November Meeting
The wine club had a change of venue for this event, very different and extremely cosy, we had more people attend than at any other time so thanks for your support. The evening was entertaining and informative as ever. Ian Hewson attended with his annual presentation of wines for Christmas. He began with a Picoul de Pinet 2008, from the Languedoc, this was an extremely pleasant white, refreshing and light, good with seafood especially crustacean. The Champagne that followed was equally well appreciated, although some felt that it did not last long on the palate and the bubbles disappeared rather too quickly to make it a classic. We then compared the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2008 Southern Lights with the Jean Reverdy Sancerre 2008. There was a pretty even split among the members, as to preference if it helps the Sauvignon was £3 dearer. The next revelation was a very nice Cabernet Sauvignon from Castilla Spain, I personally liked this wine, but in a blind tasting I do not think I would have recognised it as a Cabernet, very smooth more like a merlot, but very nice none the less. The piece de resistance was the Ribera del Duero Reserva Bodegas Valduera, in my humble opinion, the best wine of the evening, delicious, but a little pricey at £23!!! – but you get what you pay for as they say. The final wine was a desert wine from Australia very spicy and wintery but very popular, a few of us decided to purchase this Seppeltsfield Rutherglen Muscat Cellar No 9.
Hope to see you all next month on the 9th for Williams take on Champagne.
Chris Traynor