This is the sophisticated way to go drinking in the French Alps

“Don’t speak,” said the guide. I quashed the impulse to break into a tuneless Gwen Stefani rendition, but couldn’t stop nervously monologuing under my breath. To anyone who can snowshoe blindfolded, hanging onto a rope whilst dragging flipper-like footwear over tree roots without nervous talking, chapeau. Sight, it turned out, wasn’t a sensory deprivation I responded well to.

It was like a corporate team building day gone organic, albeit more scenic, under the full moon in fresh powder snow in La Rosière, Haute-Savoie. Our snowshoe walk was to culminate in wine and fondue — my favourite kind of incentive — but before that we had to train our senses. First up was taste, which completely lost me on a blind tasting of rose hip jam. Smell went a little better when I correctly identified silage, and touch pushed me fully out of my comfort zone as I, a vegetarian, found myself clutching a severed deer’s foot.

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All of this was to give us a better appreciation of the wine which we were about to taste. In a low-lit teepee in the woods, where thick snow periodically slid down the canvas with a noise like a belly flop, sommelier Julien Ettel guided us through a sensory tasting, urging us to study our wine with one sense at a time: sight, smell, taste. His company, Livino Les Liens du Vin, works exclusively with organic and biodynamic wines from small producers, many of which supply Michelin-starred restaurants.

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In spite of the preparation, which should have left my taste and smell buffed, polished and primed, I identified the aroma of one wine as “laundry left in the machine overnight”. Fortunately, it tasted much better than it smelt.

This was the last in a series of drinking experiences I wouldn’t have associated with ski holidays. Gone were the panachés, peach beers and joss shots. There was no messy slipping and sliding down from La Folie Douce like a game of Twister, or trust fund kids sabering bottles of champagne with the edges of their skis. This was ski holiday drinking for grown-ups.