|
To see a review of any individual tasting, where available, please click on the tasting title.
Thursday 25 September: Rioja
Rioja topped the poll in the list of topics for tastings that you wanted us to organise, so here it is as requested! There was a time when Rioja was almost the only Spanish wine of any quality (apart of course from Sherry) that could be found in UK wine list. All of that has changed but Rioja has also not stood still – there have been many developments. Our tasting will reflect these changes but will also remind us of the great traditions of Rioja.
Presenter: John Hawes (Laymont and Shaw) making a welcome return to the Club.
Monday 20 October: Wines from Lanzerac Estate, Stellenbosch, South Africa
This tasting had to be postponed from May 2003. It will be our first tasting done by a practising winemaker. Lanzerac is one of many South African estates undergoing a revival in the post-apartheid era, with new investment. Its wines have regularly been bought by a number of Club members as part of our regular offers.
Presenter: Wynand Hamman (Winemaker at Lanzerac)
Wednesday 11 November: Affordable Bordeaux
This may sound like a contradiction in terms but we aim to prove that it is not! Of course the top wines of Bordeaux are expensive but there have always been some fine, relatively inexpensive, wines to be had from what is France’s largest quality wine region. The problem has been to find them among what has admittedly been a lot of over-priced wine at the lower end of the Bordeaux range and Bordeaux has been seen as offering much less good value than the New World. But the region is now fighting back against the Australian challenge, so this is a good time to test what is on offer.
Presenter: John Stimpfig.
Tuesday 2 December: Quality for £6!
We don’t usually run an event in December so this is something of an experiment – in more than one way. It is also going to be more or less our first attempt to something other than the normal tutored tasting. In order to give members the chance to meet and talk more informally, we are organising a “walkround” tasting of at least 20 wines costing no more than £6. The aim is quality at very affordable prices and the timing is intended to help with your Christmas choices!
Wednesday 14 January 2003: Northern Italian reds
Another poll-topping topic. Italian wines are clearly popular with Club members and it is certainly time we revisited this area which includes the wines of Piemonte (Barolo, Barbera and Dolcetto among others)) and the wines of Valpolicella. And, of course, in Club terms Italy = our President, Michael Palij, is one of the UK’s top Italian specialists. So we are in for an undoubted treat. But pleasure is not always cheap and to ensure that we can have top wines, we have gone slightly above our normally charge at this stage – however, negotiations on the wine budget have yet to take place!
Presenter: Michael Palij MW (Club President)
February: Food and wine event
Lots of interest was shown in food and wine matching in the responses to the January questionnaire. We are hoping to arrange a food and wine matching evening to liven up the dark days of February but an event of this kind is more complex to organise than the standard tasting. More information will be available in September/October. (THIS EVENT SUBSEQUENTLY HAD TO BE CANCELLED)
Thursday 11 March: California v. Australia
Wine “test matches” have been organised between South Africa and Australia and we thought it would be interesting to organise an event between the two top New World wine producing areas. We shall have five different pairs of wines from different grape varieties/wine styles and the wines will be tasted blind – you will know what they are but not which is which. Up to you to decide and to mark the wines, to see which area is in your view the overall winner. There will be some high quality wines – the Syrah/Shiraz are already bought and average £25.
Presenter:(and adjudicator/scorer): Jonathan Pedley MW
Tuesday 27 April The wines of Beaujolais
Beaujolais has become curiously unfashionable. The Beaujolais Nouveau mania may have now largely died away but it has left a lasting legacy, tarring reputation of all the wines of the region, even the best – according to one Beaujolais producer, only the wines of Fleurie have escaped to some extent: because the name is easy to pronounce and sounds attractive! But there are excellent, food-friendly wines to be had at different quality levels and one of their great other advantages is affordability! When lightly chilled, they also make excellent summer wines. Georges Duboeuf is undoubtedly “Mr Beaujolais” in France: his firm is the largest producer but is committed to high quality and to making wines that demonstrate the different “terroirs” of the 10 top villages. So we shall base our tasting on the extensive range of Duboeuf wines.
Presenter: to be announced
Wednesday 26 May: Red wines of the Côte d’Or
Rather like Italy, Burgundy is a particular favourite of Club members. So here is the first of two events, looking at the red and white wines of one of the world’s most famous wine regions. The aim is to cover and price and quality range and also to look at some comparisons between different parts of the Côte d’Or. Affordable Burgundy is even more of a challenge to find than affordable Bordeaux, because of the structure of the Burgundian wine industry, but it exists. The great challenge in Burgundy is to find growers who produce real quality and do not just trade on the region’s name. This is where the choice of wine merchant is crucial - hence our presenter!
Presenter: Jasper Morris MW (Club Vice-President).
Monday 14 June: Annual General Meeting and informal tasting
As is now becoming customary, members attending the AGM will be rewarded with a reasonably light-hearted tasting.
Tuesday 22 June: Sauvignon Blanc around the world
The latest in our series of tastings based on a single grape variety and the variety’s crispness and fruitiness should be just the thing for a summer evening.. Sauvignon Blanc came high up your list of preferences for varietal tastings and it has undoubtedly become one of the UK winedrinkers’ favourite varieties. New Zealand and the Loire are of course well known temples to Sauvignon Blanc but it performs well elsewhere and its popularity means that it is now widely grown. And then of course there is the vexed question: to oak or not to oak…!
Presenter: Karen Hyde, Club Committee member and tutor for WineMatters
|
