Small tasting classes work because the opening is already built in. Someone will mispronounce a grape, somebody will insist the expensive bottle tastes exactly like the cheaper one, and the instructor will ask a question that splits the table into friendly camps.

Mature women who attend alone are not necessarily hunting for attention. Many came because they like leaving the house with a reason. A man who joins the actual conversation instead of hovering around her glass can become the person she keeps talking to after the class ends. The useful moment arrives during cleanup: she folds her tasting card, waits while the group thins out, and asks whether he is heading anywhere nearby. That is not a grand invitation. It is enough.