“Pushing the Boat Out”
As is traditional for the Club this time of year the committee sourced a selection of wines of various styles to be enjoyed with foods eaten over the Christmas festivities and pushed the budget to approximately £20.00 a bottle; and as always this proved a very popular evening with 40 people our highest attendance of the year so far which made for a very lively evening. Frankie began the evening introducing a Champagne (with Royal Warrant) – G. H. MUMM Cordon Rouge NV (Waitrose £33.50 750ml) and one of the best and well known English Sparkling Wines a Nyetimber Classic Cuvee NV – (Waitrose £32.99 750ml) matched with homemade roasted / salted almonds, olives and mini cheese straws. The Nyetimber held its own against the Mumm with its fine bubbles and toasty spicy slightly baked apple taste. Frankie did take advantage of the 25% off wine deal offered by Waitrose at the time of buying the wines.
Sue chose to talk about a classic French Chablis 1er Cru Vaillons 2013 William Fevre (Majestic £23.40 750ml) on her debut as a speaker (and a great job she did too!) and prepared salmon blinis to match. David described Richard Kershaw MW Richard’s Elgin Chardonnay 2015 from a cool climate area of South Africa (Naked Wines £24.99/ Angel price £13.99 750ml) paired with Epoisses cheese and crackers.
Ian’s wines were a French and New Zealand Pinot Noir. A Saint Clair Pioneer Block Pinot Noir 2015 Marlborough (£18.99/£16.99 750ml) was first followed by the Beaune 1er Cru ‘Les Toussaints’ 2010 Albert Morot (£25.00/£22.50 750ml) paired with mushroom pate (to match the tertiary notes of the wines we were told) and duck pate.
Finally we came to the Dessert wines. A Rutherglen Muscat from North East Victoria Australia Jen Pfeiffer The Diamond Rutherglen Muscat (Naked Wines £17.99/ Angel price £12.99 500ml) described as “Sweet, syrupy, raisiny, yummy goodness in a glass” and a William Pickering, 20-Year-Old, Tawny Port (Berry Brothers and Rudd £28.00 750ml) paired with stilton and chocolate brownies. The port with the chocolate brownies seemed to be the most popular combination!
Meeting in the Village Hall between 20:00-2200 the Club welcomes everyone who has an interest in wine no matter how small. We usually taste 4 white and 4 red wines per meeting which are small tasting measures so hangovers are avoided and being in the village no driving is required!. We try to cater for all tastes and the evening is also enjoyed as a village social to meet with other village residents.
Although we have a membership of 60 members and attract an average of 32 to most meetings we always welcome new members from the village so if you’ve wondered about joining us, please contact me, an existing member or anyone from the committee for more details. You are very welcome to try with your first meeting as a guest. The more the merrier!
The club’s regular meetings continue on the third Wednesday of each month
Subject to final confirmation, we intend to enjoy:
– 18th January: Lidl/Aldi Tasting. Presenter-Will Betts. £5.00
– 22nd February: Loire Valley. Presenter-Derek Whitmell. £7.50
Finally have a Happy New Year and hope to see you in January
Cheers!
Kevin Jacklin, Secretary