To see a review of any individual tasting, where available, please click on the tasting title.

Thursday 21 September 2006: A walk round the best of South Africa

Many of you will remember Richard from last September’s wonderful Loire food and wine tasting. Richard has kindly agreed to return to Oxford, this time to tutor us through the best of the many and varied wines that South Africa has to offer. Richards Walford continues to have one of the most dynamic portfolios of SA wines in the UK and Richard himself retains a residence in the beautiful Franschoek region. The Cape lays claim to the oldest viticultural soils on our planet but what is the current state of regionality in the South African wine industry? Come and find out. We are also planning some typical South African foods for you to experience alongside the wines.

Presenter: Richard Kelley MW, Richards Walford, Importers of Wine, Lincolnshire

Tuesday 17 October 2006: ‘On becoming a Master of Wine…’

Sarah Jane Evans, Wine correspondent of the BBC Good Food magazine and MW candidate, will talk to us about the process of becoming a Master of Wine – and set us some of the tricky challenges that aspiring MWs face. Unlike the real thing, this event will not feature individual competition – but we may set table against table… Can you spot ‘Blossom Hill’ or ‘Blue Nun’ out of a line-up of great wines? Quite a lot of MWs couldn’t! This is the ultimate insider’s view. Let’s see how we measure up!

Presenter: Sarah Jane Evans, Wine correspondent of the BBC Good Food magazine

Tuesday 7 November 2006: Northern Rhone red spectacular

Taking advantage of a planned visit to the UK, we are delighted to welcome Arne Ronold MW for his first visit to the Club. A graduate engineer from Oslo, Norway, he became the first in the Nordic countries to achieve the MW distinction. We will compare and contrast the Northern Rhone appellations, concentrating on those producing red wines i.e. Côte-Rôtie, Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, Hermitage & Cornas. Each of these wines has a character of its own and Arne will lead us through the nuances of syrah when produced in these areas.

Presenter: Arne Ronold MW

Tuesday 12 December 2006: Sweeties

Sadly sweet wines have had bad PR over recent decades but they really are well worth discovering in their own right rather than relegating to the end of meals to accompany dessert or being forgotten altogether. Considered the finest examples of some grapes and terroirs, many are a trying labour of love for the vigneron, being produced by either dehydration or mutage. Robert Boutflower has a great deal of trade experience being formerly with Laymont & Shaw, and is currently Private Sales Director for Tanners, an independent, family owned and run company based in Shrewsbury. This will be a fabulous tasting, not to be missed in the run up to Christmas.

Presenter: Robert Boutflower, Private Sales Director for Tanners.

Friday 19 January 2007: Who’s afraid of the big, bad brand? A tasting showdown between the top-selling brands and the boutique independents.

The club are delighted to be running a unique tasting that will bring together two very different, though equally knowledgeable members of the wine trade, to discuss one of the most hotly debated issues facing the UK wine industry today: What is the role of branded wines in the UK market today? Do they deliver? Are the independents offering what the customer wants and can they compete and survive when up against the likes of the mighty Constellation?

The tasting will be a little different from anything that the club has run before. Richard and Simon have both chosen a wine that they think best represents a specific category. For instance, ‘old world, aromatic whites’. They have been given a recommended retail price to work to. Simon will be bringing only wines from the Constellation stable, whilst Richard has been given free range to pick wines from any of the thousands of independent wineries in the world. Each pair will be tasted blind with little comment before the tasting. You’ll then be asked to give feedback on the wines and a vote will be taken to decide which is the best-liked. You’ll then hear each speaker talk about their chosen wine and why they chose to show it. Will the big brands win out or, will the independents show their metal? There will be 6 pairs in all and it promises to be a fascinating and engaging evening.

Presenter: Richard Bampfield MW, consultant to the wine trade and specialist in wine events, talks and tastings and Simon Jerrome, Purchasing Director for Constellation Europe

Wednesday 7 February 2007: A Piemonte extravaganza

Our Club President Michael Palij, Master of Wine, will present for us a truly exciting and comprehensive range of wines exclusively from the Northern Italian region of Piemonte with the emphasis on exploring the lesser-known areas (e.g. Ghemme, Gattinara, Carema) and grapes (e.g. Dolcetto, Freisa, Pelaverga, Rouchet). But with of course a little bit in reserve for an older vintage or two of the regal Barolo or classic Barbaresco. With his own Italian wine business, WineTraders (UK) Ltd, Michael is passionate about Italian wines so don’t miss this opportunity to hear him communicate this passion!

Presenter: Michael Palij MW, WineTraders (UK) Ltd. and Club President

Wednesday 21 March 2007: New Wave Spanish Wines

There are currently a lot of very exciting developments in the Spanish wine scene. Not only are traditional high-quality regions like Rioja undergoing a revolution in the way they make and market their wines, but little-known and under-achieving regions are beginning to produce some very interesting wines from both native and "international" grape varieties. This is mostly due to an on-going process of modernisation, of both techniques and thinking. Come and find out for yourselves why Spanish wine is enjoying unprecedented popularity.

Presenter: Thomas Kelly

Wednesday 25 April 2007: High Altitude Whites

High Altitude wines mingle stunning natural environmental conditions with well-adapted varietals in these elevated regions. The altitude and large diurnal temperature variations produce grapes with high acid levels for a given sugar level compared with many other regions and the bright sunny days and cool nights slowly ripen the grapes, allowing for greater expression of flavours. Taking us through a stunning array of high altitude wines will be Theo Sloot from The Oxford Wine Company, which is one of the largest independent wine retail and wholesale companies in the U.K.

Presenter: Theo Sloot, Fine Wine Buyer, Oxford Wine Company, Standlake, OXON

Friday 18 May 2007: Club 10^th Anniversary Summer Event & AGM

Michael Broadbent MW will be conducting a comparative tasting of the wines of Château Léoville-Barton and Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse de Lalande as part of our tenth anniversary celebrations. It is sure to be a tasting we’ll never forget.

We’ve chosen to show eight wines on the evening. Four each from Léoville-Barton and Pichon-Lalande. These two second growth St. Julien estates need barely any introduction. Clive Coates, MW has described the wines of Léoville-Barton as “combining structure, elegance, ageworthiness and elegance”. Since Anthony Barton took over the reins from his Uncle Ronald in the mid 80s, quality has soared and the wine has gone from being a solid mid-league performing 2eme Cru Classe to one of the most exciting and scintillating wines in St. Julien. It has been said of Pichon-Lalande that “if Latour, Lafite and Mouton are the Kings of Pauillac, then Pichon-Lalande is the Queen”. The estate was taken over by May-Eliane de Lenquesaing in 1978 and it is her drive and passion that has been largely credited with achieving the huge strides the estate has made in the last twenty years or so.

These neighbouring vineyards are separated by little more than a few yards and a drainage ditch, yet the resulting wines are utterly unique. Under Michael’s tutelage we’ll be comparing the different styles and vintages in what promises to be an absolutely fantastic evening.

Presenter: Michael Broadbent MW

Friday 22 June 2007: Summer Garden Party

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