Upton Village

South Oxfordshire

VPA Summer Show Schedules Now Available

Don’t forget our day trip on Saturday 8th June to The Vyne at Sherborne St John RG 24 9HL. The Vyne is a National Trust 16th century country house and estate. Full details of the time a nd transport arrangements will be available from Karen at Blewbury Post Office or from Maggie Maytham in Upton (01235 850126)

There has been a slight delay in producing the Summer Show Schedule – it should now be available either in the Blewbury post office or online by emailing Eileen on vpa.in.bl.up@gmail.com or by ringing Margaret in Upton on 01235 850126. You don’t have to be an expert and it’s great fun taking part. Don’t forget the Childrens’ Section – hopefully we will have a few more junior exhibitors taking part this year.

DID YOU KNOW ?  “The sunflower is a native plant of the Americas, where the Indians used its seed as an important source of food.  The Incas of Peru were sun worshippers and used it in religious ceremonies.  The sunflower leans towards the sun in a process known as heliotropism.”

Happy Gardening—Eileen

Theatre Club to visit “Kiss me Kate”

Theatre Group

It’s been a while, but I’m trying to resume normal service.

Today I reserved 16 seats for Cole Porter’s marvellous “Kiss Me Kate” at the Watermill Theatre for the evening of Wednesday 4 September.   The group discounted price is £26.20 for seats in the front two rows of the stalls.   As usual, the first to pay secure their places.

I cannot, as far as I know, get a group discount for the Blewbury Players’ production this year, Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible”, but I can perhaps co-ordinate tickets or transport.   The dates are 16-20 July.   Let me know when booking opens.

Malcolm Wright  Tel 850705

Bake Up go Italian

We had a molto splendido spread of Italian tastes and treats at April’s meet, all impeccably hosted by Lesley – grazie!

Italian cuisine is no longer classed as exotic, but there were loads of innovative dishes to try including moreish fresh ravioli by Dermot, a salad disguised as a pizza by Colin and some seriously good pork ‘n’ nduja peppers from Ros. Yvonne baked a belter of a focaccia and I made pistachio-filled arancini.

Of course there was pasta! including scrummy lasagne by Lesley and a wonderful baked rotolo courtesy of Mike. Giulia (who has an advantage in things Italian) dished up the quintessential dolce: tiramisu, and Frances and Sarah provided tip-top torte. Frances used polenta with orange in hers, which was the perfect bookend for Joan’s excellent savoury polenta bakes that kicked it all off.

Next meeting will be at The Old Forge on High Street, 5 July at 11:30. Frances has invited us to bring our best American bites this time. If you can join us we’d be delighted.

Kieron

V.P.A. to visit The Vyne.

Don’t forget we have a day trip on Saturday 8th June to The Vyne, Vyne Road, Sherborne St. John, RG24 9HL

The Vyne is a National Trust,16th century estate and country house. Following its huge 2-year roof project, this former Tudor palace has re-opened to tell the story of a Victorian brother and sister who saved the mansion. Full details of the time and transport arrangements will be available with Karen at Blewbury Post Office or contact Maggie Maytham in Upton (01235 850126).

The Summer Show Schedule will be in the Blewbury post office from May onwards or you can get it online from Eileen on vpa.in.bl.up@gmail.com  or by ringing Margaret in Upton on 01235 850126. This is an opportunity for you to show off your skills – growing fruit, flowers and vegetables, or cooking, or handicraft or photography. You don’t have to be an expert and it’s great fun taking part.  There’s also a Childrens’ Section, so hopefully we will have a few more junior exhibitors taking part this year.

DID YOU KNOW ?  “The apple can grow at the highest latitude of all the fruits. Apple trees need almost 1,000 hours of cold autumn and winter air to produce their flowers, which explains why they cannot be grown in hotter climates. The apple was the earliest to be cultivated by man and, like so many other plants, it was introduced to Britain by the Romans. Today, China is the world’s leading apple producer.”

Happy Gardening

Eileen

 

Wine Club look at paying for the brand.

Have you noticed the price of wine has gone up recently?  If, for example your favourite tipple is a Sancerre or Pouilly Fume, then you will be paying a few extra pounds for the same bottle this year than last. There are a number of reasons for this and not all down to Brexit! Low yields, increases in tax and the simple economics of supply and demand to name but a few. Maybe, you are also paying a bit for the brand?

With this in mind, April’s wine club took on the challenge of comparing similar wines but with a significant price difference!  Members compared two wines at a time, served blind. First, we looked at two sparkling wines. A Cremant de Loire and Taittinger. Both excellent wines with the Champagne giving classic notes of yeast and “ burnt toast” flavour synonymous with that quality wine. The members were split on opinions and with the Cremant nearly 3 times cheaper the overall consensus was that you could taste the difference but if the flavours of Champagne are not your thing then at £12.99 a bottle, what a great alternative!.

Next we looked at two Sauvignon Blanc wines from the Loire region. The North or “upper regions” are famous for producing excellent SB’s. Some of the most well known wines come from the Sancerre and Pouilly-sur-Loire region, which produce excellent but rather expensive whites. We looked at a Pouilly Fume and another SB from the less know area of Touraine, 60 miles to the West. If you like this wine then please do try some from the Touraine area, based on the reaction from our members, there was little to tell between both wines (other than the Olivier Dubois from Touraine was £7.99, over half the price of the Les Cascadeles).

We moved on to the reds and tried two wines with a base grape of Tempranillo. A classic Rioja was compared with wine from Ribera del duero (North West of Spain). The Vina Alarde Reserva Rioja was considered an excellent example of a good Rioja, which at £5.48 per bottle, was a third the price of the Emilio Moro (which was still an excellent wine!) if you have never tried wines from the Ribera region then definitely worth a try from something a little different.

Our last comparison of the evening looked at two wines from Bordeaux. The Wine Societies house Claret was compared with the Society’s Exhibition Margaux. With the Margaux being one of our most expensive wines of the year at nearly £25 per bottle, we were all keen to see if there was much difference. One only had to look at the different quantities of wine in each of David’s (the presenter), tasting glass to see which was his favourite wine of the evening! Sometimes it really is worth paying a bit extra……but do not always go with the wine just because of the brand!

Next month’s wine’s club is on the 15th May and is a must for new and existing members. We are combining food from the Upton Baking club with Members stories – a chance to hear what everyone else has been tasting over the past year or so. Also, we will be voting for the Wine Club Logo! There is still time to submit your entry! For all the details please visit our website: https://uptonwineclub.com/

Ian Langley (Chairman)

 

V.P.A. March Notes

Well, what about that March wind!!  On my allotment, one shed was blown over and two people lost (not literally)  their walk-in poly tunnels – they were crumpled up with the force of the wind.   Two polycarbonate panels of my greenhouse blew out, but fortunately didn’t break, so I got them back in with loads of clips.  I was surprised how well my over-winter broad beans survived – I now have flowers on them!   At home I’m still waiting to see if my red acer has survived from the heat of last summer – the leaves were burnt and fell off.   I can’t see any buds at the moment.   It seems as though everything else has survived and my Daphne and Viburnum have bloomed and smell beautiful.  Anyway enough of my personal ramblings.

We have an updated programme availabe in Blewbury Post Office and with Maggie Maytham in Upton.  It gives you the details of our event in August and also gives the correct date for the June outing – apologies for the previous error.

Don’t forget to look on the back of the programme for the tools we have available to hire for a donation.  You might find them useful when you really get going in your garden or allotment.   Our Mantas rotavator is up and running and is lightweight enough to make it so easy to use.

Karen is our Show Secretary now and is in the process of preparing the Schedule for the Summer Show – hopefully it will be in the Post Office soon and Maggie in Upton will also have copies.  So we can get our exhibits ready – there is a great variety of categories which cover gardening, cookery, handicraft, photography, so there must be something you can enter.

DID YOU KNOW ?  “Raspberries can be grown anywhere from the Arctic to the Equator.   Strawberries were considered an aphrodisiac in the Middle Ages and a soup of strawberries, borage and cream was traditionally served to newly-weds for breakfast.”

Happy Gardening

Eileen

Wine Club Enjoy a Wine and Cheese Evening

Carrying on the popular theme of wine with food, we had another great wine and cheese evening this month with some outstanding cheeses and very drinkable wine combinations.

We started with a lovely, high quality and drinkable Prosecco with a delicious Gran Padano cheese followed by a crisp, dry yet very aromatic and pleasantly floral Greek white with some melted halloumi. A lightly oaked yet bright and fresh Chardonnay paired well with a beautiful creamy brie and a fragrant and full-bodied Viognier with a very indulgent creamy and complex Delice de Crème!

On to reds and we enjoyed a very fruity rich Sangiovese with Taleggio: Typically a mild creamy cheese with an unexpected pungent aroma. Then a very drinkable fruity Grenache from the Barossa valley in Australia. It was brilliantly paired with a hard goat’s cheese affectionately named “Rustic Rachel” after a lovely lady who apparently shared personality traits with this cheese (sweet, curvy and slightly nutty – wish we could meet her!) and topped with a dark cherry to match the notes of the wine. A 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina made from grapes grown in the very sunny region of North Mendoza went very well with a delicious mature Cornish Quartz cheddar.

We rounded off the evening with a tawny port paired with a robust Barkham Blue, a lovely classic combination leaving us wanting even more despite having had SO much!

Thanks to the Committee for pulling together some delicious and well matched combinations.   All in all it was a very sociable and relaxed evening.

It’s great to see both regular and new faces at Wine Club.   If you’re new to Upton and you would like to meet some friendly village folk over a drink and a chat or would just like to try it out, please get in touch or just come along to our next meeting on Wednesday 17th April at 8pm. It’s very relaxed and down to earth and you really don’t need to know anything about wine (just enjoy drinking it). We would love to see you!

Lastly, don’t forget the Wine Club logo competition!  Entries to Ian in time for May’s meeting.

Any enquiries about Wine Club, please contact Ian at  ian.langley@yahoo.co.uk

Ros

For more wine and meeting details please see Twitter @UptonWine

V.P.A. Welcomes Members from outside the Villages

 

Well, so far so good with the weather – a bit of snow just to remind us all it’s still winter, but not too much rain to make it difficult to get into the garden and onto the allotments.

Many of you know I infiltrated the Blewbury and Upton VPA a good few years ago (although it was by invitation) and have been on the committee for quite a while. I live in Didcot on the Ladygrove Estate – I’m one of its original residents, having moved from London in 1988 and I’ve had an allotment on New Road since 2001. That’s the allotment site on the road coming into Didcot from Blewbury and Hagbourne.

The reason I am boring you with this information is to let anyone who is currently reading this edition of the Upton News and is not a resident of Blewbury or Upton know – “where ever you live, you are more than welcome to join us and take part in all our activities and events, especially our Summer Show.  Best of all Membership is free!”

If you would like a copy of our 2019 Programme send an email to vpa.in.bl.up@gmail.com and I will send you a copy on line, or pop into Blewbury Post Office and pick one up.

Our first 2019 committee meeting took place last week and we discussed the Schedule for the Summer Show which takes place on Saturday 13th July at Blewbury Village Hall. Despite the really hot weather last year the Show was very well supported with over 30 exhibitors. Categories include exhibiting fruit, vegetables, flowers, cookery, handicraft, photography and also a childrens’ section. We also have a novice section in each category, so if you’ve never exhibited before – give it a go. It’s all great fun and you could win a trophy and prize money!!

Next month will have more details on the visit to The Vyne on the 8th June and we will let you know when the Summer Show Schedule is available.

DID YOU KNOW ?  “Apart from being bad for cabbages, rue, is bad for many herbs. Some old wives’ tales say that it can make sage planted near it positively poisonous; but it is more likely to simply kill it, as it may basil. Many people plant gladioli in the vegetable garden, simply because the stakes that they need look ugly in the flower beds.  They are, however, extremely bad for peas and beans, and so bad for strawberries that these will suffer from them planted up to fifty feet away.”

 

Happy Gardening

Eileen

Wine Club Pair Food and Wine

The theme of February’s Wine Club evening was the pairing of food & wine from the same country, with the added challenge of the foods being a little out-of-the-ordinary as far as wine pairing goes.

First on the menu was a very tasty Peri-Peri chicken dish.  This spicy dish from Portugal was matched with a very drinkable vihno verde, Casal de Ventozela (Majestic Wines, £7.99 as part of a “mix six” discount).  There was general agreement in the crowd that the match worked well and was a good one to remember for the summer BBQ season.

Then we hopped half way around the globe in one bound and landed in Thailand!  Here we were met with Thai butternut squash soup, which although absolutely delicious proved to be a real challenge on the wine-pairing front!  There had been valiant attempts to get hold of a Thai wine, but the gods were against it and so after much head-scratching the dish was paired with a 2017 Dr Loosen Riesling (£15.99 @ Waitrose) from the southern end of the Mosel valley in Germany, where the Riesling wines are more fruity and sweeter than their more northerly counterparts.  Despite not being Thai, everyone agreed it was a great pairing and one to remember for the next visit to your favourite Thai restaurant.

Next we brought it back home to Blighty where we were served traditional fish ‘n’ chips, and to cut through the cholesterol, what better than the fine acidity of an English sparking wine: in this case it was Ridgeview Bloomsbury (£25.99 @ Waitrose).  The fizz worked very well with the richness of the food and the citrus notes chimed well with the fish.

Of course, no globetrotting wine tour would be complete without a visit to France and here we were treated to a delicious pâté.  The wine pairing here worked brilliantly and was a pinot noir from Burgundy (‘Les Pierres Rouges’ 2015 Louis Jadot @ Majestic Wine – £14.99 as part of a “mix six” discount).  The richness of the food was balanced well by the lighter and slightly tannic wine.

Travelling back to the Iberian peninsula, Spain was our next port of call.  Here we tasted sautéd chorizo and sweet peppers which were set off superbly by the higher alcohol and tannins of a rich Rioja (Hacienda Don Hernan Rioja 2016 @ Naked Wines, £11.99).  Again one to remember for those looming summer months.

Next we jumped over The Pond and landed in South America: Argentina to be precise.  Here we were treated to Morcilla (black pudding to me and you), which again proved to pose something of a challenge on the wine pairing front.  However, after a little thought and a lot of help from the nice man at Majestic Wines, we found a very succulent Argentinian “Bordeaux” blend (Arraigo Benegas Single Vinyard Blend 2011 – £11.99 as part of a “mix six” discount) which did a better than average job of matching up to the food.

Heading north from there we entered the land of the burger (USofA) where that king of foods was paired with a wine which is one of my personal favourites – Zinfandel (F. Stephen Millier Black Label Old Vine @ Naked Wines – £10.99).  A match made in heaven!

And finally, back to Spain to match one of the most delicious meringues that I and most others there had tasted, with a great example of a Floralis Moscatel dessert wine (Floralis Moscatel Oro Catalunya @ Waitrose – £8.25 per half bottle).  A perfect end to a great evening!

NB: Special thanks to Maddy Langley for her to-die-for meringues. I swear there were scuffles for the last few!

All-in-all another very sociable and well lubricated evening.  If you’re curious about wine and want to join us in learning more (we’re no experts!) or just fancy a good night out  drop our chairman a note (ian.langley@yaoo.co.uk) or just come along to the next evening on 20th March at 8pm in the Upton Village Hall – all welcome!

Nick

 

Wine Club go looking for a Bargain

Following on from the most expensive time of the year, but not kow-towing to dry January, the welcome theme for January’s village wine club was the January Sales! Interesting wines, significantly discounted by big retailers, were carefully selected by enthusiastic committee members looking out for a bargain!

We had a good range of wines from a light Spanish sparkling Cava to some contrasting whites including a WHITE Rioja (Kevin!), a refreshing dry Muscadet and an exotic fruity Australian Chardonnay. Very drinkable and good value reds comprised a New Zealand Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, a fruity Zinfandel, a meaty Chianti Classico and a classy Barossa Shiraz. All wines had at least a 25% discount on normal prices and are at time of writing still available!  For more detail of the wines, please see the Upton Wine Club website at http://www.uptonwineclub.com/or follow us on twitter @UptonWine

In other news, would anyone be interested in having a go at designing the first Upton Wine Club logo?  Any entries would be very welcome and the prize for the winner will be your own T shirt with the newly designed logo on the front.  It will be an excellent addition to your wardrobe and very good for showing off around the village when the summer comes.

Meanwhile, coming up is our very popular food and wine pairing meeting. Please put Wednesday 20th February in your diary and don’t forget to book! We would love to see you there. It was great to see some new faces this month; we hope very much to see you again next time for some great wines and hopefully delicious food. All welcome as ever.

Any enquiries about Wine Club, please contact Ian at  ian.langley@yahoo.co.uk

Ros