Many of us are familiar with that last minute dash to the shops, to buy a bottle or two of wine to accompany a special meal or to take out to supper with friends. So how far do you have to go, and how much do you have to spend, in order to get a decent bottle of wine? The new year saw Upton’s Wine Appreciation Club meet to investigate this important question. The challenge – to find the best wines available within a few miles of the village within a budget of £10 a bottle. With each member of the committee finding one or two wines, all headed to Didcot and to Aldi, Sainsbury and Tesco. Wines selected ranged from a very on-trend Aperol Spritz aperitif and Champagne (with change from £10) to whites from South Africa and New Zealand. Reds were from the old world, a Madiran and Rioja Reserva both from Tesco. I had thought that sweet wines would pose a real challenge, being hard to find within budget, but I needn’t have worried – Sicilian Marsala provided an interesting counterpoint to a sweet red wine, Mavrodaphne of Patras, which is made in a manner reminiscent of Port and offers some of the more famous wine’s character albeit with less alcohol. Our members enjoyed the evening, and discussion during and after the event seemed to suggest that we could run a repeat imposing a more restrictive budget.
If you’ve wondered about joining us, please do contact an existing member or anyone from the committee – you’re very welcome to try your first meeting as a guest, and the more the merrier.
Looking ahead, our meetings continue on the third Wednesday of each month. Subject to final confirmation, we intend to enjoy:
17 February: Wines of Australia presented by Mike Collins, the club’s first Chairman.
16 March: Popular visiting wine professional, Lee Isaacs, introducing wines from Italy.
20 April: A flying visit from winemaker, Katie Jones, from the Languedoc in France.
18 May: Your committee presenting some of their favourite food and wine matches.
Cheers!
William Betts, Chairman