March saw the return of a perennial favourite, Lee Isaacs of Wine Matters, who presented wines from Italy.
As an experienced and highly qualified wine educator, Lee explained Italy’s importance as a wine producer; Italy regularly ranks first or second (to France) in lists of the world’s largest producers of wine. In context, this means that Italy’s million vineyards are responsible for about one third of global wine production. Always engaging and amusing, Lee then led us through an overview of the history of wine production in Italy and a tour of the modern appellation system, shedding welcome light on terms including IGP, DOC, DOCG and Classico with the aid of some wonderful slides displayed (with thanks to Brian R.) by means of UVHAT’s projector
In terms of value, given a £7.50 ticket price, the club was very pleased that Lee could act as guide to some of the idiosyncrasies of Italian wines explaining, for example, the link between the fine minerality of Lugana Ghiraldi and the Trebbiano di Lugana grape, which is really Verdicchio! We tasted a genuine Lambrusco – not to everybody’s taste, but a rare beast redolent of cola and a perfect foil for the meats of Modena. Very generously, and to unanimous approval, Lee then went on to treat us to fine Chianti, a Taurasi DOCG (a world-class red from Campania) and a Cannubi Barolo retailing at over £50 a bottle.
We now look forward to April’s meeting, at which we will welcome Katie Jones, an experienced winemaker from the Languedoc in France. 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.
As we near the end of our season, the club’s regular meetings continue on the third Wednesday of each month. Subject to final confirmation, we intend to enjoy:
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.
25 June: The annual club BBQ
Cheers!
William Betts, Chair