The programme for the next six months is now on the site and can be found here – New Programme. This marks the beginning of our tenth year and there are a number of changes to the usual format that we have had for so long.

For a numberof reasons, which we are all aware of, we are moving to a new home and from September 28th 2011 our meetings will be held at The Angel Inn, High Street, Pershore, WF10 1AF, you can find directions here – Map There is ample parking and it will be a much more relaxed atmosphere, without the rush at the end of the evening. As part of this we are reverting to our original start time of 7.30 pm making it less of a rush for everyone.

In addition Chris is organising a series of Connoisseurs Evenings, the first to be held on Weds 11 January 2012, you can find the details of that here – Connoisseurs Evening These are to be run alongside the normal Society Meetings and offer a new and exciting dimension to the Society’s programme.

The minibus will run as usual from the Evesham area, pick up times being a few minutes later to allow for the new start time.

Membership is due this month and is £25 per head.

Our first meeting is New Zealand Wines presented by Tracy Taylor from Waitrose – and there might just be a bit of a Birthday Party too!

Our July meeting will be Summer Wines on a Budget and with a twist.

The format for the evening will be slightly different to normal and I hope you will enjoy it. You can blame me if you don’t like the wines as I have chosen them all!

The bus will run as usual from Evesham, and if you know of anyone who would enjoy the evening, do bring them along – visitors and new members are always welcome. For ‘usual’ bus crew, if you are not able to come and have not already let us know, please contact Peter asap. We do have a few spaces on the bus for anyone in the Evesham area.

A few people have already contacted me about bringing a guest – if anyone else is bringing along an ‘extra’ please would you be kind enough to let me know.

Please bear in mind that it is important that we start and finish on time given the financial penalties of over running.

The November meeting was another excellent evening presented by Giles Goodhew, an old friend of the society.  Sadly I missed it, a particular shame as it is well known among the group that the wines of Rhone and Southern France are high on my list of favourites. My disappointment in missing it has not been helped by the good reports I have received of the evening and the wines! I am grateful to fellow members of the ‘Bus Crew’ for the details.

Giles was as eloquent as ever on a topic that is obviously close to his heart. He presented eight wines from the range offered by Georges Barbier of London, sadly I cannot find a web address but contact details are at the end of this post.  All the wines were well received with no clear favourite, each wine struck a chord with someone.

Discussions ranged around the Old World versus New World wines, the consensus being that as a group we much appreciate the subtleties of old world wines.

The Wines tasted were:-

White

Cotes-du-Rhone Blanc 2009, Cellier des Chatreaux, £6-99

Viognier Vin de Pays des Cotes de Thongue 2008, Domaine La Croix Belle, £6-47

Rousette de Savoie, 2007, Domaine Andre et Michel Quenard, £11-52

Reisling Muschelkalck 2008, Domaine Ettienne Loew, £11-52

Red

Pinot Noir, Vin de Pays des Alpes de Haute-Provence 2008, £6-88

Cotes du Ventoux Vieilles Vignes 2008, Domaine de Font Sane, £8-23

Crozes-Hemitge Rouge Noble Rives 2005, caves Taine l’Hermitage,  £8-93

Bandol 2003, Chateau Jean-Pierre Gaussoen, £16-10

Giles can be contacted at The Wellington Inn, Chance Pitch, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR13  6HW Tel;- 01684 540269

Georges Barbier Ltd is situated at 267 Lee High Road, London, SE12 8RU Tel:- 020 885 25801

As ever – if anyone would care to add any comments/tasting notes, please do so in the comments and I will add them to these notes.

Those who were at the last meeting will know about this, but for anyone who was unfortunate enough to miss it Richard Booth is holding a tasting at his shop in Tewkesbury on Thursday 11th November.  There will be a varied selection of wines available to try.

It was suggested that a group may like to go to the tasting and then go for some food afterwards, Chris has suggested an early evening tasting – say 7.15 pm. followed by a meal at around 8.30 p.m.  Possible venues for food are The Great Wall (Chinese), The New World (www.thenewworld.co.uk ) or Owens ( www.eatatowens.co.uk ).

The venue for the tasting is  That Wine Place, 110 High St, Tewks, GL20 5JZ

If you are interested please contact Chris direct or send an email via the Contact  Us page

One of the main things we all chat about at meetings is recent tastings we have attended so we thought it might be an idea to put details of any upcoming tastings here on the website.

If you know of any – or are holding one – please send us the details and they will be posted on the website and on the calendar of events to help us plan our diaries.

I will add details of any that I am currently aware of – also if there is anything else you would like to see on the site,  just let me know.

Details can be sent to us via the Contact page

Richard Booth of That Wine Place in Tewkesbury presented a very interesting evening of wines from Chile and Argentina, with a couple of strays from South Africa. The selection was interesting, with an unusual Torrontes being the star of the evening for me.  We were fortunate to be able to taste two vintages of the Aromo Private Reserve Sauvignon Blanc and make a comparison with the 2010 vintage winning out.

The South African strays joined us as Richard didn’t feel that there were any ‘sparklers’ from Chile or Argentina that were suitable, instead he brought a couple from Graham Beck in the Western Cape region. Among the many interesting snippets of information that Richard entertained us with was that Graham Beck supplied the wine for the Toast at the Inauguration of President Obama – and that formal Wine tasting began in the fourteenth century.

As ever, the conversation flowed, discussions covering the differences between New Zealand and Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, the qualities of Torrontes, and the spectacular rise in popularity of Argentinian Malbec.

The wines tasted were:-

White

Aromo Private Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2009 & 2010, Chile (£8-49)

Zohar Torrontes 2009, Argentina (£10-99)

Aromo Barrel Select Chardonnay 2009, Chile (£12-99)

Red

Aromo Private Reserve Carmenere 2009, Chile (£8-49)

Terza Malbec , Argentina (£8-49)

Aromo Barrel Select Red, Chile (£12-99)

Sparkling

Graham Beck Blanc de Blancs 2006, South Africa (£14-99)

Graham Beck Brut NV, South Africa (£13-99)

Richard can be contacted at That Wine Place, 110 High Street, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 5JZ,  01684 292752  http://www.thatwineplace.co.uk

If anyone would care to add any comments/tasting notes, please do so in the comments and I will add them to these notes.

Image via Wikipedia

Our September meeting was Italian Wines presented by Floyd Mills of Hay Wines.  As ever Floyd presented an excellent evening of (and I quote) ‘funky Italian wines’.  Wines came from all parts of Italy and there was an interesting selection of grape varieties at least one of which was I had never tasted before, Erbaluce.

Floyd’s passion for his subject came across with the wealth of information presented, leaving us all with a much greater knowledge of the wine industry in Italy and the hidden gems that can be found when you stray away from the more widely known varieties and regions.

The discussion ranged around alcohol levels, corks versus screw cap, food matches and bulk wine production to cover but a few of the topics.

The Wines tasted were:-

White

A.Mano Fiani-Greco 2009, Puglia (£8-49)

Masseria Pietrosa Verdeca 2009, Puglia (£10-99)

Proprieta Sperino 2008,  Erbaluce di Caluso (£12-99)

Specogna Rovolla Gialla 2009, Colli Orientall del Fruili (£13-99)

Red

Villa Torino Nero D’Avola 2008, Sicily (£7-29)

Alpha Zeta Corvina 2009, Veronese (£7-49)

A. Mano Negroamaro 2008, Puglia (£8-49)

Prima Mano Primitivo 2006, Salento (£16-99)

Floyd can be contacted at Hay Wines, 11 High Street, Ledbury, Herefordshire, HR8  1DS , 01531 634449 http://www.haywines.co.uk

If anyone would care to add any comments/tasting notes, please do so in the comments and I will add them to these notes.

The new programme for Sept 2010 – February 2011 is now available and you can see it by clicking here => new programme or by clicking on the tab in the menu bar above.

As ever Maree and Chris have put together a varied programme with  some old friends coming back to visit again, and some new faces.

Membership is due in September and the cost has been held at the same price for another year.  Membership is £20 due at the September meeting, and the cost per evening is £10 for members.  For non-members a suggested donation would be £15.

Meeting times remain the same, 7.15 pm start and 9.15 .m. finish.

Don’t forget you can sign up for the mailing list, using the form on the right, to be kept up to date with news, events etc.  Our mailing list is used only for this purpose and is absolutely secure and confidential.

Look forward to seeing you all in September.

As promised, here are some photos from the River Cruise, courtesy of John.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]