% of women feel that they are discriminated against in terms of pay and conditions
🟣44% had considered leaving the trade as a result of issues faced

❓Now that we have seen the data, what can we do to encourage real change and Accelerate Action?

💟The International Women’s Day Co-ordinated Campaign Against Harassment aims to embrace all of our individual platforms and voices to show unity across our community. As well as a celebration of the talent and power of the women in the wine industry, we seek to raise awareness of real issues faced and share information about what we can do to change things for the better.

💟Accelerating Action against harassment in wine
The Suzy Lampugh Trust have rolled out free anti-harassment training, with a focus on what to do as a bystander if you witness harassment. With the frequency of late-night events in our industry, harassment could be something you might experience or witness at these events or travelling to and from them, although - of course - harassment can happen anywhere.

💟Accelerating Action by encouraging Allyship
The White Ribbon charity works to engage men and boys to end violence against women and girls. Allyship is a central message of the White Ribbon; it represents men taking responsibility to challenge this issue and being allies, every day, to stop violence against women and girls before it starts.

28/02/2025

🤔Ever wondered how to pair wine 🍷 and spice 🌶️?

🌶️🧀 🍷Join us as we explore how spice, wine and cheese interact to create memorable experiences... bold / hot and spicy flabours can be tricky to pair with wine and cheese... but we have just the right experience tailored... spice-packed nibbles, delicious cheese and wines that don’t wipe out your wallet!
📅4th March 2025
💷£55 per person
📍Mouse and Grape Shop, Pinner, London

🏃‍♀️A few tickets still left. so bring a couple of your friends along.. hurry now to secure your spot(s)!

Scan the QR code or check link in Bio ...

26/02/2025

🤩🍷 Join us on March 6, 2025, as we travel across Spain 🇪🇸 through its extraordinary wines and embark on an adventure pairing Spanish grapes with spiced tapas at Cafe Spice Namaste’s scenic dining room with waterfront views in London

🤩🍷 Am excited to collaborate with multi-award-winning Chef, Cyrus Todiwala OBE DL FIH, who will prepare tapas-style Indian dishes to complement the wines and Ana Gomez of , a wine importer specialising in sustainable organic wines from small independent producers.

🍷 These wines are crafted with minimal intervention, i.e., they are produced without the use of herbicides, pesticides, or other harmful chemicals. 💚Our tasting will feature wines from Valencia, Galicia, Castilla León, and Andalucía, all made by award-winning winemakers who are sure to impress.

⏱️6.30 PM Arrival for a 7.30 PM start

🍽️5 courses of innovative Indian tapas-style dishes will be paired with five wines 🍷

💷£75 per person

🔗Registration link: see link in Bio or go to Cafe Spice Namaste’s Website and look for the link!

🏃🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️Just a few tickets left - hurry to book your spot!