On 26 January 2023, Jonathan Pedley MW came to waken members of the Club from their Christmas hibernation. For him, as he said, it was a great pleasure to be back to face-to-face tastings after the remote tastings of the Covid period.

Jonathan is now (re)-trimmed, his daughter having insisted that the Old Testament Prophet hair and beard had to go, but the cutting of the locks had no Samson effect. This was Jonathan at his best – fascinating wines, glorious insults, deep knowledge, effortless ability to communicate. As Hilary Reid Evans said in her closing vote of thanks, with Jonathan you can never forget (and never should forget) the sheer fun of wine.

Describing herself as ‘a journalist with no letters after her name’, (a situation the Wine Club has now remedied) Liz Sagues has in fact written extensively on wine for the Independent, the Sunday Express, Country Life and the acclaimed Hampstead & Highgate Express. She has twice been winner of the Louis Roederer Regional Wine Writer of the Year award (2005 and 2011) and is the author of two books about wine – Sussex by the Glass and A Celebration of English Wine as well as a book about Chichester Harbour (England’s Coastal Gem). She is also a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and a former Committee Member of that organisation.

Liz, however, particularly enjoys the wines of the Loire Valley and believes Muscadet and Loire Moelleux are the most underrated wines today and that Chenin Blanc is a grape to cherish.

Tim Holt of Barbadillo treated OWC members and guests to a fascinating and informative master class on the production of sherry, accompanied by a tasting of 9 differing Barbadillo wines.

‘The story has only just begun’ said Julia, introducing us to arguably as fine a selection of English wines as could possibly be assembled in September 2022. The wines were all winners in the 2022 WineGB Awards and Julia was referring, of course, to the development of British wine growing.

Introducing Nicole Rolet and the biodynamic wines of Chêne Bleu, Hilary Reid Evans commented that when they purchased the derelict property in 1993, neither Nicole nor her husband Xavier had any prior experience of wine making or the wine trade. During the intervening period, the reputation of the wines of Chêne Bleu has grown year on year and have been described as the ‘world’s first super Rhônes’ by the Wall Street Journal and have gathered the highest Parker scores for their reds as well as Jancis Robinson’s highest ever scores for their rosés.  Not so much a rising star as a ‘shining star in the wine making firmament’.

Nik Darlington of Pip wines set out to show us that times had changed: grapes were now grown with care in cool areas (for Australia) and their juice was being turned into wine with sensitivity and the careful use of oak. Over the course of an interesting and very enjoyable presentation in which he showed four white and four red wines, he more than made his point and convinced us that the best Australian wines had improved beyond measure over the recent years. He also, as the images show, demonstrated that Australia is a very beautiful place to have a vineyard.

In the world of wine, Italian whites have all too often been seen as the ‘poor cousins’. Thirty years ago it was Lambrusco and raffia-covered flasks of Chianti that dominated the charts. Then came ‘killer Bs’ of northern and central Italy and – for the fully sophisticated the glittering allure of the ‘super-Tuscans.

Have we moved on? Yes, a bit, thanks in considerable part to our President Michael Palij MW whose Winetraders’ import business has always specialised in the wines of Italy. But can Italy’s white wines provide more than fresh, fruity appeal? Michael came to the Club on a chilly north Oxford evening to upturn some assumptions – and what a freight he brought with him. Generous magnums of serious

Sophia Bergqvist’s sparkling presentation of the wines of her Quinta de la Rosa was introduced by her long-time friend Gerald Sachs on a cold and rather wet March night.

The Quinta de la Rosa story stretches well over 200 years and embraces wars, bankruptcy, revolution, buried silver and a remarkable christening gift that kept the domain in family hands. Check it out at www.quintadelarosa.com and get a replay of the video that Sophia played to launch our tasting.

‘The best in Roussillon’ says Jancis: the wines of Domaine Treloar with Jonathan Hesford

Jonathan began by describing his, and his wife Rachel’s, journey to Domaine Treloar, nine hectares in Roussillon, south-west of Perpignan. It began with witnessing, first hand, the horror of 9/11 and continued through volunteering at a winery, coming top of the class at wine school (no luck involved there, but a lot of hard work), and then learning the business at a small family winery in New Zealand. In 2006, Jon and Rachel bought their vineyard in Roussillon, drawn in part by the region’s value for money and the presence of old vines, but – as became clear during the tasting – primarily inspired by the range of grape varieties and the relative lack of bureaucratic control of the wine industry there. In Roussillon, Jon said, they had the freedom to express themselves. Specifically,  Domaine Treloar is committed to wines made in the vineyard, with as little manipulation of flavour as possible – wines that one can trace back to their creation.