September - Wines Unfurled

Jerome Harlington of Wines Unfurled presented a variety of wines from smaller vinyards across Europe. We had a fizz, 3 whites, 3 reds, and (unusually) a Port to finish.

Some interesting wines in there - a Riesling from Slovenia, a Mauzac from Gaillac, and a AOC Cheverney (loire) which is a very recent Appelation. All very fine, but at list prices all north of £10 per bottle, shows the difficulty that small merchants have in competing with the supermarkets.

Jerome did offer a 20% discount on wines on the night and I know one or two members did take him up on the offer.

For me, the best wine was the Valpollicella Classico at a discounted price of £8.99 (list £10.99) - its a wine that I remember from my student days in the late '70s, much maligned at the time, but a real classic - go for the Ripasso style if you can...

Photos from August

Linda Harris took some nice photos at Esthers August meeting - here they are.

Sept 2011: UWS at the WI

On Thursday the 1st September, we did a tasting for the Ruislip WI. Myself, Jean and Esther presented "Old World vs New World" wines. Jean and I spent an interesting half hour selecting the wines at Sainsbury's - 6 wines (4 white, 2 red) trying to get a good comparison of old vs new.

The evening went well, but for me the most amazing thing was the great value we managed to get -- 12 bottles of wine for a total of £60.02 - thats only £5 per bottle average.

Loads of offers - 2 for £10 or 50% off, that sort of thing - all great value. To my mind the 2 best were the NZ Makutu Bay, at 50% off - £5.49, and the Jacobs Creek Shiraz at £5.61 (also reduced)

We had a great evening, and our pictures even appeared in the Gazette!

Many thanks to the ladies of the WI for inviting us, and to Kim Ford for all the organisation.

August 2011 - Inhouse Tasting by Esther

Well, Esther gave us a cracking evening. After being very coy about what it was she was going to do, it was a fantastic celebration of her & martins 60th wedding anniversary, and a potted history of the 29 years of the wine society.

The wine - who cares really - but started with a fizz (oyster bay), 3 whites - a Bulgarian chardonnay, Hungarian furmint and an Alsace riesling. 2 reds - a beaujolais villages and a rioja, followed by 2 stickies - a mavrodaphne of patras & a PX sherry. An inspired selection and all accompanied by some great nibbles.

A great evening, and a great turnout - about 40 members

July 2011 Meeting - Flagship Wines

The evening was presented by Julia Jenkins of Flagship wines, St Albans - www.flagshipwines.co.uk

A variety of New Zealand wines, all around the £10 -£15 per bottle mark, so they should have been good, and they were!

In the whites we had 4 different grape varieties - a Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and a Gewurtztraminer.

A single rose was tasted - a malbec/merlot blend, followed by 3 reds - a Pinot Noir, a Merlot/Malbec blend and a £25 Shiraz to finish.

A good evening was had, with about 30 members turning up, and several took up the opportunity to buy some wine off Julia at a 10% discount.