Approximately 50 OWC members gathered at the Cherwell Boathouse Marquee on a mild winter evening for a wonderful ‘Greek odyssey’ tasting of some of the best in Greek wines. Our speaker, Czech born MW Lenka Sedlackova, who now works at Bancroft wines, is on the Greek wines judging panels for both Decanter and the recently established 50 Best Greek Wines Award.

For those who are unfamiliar with the ‘Call my bluff’ format, ‘en bref’ it is an evening of fun and involves a competitive viniferous guessing game. Each of the ‘wise men’ in turn describes the wine that has been poured then each table must guess which of the three is telling the truth. At the end of the evening the table with the most correct guesses wins. It probably took new members and guests a few minutes to settle into the rhythm of bluff and double bluff, however those familiar with the format, including our ‘Bluffers’, certainly pitched in with gusto.

The word ‘selected’ considerably underplays Mark’s generosity when he presented seven spectacular sweet wines to the Club at St Cross on 22 November.

For Mark, wines are under an imperative duty to be interesting. If they’re not, he’s not. In the case of sweet wines that means he’s always looking for good natural acidity so that the wines are not just ‘sweet’ but offer the possibility of refreshment. For our tasting he also wanted to show how these wines age. As he said, everyone knows what a young Sauternes tastes like – and he feels that in their middle years many sweet wines are uninteresting - but once they have thirty or forty years age? Well, we’ll come to that later…

A little over 40 OWC members and guests attended a tasting of wines from Brazil, presented by Nicholas Corfe, Managing Director of Go Brazil Wine and Spirits. We tasted a range of eight quality wines from recent vintages ranging from a traditional method sparkling wine to a fortified late harvest Tannat. The vast majority of those present had never before tasted good quality Brazilian wines. Thus, the evening proved to be an eye-opening and informative moment for many. Before sampling the wines, Nic gave us a brief outline of the history and geography of winemaking in Brazil which I have attempted to summarise below.

John Livingstone-Learmonth’s tasting of the wines of the Rhône at St Cross on 19^th September was remarkable for its passion, its erudition and the quality of the wines he showed. Rightly this was a full house of members – over 70 in total – a tribute to the man and his subject.

The Club members were treated to a highly entertaining and informative presentation on the world of rosé by Provence resident, rosé producer, and rosé specialist Elizabeth Gabay MW. (A return visit to the Club. She made a first presentation to us several years ago).

The wines tasted were:

Mateus Rose

Shypoke, Rosé of Charbono 2020.

Troupis Route Gris Moschofilero 2021.

Cabernet d’Anjou: Chateau La Tomaze Rosé 2020

Château de Manissy, Tavel Rosé Tet de Cuvée

Saint-Chinian: Château Milhau-Lacugue Rosé 2020

Rioja Rosado, Finca Allende 2017

Alto Piemonte, Al Posto dei Fiori, Le Pianelle Rosato 2018

Aoton Lola Retsina Rosé 2018

‘Ten wines, ten different aspects of Rioja.’ Such was Andrew Halliwell’s pitch when he came to talk to Club members at St Cross College (a new and very successful venue for the Club).

And ten wines there were: a sparkling Rioja, a rare Tempranillo Blanco, a rosé made by Andrew himself at Bodega Obalo, and then seven reds ranging from examples of new wave, fruit-driven wines from Garnacha and Maturano Tinto to more traditional, Tempranillo- and oak-dominated wines.

A wonderful tasting of wines from the Wine Society’s portfolio, illustrating the effects of terroir on the choice of grape variety in California and Oregon and contrasting wine making techniques. A sparkling wine (Quartet Anderson Valley Brut, Roederer Estates NV) was the entry wine followed by four pairings:

1.  Elk Cove Vineyards Williamette Valley Estate Pinot Blanc 2021 versus Epiphany Santa Barbara Grenache Blanc 2018
2. Sokol Blosser Dundee Hills Chardonnay 2020 versus Au Bon Climat Santa Barbara Chardonnay 2021
3. Fess Parker Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir 2021 versus Piedrasassi Sta. Rita Hills Sebastiano-Patterson Vineyard Syrah 2017
4. Long Meadow Ranch Napa Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 versus Once and Future Dickerson Vineyard Napa Zinfandel 2020.

The presenter, Sarah Knowles, who has responsibility for wine buying at the Wine Society for Champagne and Italy as well as North America, also discussed her ‘wine journey’ from geography undergraduate to MW.

It was a dark and stormy night at the Cherwell Boathouse on 22 March when Nancy took us deep into the depths of the forests … and led us out safely with a brilliant display of entertainment, erudition and fascinating wines.

The wine world, said Nancy, is perhaps just at the beginning of a third age of oenology. In the beginning (aka the 1970s) it was all about the cellars and the wineries. Wine, we thought, was made in the winery. Then in the 1990s came the vineyard revolution. Issues of leaf cover, planting density, vineyard management, soil treatment, micro-climatic effects dominated the discourse. And now we are entering the age of wood.

It’s not that the partnership of wood and wine is a new one. Wooden casks have been used to ferment, mature and store wine for millennia. What is new though is the technical advances that are adding science to the age-old art and expertise of the coopers.

Caroline started her presentation by reminding us of the geography of the region, how varied the history and culture is of each of the countries and how varied the topography. With national boundaries changing over time, often several times within a relatively few years, culture and ethnicity tend to be of greater importance than a ‘nationality badge’. Each of the countries represented in the tasting (Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Slovenia) was introduced showing a map of the country, highlighting the main wine growing areas, and the main wine industry statistics and grapes were given. The latter information is shown in each of the sections below.