Wine Circle
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Alcohol
may not solve your problems, but
neither will water or milk.
Anonymous
Berrynarbor's Wine Circle, like numerous groups nationwide, ceased to convene for and from March 2020. Under normal circumstances, our season runs between October and May, but our lives, from this point on, were anything but normal. Thankfully, Wednesday, 20th October, this year, saw the restart of the Wine Circle and the start of our 2021-2022 season. We are hoping that we have resumed a current normality, and can look forward to completing this season!
Due to the months of absence caused by this deadly virus, the Committee were delighted to realise that 34 people had crossed the threshold; we knew it would have been more, but for illness, an essential family visit and an absence due to contact with a positive Covid 19 case. The Manor Hall is spacious and all members, able to participate, were seated with socially-distanced spacing. This will continue for as long as it is required.
Tony Summers, our Chairman, began with a concise but comprehensive AGM. Sadly, it was followed by a minute's silence for members to remember those we have lost: Alan Eales, Mary Hughes, Carol Lucas and Christine Pocock. His topic for the evening's tastings was a Return to Europe Wine Tour.
Our first white was a French Picpoul de Pinet, then an Austrian Sauvignon Blanc and a Spanish Verdejo. All these were young, 2020, but many of us thought that the Danaris, from Austria, was delicious and if held on the tongue it had a slight fizz. Their prices were £10.99, £8.99 and £8.99.
We followed these with the reds: a French 2018 Fleurie at £12.99. Our next was a 2018 Italian Toscana. This was a Tuscan mixed-grape recipe and £9.99. We finished with a 2019 Vinha do Fava Reserva, from the Setubal Peninsula of Portugal. Its special price was £12.59.
Laithwaites supplied all these wines for our pleasurable evening. It may have been a Return to Europe Wine Tour, but we had travelled safely, tasted some new and interesting wines, socialised with friends and neighbours and all without lateral or peak flow tests, paperwork or our passports!
Our next event will be hosted by Charlie Cotton. Charlie is the knowledgeable founder of Bray Valley Wines in South Molton. We are fortunate to have this supplier 'down the road'. He is an excellent speaker, a thoroughly nice chap and I know he'll be presenting some delicious alcohol! He used to supply to the trade only, but like many businesses, particularly since the pandemic, he supplies to anybody who wishes to visit. At his Pathfields premises, you will be greeted and treated to his expertise and able to sample items from his superb stock, which he tastes before purchase. He'll be with us on Wednesday, 17th November.
The Committee have discussed and agreed that it's wise to have our Christmas event, Wednesday, 8th December, in the Manor Hall. Sadly, this pandemic is still with us, although all of our members, I suspect, have received double or even treble vaccinations. At the Hall, we can be in charge of the social distancing, the cleansing and the timing. Once again, the tables will be laden with home-prepared produce washed down with a few well-chosen tipples!
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
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BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Lord Byron, The Deformed
Transformed
Wednesday, 20th October is on the
horizon and I'm pleased to say that the Wine Circle has plans!The
Manor Hall is capacious; our members are looking forward to returning safely to
our first meeting, hosted by our able Chairman, Tony Summers.
Bray Valley Wines, South Molton, is,
thankfully, a pandemic-survivor. Charlie
Cotton, its knowledgeable founder, has put us in his diary for Wednesday, 17th November.
The 'bewitching hour' starts at 8.00
p.m. for both events, but it will continue until we've all tasted . . . thought
about them . . . and decided we'd like to try some more in roughly four weeks'
time!
We hope you will join us. It's a
great way of drinking, thinking, chatting and laughing!
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
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BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
I
like best the wine drunk at the cost of others.
Diogenes
the Cynic
Drinking
wine at the cost of others has been possible for a while, as restrictions have
been gradually reducing; Monday July 19th is another date in the
pandemic calendar for England.
Politicians made statements, prior to, about donning a mask being a personal
choice, but the professors seem to think we should all wear these, so it's
probably wise to wait and see.
Berrynarbor's
Wine Circle will be delighted to restart in October, the 20th to be precise,
all being well. We'll have to wait and
see as to our social-distancing, but I'm sure many will prefer to continue the 2-metre approach;
however, the Manor Hall has
plenty of space for us to conform to this and, therefore, welcome anybody and
everybody at 8.00 p.m.
Judith
Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
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BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
It is
well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend; one's present or
future thirst; the excellence of the
wine; or any other reason. Latin
proverb
Sadly, nothing to report other than we keep tasting wines at
home; however, we are hoping that we'll
be able to socialise and test-taste at The Manor Hall
in October! It seems a long way off, but we've come
through 14 months of dealing with lockdowns, restrictions, hearing facts and
figures from the SAGE professors, and the politicians! We're still here to hear it all, thankfully!
Many businesses have closed due to this dreadful
disease. Our national landscape has changed, but
Berrynarbor still has its V.I.P's: i.e. very important places. Thankfully,
and alphabetically, the Church, the Globe, the Manor Hall, the School and the Shop,
have all survived! Once all restrictions are lifted, life will
assume a new normal, but I'm sure, having survived all the above, we shall be
hesitant about what we do when we socialise with a
friend, friends or family.
As the vaccination programme is a success, it could be that
the entire village, those eligible to consume alcohol, will have had their shot
in the arm by October. We shall have a ring of confidence around us
before we enter that Hall! Present or future thirst will be quenched; do
join us on Wednesday 20th October at 8,00 p.m. if you wish to have an
experience of the 'excellence of the wine'!
Judith
Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
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BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Age is just a number. It's totally irrelevant unless, of course,
you happen to be a bottle of wine.
Joan Collins
Like many activities up and down the country, Berrynarbor's Wine Circle is hoping to restart soon; however, our season, usually, begins in October. We shall keep to the usual and restart, with EVERYTHING crossed, on Wednesday, October 20th at
8.00 p.m. The Manor Hall will provide a warm welcome to everybody, no matter what their 'age'! It will be good to taste wine, chat and laugh with others again.
Until then, we play our part and stay at home, grabbing exercise when and where we can and socialise with our husbands, partners or in bubbles with whomever! Bubbles may abound when we are all free to ignore Zoom and go our very merry way!
I asked you a few questions in the first Newsletter of this year and here are parts of the questions, to remind you, then the answers.
• Sherry wine is left in barrels to oxidise, with a thick white layer of yeast . . . This is True. The yeast is called flor and is vital to sherry production.
• Which three grape varieties are used for Champagne? Most widely used are: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.
• Red wines are better drunk with cheese rather than whites? Many, including me, enjoy a glass of red when eating cheese; however, cheese blocks tannin receptors on the tongue, making red wines taste sweet and masking flavours. White wines can often be a better match.
• As well as Chardonnay, what other white grapes are grown in Burgundy? The answer is Aligot.
• Glayva is made with Scotch whisky, herbs . . . and which type of fruit? Seville oranges, yes, those associated with marmalade making, are used for this liqueur.
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
25
"I have lived temperately... I
double the doctor's recommendation of a glass and half of wine each day and
even treble it with a friend."
Thomas Jefferson
I suspect that the latter part of the
above, i.e., 'and even treble it with a friend' may well have been appropriate
during lockdown one and two, and may be again, during three, for a few of
us! Who's counting, I say! If it
was alright for Thomas Jefferson, then it's okay! There is no 'naughty list' this year.
Who would have thought that activities
up and down the country that were cancelled last March, will still be cancelled
this March, as I'm sure they will be, and rightly so. If those of us expecting to be given the
jab, receive it during the spring or summer, then fingers crossed that our very
popular Wine Circle will resume in September, which would be Wednesday 15th at
8.00 p.m.
I'm sure Geoff and I were not the only
ones to play a board game or two during the festive season. We
chose, deliberately, to use one that had remained unopened, from a few
Christmases ago. Some of the questions reminded us of our Wine
Circle Wednesdays!
Here
are a few to tease you - the answers will be in the next Newsletter!
Q: True or false:
Sherry wine is left in barrels to oxidise, with a thick white layer of
yeast being encouraged to form on top of the wine?
Q: Which three grape varieties are most widely used when
making Champagne?
Q: True or false: red
wines are better drunk with cheese than white wines?
Q: As well as Chardonnay, what other white grape variety is
grown in Burgundy: Aligote, Esperanto or Alicante?
Q: Glayva is made with Scotch whisky, herbs, spices and honey
plus which particular type of fruit?
2021: Stay positive, Test negative
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
20
BERRYNARBOR WINE
CIRCLE
Ordinarily, we should have had meetings this year from January
through to May and then October onwards. Twenty-twenty has not been the
year most of us were expecting!
During this unprecedented year,
sadly, some of our members have been seriously ill, but others have passed
away. Mary and Gordon Hughes used
to live in the village, but moved to Combe Martin a few years ago; however,
Mary still came to the Wine Circle on a regular basis. Carol Lucas, with Graham, was also a frequent
visitor to our meetings. These
ladies were both regular 'tasters' at our gatherings and will be missed. I am
sure I can say, on behalf of all our members, that we wish their families
well, and that they gain the support they need
from their families and friends to cope with operation recovery or
bereavement during difficult times.
Let's raise a glass to a
vaccine and to 2021 being a much better year!
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
15
Wine, taken in moderation, makes life, for a moment, better, and when the moment passes
life does not for that reason become worse.
Bernard Levin
Lockdown seems a long time ago, but Covid-19 has changed most things in life and continues to do so. Unsurprisingly, it changed some people's drinking habits. Being confined, economic hardship and job uncertainties meant that some needed 'Alcoholic Attention'. Many of us are fortunate in this village and we stuck to our couple per evening; however, we have friends who were shielding and admitted their garage was regularly visited by a Naked Wines' fairy, but they kept finding empty cases of wine! They began to wonder if the Angels were having more than their fair share!
As we couldn't eat out, visit friends or family, pub takeaways and home-cooked food became the daily norm. Wine seemed to be more special, or important somehow, with yet another evening meal or Sunday lunch at home. Wine may be just grape juice, but some of it can be memorable!
Returning to village activities may be difficult for some or keenly awaited by others. October 21st sees the first of our new 2020-21 season. We are fortunate to have our meetings in the Manor Hall; it has plenty of space: social distancing and sampling are perfectly possible. Tables will be sanitised; usual groups will be retained; and using our own glasses will provide another Covid-safe aspect.
Thanks to lockdown, we have a full programme for this season, as professional speakers were all postponed in March. October was the only month with a vacancy, but because of the uncertainty of life itself, we felt that this could be useful, and, we knew we could fill this by committee members if October proved to be a positive go-ahead. We hope to start, as mentioned, on the 21st, with Wines We Have Enjoyed During Lockdown. There must be some!
New members will be given a warm welcome. We may be observing Covid rules, but conviviality can still abound.
Judith Adam Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
Footnote: Sadly, the timetable expected to start in October and submitted to the Newsletter before the September '6-only ruling', will no longer go ahead.
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BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
As pubs, clubs and restaurants have re-opened, life is beginning to look more familiar. It was good to be able to support The Globe, recently, and as it was a sunny evening, we grabbed the opportunity to eat and drink outside 'over the road', once again. We didn't recognise anybody else, perhaps because it was a Monday evening, which proves that the camp sites and other hospitality venues, locally, are also open. All local facilities need the trade, after enforced closures.
I'm sure everybody is hoping that we do not become a regional lockdown and village events will start to happen again. That said, I know Wine Circle members have not joined the Temperance Society since our last meeting, which was February!
I also know that groups of friends have met up outside, socially-distancing, of course, but enjoying a chatty atmosphere over a glass or two . . . or three! The Wine Circle hopes to use the Manor Hall once again, on Wednesday, October 21st, 8.00 p.m. We look forward to seeing new and 'old' faces, for the 2020-21 season.
Judith Adam
15
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Whine no
more; we're alive to tell a tale!
Who would have thought, on January 1st 2020, that sharing a
bottle, if you're wearing gloves, with people other than your household
members, had to be at 2 metres, currently?
Lock down, PPE and social distancing are now part of our weird and very
quiet present. I'm sure we all hope
that a more familiar life will resume during the summer, but when we are
through all of this, will this year's normality look like 2019's? The Wine Circle hopes to resume chatting,
sharing and tasting from Wednesday, 21st October. Drinking through a mask will prove
interesting!
Meanwhile,
gardening, Glorious Devon and household maintenance occupy our time! Talking of gardens, Geoff and I have tackled
jobs that we've been meaning to do for a while. I'm sure we're not alone! One of them is painting on a large slate
slab in the garden. No, I'm not going
gaga . . . yet! Years ago, I noticed
one of the large slates, in our raspberry bed, had some obvious letters on
it. When I threw some water over it, I
could see a date. Kneeling beside it,
I saw a picture, scratched into this etched slate, too.
Most people, I should have thought, would see 1916 and think
of the four dreadful years that formed WWI.
I know I did. Was this when a
male household member left Berrynarbor to serve for the rest of this war? Knowing popular first names and surnames
for this area and era, I wondered if the 'EL' stood for maybe an Edwin Lethaby, Edward Lancey, Elijah
Ley, Eric . . . Ernest . . ? I decided I had to investigate.
As I've been doing family research for a few years, I used
my online access and trawled through the 1911 Census records for Berrynarbor possibles. After a fairly easy search, I found an Ernest Thomas Leworthy. He was only 7 when this Census was taken. His parents, Thomas and Catherine wouldn't
have allowed Ernest, at 12, to try and join up on 'Jul 19th 1916',
so was this just a schoolboy, at home, perhaps for the summer holidays, who
scratched his initials, the date, a ship and anchor on to a slate slab, while
playing in this garden? Had I found
the right EL?
His sister, Florence, was 5; both Leworthy
children were at the village school.
Their 'Street' was 'The Village'.
Our address here is The Village.
Had the slate slab been in situ for at least a century, as a permanent
part of what is now our garden?
Thomas, their father, was described as '40' and a 'Gardens Labourer on Estate'.
As he is a possible, I looked at what
else I could discover about this little boy.
Accessible records, to me, showed that he became a Butler and
Valet. With his French born wife, Anna,
he had worked in Mayfair, London, before they travelled aboard the Berengaria
as Alien Passengers for the United States, arriving in New York, on the 22nd
August 1930. He had been on a
ship!
World War II records gave his Residence
place as East St, Colonia, Middlesex, New Jersey. He had signed up for service on the 15th
February 1942, at the age of 37 and had been employed by the Rice Baking
Company of Linden, New Jersey. Susanna Leworthy was still his Next of Kin. Their offspring, and maybe grandchildren,
could still be alive to tell this tale and more . . .
Judith Adam - Promotional Co ordinator & Secretary
12
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Mingling Matters . . .
As I've said before, the Wine Circle is a great village organisation to meet others who are not your
neighbours. It was with concern, therefore, that we learnt
that some new members felt that they weren't mingling. It's
easy to get stuck in a rut and to sit with people you know; however, we've put paid to that and February's
meeting was Call my Wine Bluff and a perfect subject to split friends and/or
neighbours and to sit at tables of six instead of rows of 12. It
worked so well we shall be doing it again!
For those of you that don't know, our Bluff night means that
a panel of three each spout a possible description of six wines. Obviously,
there is only one correct one for each.
We sampled a French Haut-Poitou
Sauvignon Blanc, a Lyrarakis Assyrtiko from Crete and
a Spanish Caixas Albarino. Our first two reds were South African: a Barista Pinotage and a Rustenburg Stellanbosch
Grenache. A Spanish Matsu El Picaro ended
the evening. The favourites were
the Frenchman, which was fresh, crisp and fruity, typical of a Sauv Blanc and the Barista.
Barista is Italian for bartender; however,
today it's synonymous with coffee houses.
This Barista wine smelled of coffee and tasted of the same, but it was a
great red.
Behold the rain which
descends from heaven upon our vineyard, and which incorporates itself with the
grapes, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves
to see us happy. Benjamin Franklin
I like to select appropriate quotations from my little
book! We've had plenty of rain over the
vineyards and everywhere else over the last six months and let's hope that this
year's crops will enable us to be happy and mingle once again!
Life has been curtailed as we know it. Unsurprisingly,
it was agreed that the Wine Circle would not hold March's meeting due to this
Coronavirus outbreak. If the situation continues as it is, I suspect
that April's and May's meetings, on the 15th and the 20th, will follow
suit. We will keep you posted, as they say.
Judith
Adam
- Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
15
BERRYBNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Bray Valley Wines
is just a few miles from here, on the Pathfields Business Park at South Molton,
but its
founder-owner knows his stuff; it's worth a
visit. Charlie Cotton began sipping
wine at 18, as part of his training, in Burgundy. He's
explored vineyards on a mobylette, similar to the one below and worked on a
bottling line. What a great way to see
vines then wines!
This French motorized bicycle enabled him to discover and
learn about the regional patchwork of vineyards around him. During his student years he trained in Bordeaux,
Portugal and Germany. These were the
important regions in the wine world before wines arrived from down under and
the Americas. Training continued back home, at a London
merchants, followed by setting up a UK office on behalf of a Dutch multinational,
based in Bordeaux, who owned a group of French fine wine companies. Having moved to Devon, to raise a family, he
thought 'I had better put my money where my mouth is' and began to fill a
warehouse, in about 2003. The rest, as
they say, is history.
Charlie has a careful selection of mainly everyday drinking
wines, having done some local tastings to gauge what might work. This is the basis of BVW's tight range and 'all
our wines have to sing to us.' If you
want a good port, for yourself or a present, you'll find that too.
You might think private wine warehouse means expensive. You'd
be wrong! We started with a white Portuguese Quinta
Vista Lisboa, suitable for vegans and vegetarians, at £6.99. We
did finish with a red 2016 Gigondas at £21.49, but the other four wines
were at prices in between. They included a delicious Cremant de Loire
Rosé, at £12.99, superb with anything, or nothing! Who needs Champagne?
Tell Charlie what you're looking for and he'll find it for
you. Helpful and knowledgeable service
is free, but that's worth its weight in gold ... or good wine!
Most of our members wanted to support The
Globe, 'use it or lose it', for our Christmas Gathering, so 41 of
us arrived on the evening of
4th
December. This was earlier in the month
than our usual celebratory tastings, but we felt it was a good idea to avoid a
skittles match! It was a merry event and an easy one for all
of our lady members, who usually step up to the mark, or plate, and provide
excellent festive fare. On this
occasion
we just sat and ate what was put in front of us, from a previously-chosen menu.
We were all able to sip our way through the
evening, drinking our own selections and nobody had to provide a presentation -
it was good company, food and drink!
When you drink a wine, you don't, necessarily, think about
what is in it, or, perhaps whether it tastes like the grapes that were picked
to produce it. David Rowe, retired Plymouth University
lecturer and retired PETROC Recreational Wine Lecturer did just that at our
first 2020 meeting in January.
His six wines: two
whites, a rosé, two reds and a dessert wine were all bought from The Wine
Society to illustrate six different aspects of wine tasting and selection. Consumption and evaluation are through
looking, smelling, tasting and thinking.
Chateau Vartely, Viorica from the Republic of Moldova was
first and chosen to introduce us to an unfamiliar area, an inexpensive wine,
£6.95, and with a subtle flavour. It was
all three to all. The grape, Viorica, is
rare: less than 20 hectares in the
world.
Wine two, Bollenberg Cuvee Prestige Theo Cattin et Fils, was
double the price, £13.95, a Gewurztraminer, from Alsace, France. On the nose, it reminded me of Turkish
Delight and was described as a food-friendly wine. It was a deliberate contrast to the
first and definitely wasn't subtle.
Our rosé was pale for this wine type; however, it was
interesting because it was Corsican, another unfamiliar wine territory. Vin de
Corse Calvi, was £13.50 and 90% Nielluccio, or Sangiovese of Chianti fame. David's other point for inclusion was its
'esters'. These are the aromatic, fruity compounds,
formed during fermentation and ageing:
the strawberries, green apples or roses that we can smell and maybe
taste in wine.
Wine made the old way, without commercial yeasts was next. Its perfume affected me! Old
tobacco smoke, coffee and burned wood created negative thoughts. The French Gamay, selected to illustrate an
aspect of traditional Beaujolais was £11.95.
The Terres Dorées, L'Ancien
Beaujolais is atypical of this wine variety.
Italian terroir and winemaking skills produced the fifth
tasting aspect. This £16.00 red was
Alovini, Aglianico del Vulture. It's
currently on offer at £13.50, a remarkable price because other examples of this
well-made wine ... sell at £26 to £30 a bottle.
Most of us approved of David's choice!
The Portuguese love their sweet egg-based desserts, Pastel
de Nata, is a national dish and D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S! Like a custard tart, but infinitely
better! David didn't supply these, but the Adega De
Pegoes, Moscatel de Setubal, £9.95, was sampled with 70% dark chocolate. It
matched this too. Chosen because it was well made, matured in
oak and a take on the traditional sweet and fortified Muscat.
Our February meeting on the 19th will be the ever-popular
Call My Wine Bluff, and this will be followed in March, on the 18th, with
speaker Toby McKinnel from the 10-acre Vineyard at Winkleigh.
Judith
Adam
- Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
16
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
A numbers' game!
The 3rd Wednesday of October, saw the 1st evening of Berrynarbor Wine Circle's 2019-20 season. We began with our AGM, usually less than 10 minutes; however, on this occasion, we had discussions about our forthcoming Christmas event, so deliberations took 20 minutes and then we returned to 6 other matters, our tastings.
For some time, we have expected to see Chris Bullimore of the Wine Beer Supermarket, in Cherbourg. Unfortunately, he had a much-needed hospital appointment on the Thursday morning, the day after our 1st meeting, so, understandably, he needed to cancel for the 4th time! He seems to come, or not as the case maybe, with a lot of Murphy's Law!
At the 11th hour, Tony, our Chairman, stood in, and presented Booze on a Budget. We sampled a Cremante de Loire, a white fizz. Cremante is described as being streets ahead of Prosecco, but the latter has benefitted, somewhat, from a boost by Italian marketing. It's driving their growth, according to the National Institute of Statistics. Taste was O.K, but many thought it was too fizzy. We followed this with a 2018 white, Cotes du Rhone, unusual, as Cotes du Rhones are usually red. Our last white was a Sauvignon Blanc. People talk about the nose, some dismiss this, but one sniff from the glass and most around us said it smelled strong, which matched its taste. This was a punchy, typical Marlborough, New Zealand S.B. It was produced in a single vineyard in the Awatere Valley. Geoff, my husband, is a white wine drinker, often drinks S.B., but didn't like this one. Others near us weren't that keen either.
Our next 3 wines, all red, were Portuguese, French and Italian. Our 1st was the Azinhaga de Ouro, a 2017 - wow! This was a Douro Reserva; it was a beautiful brown-red and SOooo smooth. Many loved it and, apparently, it would keep for up to 5 years. Probably wouldn't in our house! Geoff cannot drink much red, but said he'd be prepared to have a migraine for this one! The Rasteau, 2016, from the Rhone Valley followed; it wasn't as smooth as the Douro, but it was 15%, whereas the Douro was 14%. Our Rasteau was described as being a good vintage. Barolo, sounds Italian and is. Ours was a 2014, 14%, that had a distinctive flavour; it too had a good brown-red colour. This was good, but most of us thought that the Douro was better. Tony had purchased all of these from Lidl's in Ilfracombe. As an organisation, Lidl's are seeking to stock better wines and as their slogan is 'When it's gone, it's gone', if you see something, you really do need to buy it there and then. Our dearest of the night was £11.99, the Barolo, but
the cheapest of the evening was £5.99 and the wow factor, yes, the Douro! We have, bought a number already!
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
Next Meeting: Wednesday, 15th January - Call My Wine Bluff
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BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Here's
to the corkscrew - a useful key to unlock the storehouse of wit,
the
treasury of laughter, the front door of fellowship and the
gate of
pleasant folly! W.E.P. French
Wine isn't for everybody, but it's the second choice after
beer in the UK: 32% versus 35%.Apparently,
in 2017, we consumed 20 litres of 'grape juice' per person. I know
that foreign travel has done a lot for this industry, so it's appropriate that
we shall start our season with a Brit whose home is in Hampshire but who works
in France. I know, too, that some of our
members have travelled to WBS on their return from elsewhere,
but stocking up here is also possible as a day trip!
Chris Bullimore is a Manager with
the Wine Beer Supermarket. He has worked for this company for many
years. Originally, he was based at Roscoff, Brittainy, but has changed location recently and
now heads up WBS in Cherbourg, Normandy.
We have been trying to get him to do a presentation for us
for some time: work commitments, ferry
travel, a house move and ill health have all accounted for his absence; however,
patience is a virtue and we start 2019-20 season with Chris. I hope I'm not tempting fate, but he has said
he will be with us for Wednesday 16th October.
I suspect his topic will be to introduce us to some of WBS stock
items.
For November's gathering we shall be welcoming back Charlie
Cotton of Bray Valley Wines, South Molton, on the 20th. Charlie founded BVW and his passion and
knowledge are boundless. He will, I'm sure, be tempting us with some of
their samples, great for socialising with friends and
family during Yuletide. Talking of which, Christmas tipples and
sustenance will be enjoyed on December 11th.
Twenty-twenty is associated with vision, but it's next year
too! We shall start with our very popular and very
funny Call My Wine Bluff on 15th January.
David Rowe is also making a return. He
will be with us on the 19th February. David was the Recreational Wine Tutor at
Petroc. Those present in January will
know that we were treated to a fascinating slide show and tastings from Armenia
and Georgia. I'm sure his next
presentation will be another winter treat.
Our spring programme is too many months away to mention
here, but I hasten to add that our meetings are always Wednesdays, between
October and May. The Manor Hall is our
venue and we start at 8.00 p.m. It's a
great way to meet people other than your neighbours and is a cheap night
out. For just a £5 annual joining fee and a £7 per
person evening fee, you can enjoy six tastings, biscuits, cheese and free camaraderie!
Judith
Adam
- Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
7
William Shakespeare,
Othello
We, the committee members, have had our
planning meeting and have eight months of potential presenters and tastings; however, we shall have to leave you in
suspense for a few weeks, until our communications become confirmations! Meanwhile, I can reveal our 2019-20 list of
Wine Circle Wednesdays:
16th
October 20th November 11th
December 15th January
19th
February 18th March 15th April 20th May
These start at 8.00 p.m. and are at our
newly re-vamped, and, therefore, smart and inviting Manor Hall. There are plenty of seats available for new
members!
None of us are wine buffs, but these
evenings are, by today's standards, a cheap, and convivial, evening out. There is a £5 annual joining fee only and a
£7 per person evening fee, which covers wine, biscuits, cheese and hall hire
costs. If you enjoy a glass, or six tastings, try us
and it out!
Meanwhile, as summer appears to be here
and chilled white wine is excellent refreshment, you may like to sip and sample
two very different whites that we've tasted recently. Either
would make great alternatives to the sauvignon blanc that seems to have grabbed
the nation, by the throat!
Vinho Verde, means, literally, green
wine, but can also translate to young wine.
Geoff and I have drunk this here, but in June we went to Lisbon, to meet
up with an Ozzie-based friend and it's very popular in Portugal and cheap! It
isn't a grape variety but a D.O.C. for this wine's production. The
term refers to Portuguese wine,
designated in 1908, in the historic Minho Province in the far north of the
country; however, now the modern-day
Vinho Verde region, includes the old Minho province plus adjacent areas to the
south. It's the biggest DOC in Portugal.
Ours
were always slightly effervescent. In
its early years of production, this slight fizziness came from malolactic
fermentation, or fermentation occurring in the bottle. The wine industry would consider this to be a
fault, but VV producers found that consumers enjoyed this. Today, most Vinho Verde producers add this
slight sparkle by artificial carbonation. Over here, Sainsbury's has this for about
£6.50 and Majestic's stocks begin at £7.99.
We, and our Ozzie friend, found it good to
drink with or without food and enjoyed its slight sparkle. It
went down very well with a savoury platter, tapas and our fish dishes.
Summer
seems to be a great time for socialising and, closer to home, we've entertained
our Shropshire-based friends recently. One night, perhaps because they are
land-locked, they suggested a fish and chip supper; we took them to a well-known restaurant in
Braunton. Our friend chose the wine,
the English, Shoreline, made by Lyme Bay Winery. Wines made from several grapes have a more
complex flavour and Shoreline is a mix of Bacchus, Pinot Blanc, Reichensteiner
and Seyval Blanc grapes. It's
won awards, and deservedly so, but this one isn't under a tenner. Ignoring
the restaurant price, it can be bought for £14.49 a bottle at Waitrose &
Partners, which is the cheapest online supplier that I could find. Lyme
Bay Winery describe it as a wine for seafood.
They are right!
Judith Adam - Promotional C-ordinator & Secretary
7
A PERSONAL LETTER FROM JOE TUCKER
Your North
Devon District Councillor
Dear friends,
Please
accept my sincere thanks and appreciation for the very warm welcome I received
when visiting Berrynarbor during the election campaign.
It is
an honour and privilege to be representing you for the next
4 years, and I assure you that I shall give 100%
support to my duties as your District Councillor.
During
my election campaign there were issues brought to my attention which I shall
discuss with the Parish Council and District Council to try and resolve. I should greatly appreciate if you would
contact me direct if you require my help or assistance with any issue you may
have.
During my
visits to Berrynarbor over the election period, one of the main concerns
regarding Berrynarbor was why you were removed from the Combe Martin ward and
placed in the Marwood ward.
The
answer is: The decision to carry out a
review of North Devon District Council ward boundaries was not made by the District
Council but by the Local Government Boundary Commissioner. A review is carried out when population
changes have occurred resulting in an unexpectable proportion of the wards
having too high a number of electors per councillor. The review must take account of local issues
and must also plan population growth and changes for the immediate future.
In
reviewing the boundaries, the Local Government Boundary Commission invites the District
Council to submit its own proposals. Prior
to doing this, the District Council consulted a number of times with Parish Councils.
The
LGBC considered the District Council's plan, visited the area, and came up with
recommendations which were again passed out with consultation with the
parishes. The LGBC then made the final
report and the conclusion of that came into force at the recent local
elections.
I do
understand and share your concerns but can assure you that I shall do
everything to ensure that Berrynarbor and the Marwood ward is a success, and
will receive a comprehensive representation from myself and the District Council.
I
shall be visiting Berrynarbor on a regular basis so do not hesitate to contact
me if you require a personal visit.
My
e-mail is frederick.tucker@northdevon.gov.uk and my telephone number is [01271] 328890.
Kind regards
Joe Tucker
9
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Wine
is the most civilised thing in the world.
Ernest
Hemingway
January seems a long time ago, particularly when February
was spring-like, but David Rowe's January presentation, a first for us, was a
fascinating winter's evening event. He was Petroc's Recreation Wine Tutor and his 'History
of Wine' was enlightening, as he talked of unfamiliar places for wines: Armenia and Georgia. Sadly, these countries are absent in
supermarkets or off-licences as origin names, which is a shame. Slides of maps and ancient-style vats added
another level of interest.
Wine purchase from these areas is tricky; most Armenian wine is exported to Armenian
restaurants in, for example, London, Birmingham and Manchester. Our North Devon tastings were a first for
the supplier and probably for this region!
They have whetted my appetite to
sample again, with local food. Amazingly, there is sufficient evidence to
suggest, strongly, that wine has been produced in Armenia, Georgia and upper
Mesopotamia: the uplands and plain of north-western Iraq, north-eastern Syria
and south-eastern Turkey, for about 10,000 years B.C.
Unsurprisingly, Armenia and Georgia use grapes that most of
us have, probably, never heard of before: Yoskehat, Sireni, Rkatsiteli and
Saperavi. Our first wine came from the Kataro Winery in
the Armenia Highlands: it was a dry
white wine from their signature white grape, Voskehat. Koor, £15.75, a smooth and medium-bodied 2015
vintage, had definite floral notes. A group of young friends started this Winery
in 2014, because they wanted to contribute to the Armenian wine revival. They are striving to ensure that it is
recognised as an ancient wine-making country across the world and are embracing
the latest wine-making technologies, but they are still cherishing its ancient
secrets.
Our second Armenian wine was the Kataro Dry Red, 2015, also
via Armenian Wine Importers, but was made from the Sireni grape. This
was £14.95. It was deep red in colour with
dark berry and ripe red fruit aromas and would be great with an Armenian
barbeque, strong local cheeses and rich food in general. We had to imagine the food accompaniment, but
it was a good red wine! The winery,
Domaine Avetissyan, is located on a picturesque hillside in the Republic of
Artsakh.
A neighbour of Armenia, Georgia's indigenous white grape is
the Rkatsiteli and is one of the oldest known grape varieties still in use; it's an ancient version of a vinifera
grape. Prior to the Soviet Union's
collapse, it was grown in vast plantations in unlikely places like Kazakhstan
and Uzbekistan. Currently, it is planted
in other Eastern European countries, North America and China. The Rkatsiteli - Tbilvino, 2016, was only
£9.99 and was a pale golden wine. Due to
the grape's high acidity, they are picked as late as possible, usually, late
October at the earliest, to maximise the sugar balance.
Two of Georgia's most famous grapes are Rkatsiteli and
Saperavi; these were blended together to create Alazani, a dark rosë. Saperavi flesh is pink, so it's this and not
the grape skins that colour the fermented grape juice. It's produced by the Tiblivino Winery Team,
2105, and was £9.99. The Georgian Wine
Society, GWS, its supplier, regards it as being a real local personality and
would go well with fish and cold meats.
This hardy variety grape is also grown in Niagara, New York State, the
former USSR countries and Australia.
Our last two red wines were both deep red with body and
structure and were also produced and supplied by the same Team and Society as
the rosë. Five was £11.99; six was £14.99. They were both 2016. Our fifth, Georgian Valleys is an unusual
product, because it is only fermented after four days maceration on the skins. Before final maturation it sits in a mixture
of oak barrels and concrete tanks. David felt that it was a good example of the
more modern style of wines emerging from Georgia.
Finally, Qvevris Saperavi is an example of a wine made using
one of the oldest winemaking techniques known to man. Centuries ago, the picked grapes would be
loaded into a clay pot, the qvevri, which had been sunk into the ground. The surrounding soil moderated and controlled
the fermentation temperature. It is
thought that whole bunches were loaded into the pot. Once full, it was sealed with a layer of
olive oil or wax then a clay plug and possibly sealed with pine resin. Natural yeasts meant that this wine would be
pale and only have about 5% alcohol. Now,
cultured or manufactured yeasts enable this to reach 12 or 14% alcohol and,
pumps and filters clarify it; however,
the GWS does state that it is Qvevri-fermented and it was 12.5%. As I've said, it's a shame that these wines
are not on our shelves, maybe one day . . .
February's
Call my Wine Bluff adhered to its usual, popular and hilarious format: three male deceivers, six wines and six
teams! Blind tastings were:
-
Catena Chardonnay 2015, 13.5%,
Mendoza, Argentina, Majestic. £11.99: a
mixed 6.
- Falangina 2017, 12%, near to Naples,
Italy. £7.00 from Morrisons
- Castilla de Menara 2017, 13.5%,
Valdepeñ as, Spain. £6.50 or £10.00 for
2, Morrisons.
- Chateau Fontcaille Bellevue
2010, 14%, Bordeaux, France. Majestic.
£8.99: a mixed 6.
- Le Verdier, 2017, 14%, Cotes due
Rhone, France. Majestic. £8.00
- Rosemount Diamond Selection
Shiraz 2018. S.E Australia. 13.5%, £6.50
or £10 for 2, Morrisons.
As I was
concentrating on tasting feedback, my notes were non-existent. In our defence, the deceivers' wives were
the smallest team and perhaps our team name, Bottoms Up, was a forecast! We
were bottom but as I said to all at the end of the evening, 'That just proves
that we don't see the scripts!' We may have been bottom but it was another fun
evening and it's all about the taking part!
Thanks to Nic and Barry for making available the back room
of Ye Olde Globe, the March meeting was treated to wines from 2015 to 2018 by
Charlie Cotton, proprietor of Bray Valley Wines, South Molton, who initially
withheld prices as: "people pre-judge wines on price"!
His
wines took us from Sicily and Italy, Chile to the high altitude of Argentina
before crossing to the Loire and Burgundy regions of France, with flavours as
diverse as 'gunflint' and 'farmyard.'
Described as a different wine at £7.99, the 13%, 2017 white
Fiano Miopasso by Stefano Girelli in eastern Sicily presented a clean fresh
start to the evening, an easy-to-drink aperitif or a good match with
seafood. Wine two was a non-expensive
Sancerre alternative - the benchmark for Loire wines. Located a few miles from Sancerre, Domaine JP
Bailly uses traditional methods to produce its 2017 Pouilly Blanc Fume, a 12.5%
white wine with a hint of gunflint, as its name fume implies, yet with a long
finish in the mouth. Available at
£14.99, it sells at around £45 per bottle in hotels and restaurants!
The last white was Chardonnay Alpha from Valle de Casablanca
Montes, Chile's quality wine-growing region best
known for its crisp white wines; this is NOT the heavy-oaked Australian
style Chardonnay but a wine from a coastal vineyard which spends a third of its
pre-bottled life in French oak barrels.
Forget any prejudice against Chardonnay, this 13.5% 2016 new-world wine
is worth its price of £12.99.
Turning to the reds, the 2017 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo DOC
from the Gran Sasso Italian vineyard is produced by a young individual team
rather than the usual co-operatives; the hand-picked temperature-controlled
fermentation of the Montepulciano grape produces a 13% wine with lots of fruit
flavours; it won't set the world on fire
but at £9.89 it's very drinkable.
Argentina is renowned for its Malbec and that from Frenchman Patricio
Gougenheim is no exception. Leaving a
career in finance in 2002, he revived a neglected vineyard in the Uco Valley at
an altitude of 1,000m. His Malbec is
VERY Malbec, a rich, firm easy-to-drink red with
good length.
On presenting the last wine, Charlie stated: 'you won't like
this!' only to be proved wrong by some.
The 2015 Santenay Les Hates Burgundy from Domaine Franck Lamargue,
produced on 12 hectares using Pinot Noir grapes, results in a 13.5% wine with
an acidity that many dislike. At £22 a
bottle, this is not a wine to sit and drink but a food-wine, one suited
especially to fatty meat meals - "a real farmyard wine", to quote Charlie!
We hope that the hall's building work goes to plan, so that
we can return to it for April's meeting in the 17th, when we shall see the
return of enthusiastic Nigel Pound, owner of Totnes Wine and Radio Devon's Wine
Guru.
May brings an end to our 2018-19 season. This begins with the briefest of AGMs,
followed by Members' Choices.
There is still time to join us! Just turn up on the night, sample and
see!
Geoff
and Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
4
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Whenever
a man is tired, wine is a great restorer of strength.'
Homer,
The Iliad
Majestic made a welcome return in November and Greg Cleverdon, a new face for us, but not to wine, gave us an
excellent presentation. His wine
selection was a timely-planned invitation to show us some of their wine stock
and to tempt us for Christmas purchases.
It worked!
They were all good. We started with the oldest white: an As Caixas Godello,
2015 from Galicia, north-west Spain. Many seemed to favour
the Godello grape, which has gained increasing
recognition as a quality varietal in its own right. If you wanted it as an alternative to a
usually-preferred Sauvignon Blanc, this could be the one. We, and others, made the journey to Old
Station Road and bought some! It may
have been the cheapest, but it seemed it tickled many taste buds! This was followed by one of their Definition
range: a Gruner Veltliner 2017 from Austria, a Silver Medal winner. The final white was a Spanish Mas Querido Field Blend 2017. Field blends are gathering in
popularity. The owner of the vineyard
for this product bought a derelict vineyard.
It was overgrown and he didn't know what grape, or grapes they were. He cut it back, dramatically, and mixed
it. Every year his wine is different. In tasting order, prices for these were
£8.99, £10.99 and £7.99; however, they are £1 or £2 per bottle
cheaper if you buy six.
Sicilian sun and dried grapes contributed to our first red
and the Nero Oro Appassimento 2016 was an enjoyable
beginning. It was followed by another member of their
Definition' range. On a personal note, I
enjoy a Spanish Rioja, and this Reserva 2010 was
good, but the best was yet to come!
Malbec has, over time, become a personal favourite, but I appreciate
that it can be too strong or punchy for some.
The Vina alba Malbec-Touriga
National Reserve 2015, from Mendoza, Argentina, made for an interesting blend,
suitable with a large array of dishes - rich or spicy casseroles. The addition of the Touriga
National added complexity; it was full of flavour
and I'd drink it again and again: delicious!
Funnily enough, this too fell into our Majestic trolley before
Christmas! Reds' prices were £9.99,
£13.99 and £12.99, again in tasting order, with a £1, £2 or £3 reduction for
six.
Pedro Ximenez Triana
is Christmas Pudding - in a bottle! Greg
produced an unexpected pre-Christmas treat for us as he passed around tasters
of this very dark, rich and opulently sweet sherry as the finale to our very
enjoyable evening. The Bodegas Hidalgo
was founded in 1792 and ages the Pedro Ximenez grapes
in oak casks for several years. PX is a superb dessert wine but poured over
vanilla ice-cream - delicioso! Don't bother to cook, just present ice-cream
and PX! It's £16.99 or £14.99 when you buy seis!
Comyn Farm is still a working farm,
buried in the Chambercombe area of Ilfracombe.
It's an easy short hop from Berrynarbor and great for couples or
parties. To celebrate our 30th anniversary, and still
going strong, forty-five of us clambered on local buses and were chauffeured the
few miles for the occasion. We took our
own wines, which was useful, and enjoyed proper farmhouse cooking, and, I
suspect, the event was a great restorer in many ways! The photo depicts the chatting before the
eating!
Judith Adam
- Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
Please note that the
March meeting of the Wine Circle will be one week earlier, on the 13th March,
in the Function Room at The Globe.
8
BERRYNARNOR WINE CIRCLE
My nose itched, and I knew I
should drink wine or kiss a fool. Jonathan Swift
Our timetable for 2018-2019 was signed
and sealed in August, and, therefore, to re-plan our first event in October wasn't expected, but Tony Summer's early
October e-mail telling of a disaster, was a bolt from the blue, particularly as
he was enjoying Spanish sunshine! Our Roscoff-based presenter, Chris Bullimore,
had to extricate himself, yet again, this time due to a forthcoming house move.
Geoff and I took pity on Tony, put
brains into gear, collected some wines and presented A Lot to Yapp About. As
family members live in Sussex, we use the A303 on a regular basis. Some
years ago, heading homewards, we spotted an elderly blue Citroen van promoting
Yapp Bros Wines at Mere. We assumed that this was a new business, but
didn't forget the van with its innovative and memorable advertising.
Helpful staff at Yapp's told us that this
isn't a new business, far from it; they've
been going for 49 years. Sadly, that lovely old van was severely
vandalized. The family removed it from
the roadside, had it repaired and sold it, for £10,000. Thanks
to a lorry driver's dash cam, the culprits were traced and charged: a positive result thanks to modern technology!
Yapp Bros was started by Robin Yapp,
dentist, now retired, who encountered the good stuff' when working as a
Scarborough waiter. Having moved from Yorkshire to Wiltshire, he set up the
Mere business in 1969. This award-winning wine merchant specialises
in French wines. Indeed, the London
Evening Standard described them as 'probably the UK's leading specialist in
French regional wines, especially from the Rhone and the Loire valleys', but
their stock now includes Spanish and German; however, we chose six French examples.
Some thought that all wines were
good, even excellent; however, it was
surprising to see that some caused considerable controversy. One white and one red, particularly, caused
pleasure and smiles for some members, but others tipped them away, gave them to
their neighbours or were drunk with grimaces as if they were prescribed
unpleasant medicine!
Our first wine was described by Yapps
as a bone-dry white wine. It was a Muscadet, and, like all wines, is
personal preference; it was dry and
pale. Yapp's Muscadet de Sèvre et Maine Sûr Lie:
Domaine de la Mortaine 2017 was controversial. Those that liked it thought it would make a
great aperitif or an accompaniment with oysters, mussels or fruits de mer. Unfortunately, our budget doesn't extend to
fancy fish; I'm sure it would have made
a difference, but so be it. It was 12% and £10.95.
St Pourçain, Cuvée Printaniere Blanc
2017, Union des Vignerons is a 12.5% wine, and was also
£10.95. The ABC brigade, Anything but
Chardonnay, were reminded that these weren't all the same. Many don't like anything to do with
Chardonnay, but this was 80% Chardonnay with 20% of Tresallier. This addition is a Loire curio, but it made a
great deal of difference and was enjoyed by many.
The final white, also 12.5%, was a
Chenin Blanc, from Chinon, a town in Touraine.
Only 2% of Chinon wines are white; this rarity was from the vineyard of Domaine
Jean-Maurice Raffault. Unsurprisingly perhaps, this was our dearest
wine of the night at £14.75. Interestingly, even though the previous white was a Chardonnay, many thought that this
was better than the Chinon, suggesting that price does not mean that it's a
foregone conclusion that everybody will like it!
A Gamay from the Ardeche, in the south
of France, was our first red. It was a
Vin de Pays, Vignerons Ardèchois, another 12.5%, but only £9.95. It was
produced between Valence and Vienne, in the heart of the southern Rhone. Yapps
stated that it would drink well lightly-chilled in the summer. Well,
it was October, it wasn't chilled, but its pale red hue suggested that it couldn't
possibly be a full-bodied red. It wasn't.
It was pleasant drinking and I could believe that it would have been
good in the summer, as a chilled aperitif.
Both of the red wines that followed
were £11.95, but the first was 14%, and, perhaps, should have been drunk as our
finalé. It was our oldest wine, 2013, Saint Chinian
from the Château Milhau-Lacugue Cuvée Magali. It was
a blend of equal volumes of Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault. The
château was a medieval resting place for pilgrims en route to St Jacques de
Compostela and if you know Puisserguier, near Beziers, you may have seen this
large south-facing vineyard. The Chinian
would be good with Toulouse sausages or a course pâté de compagne. Jean
Lacugue's wines also make their way to the tables at Michel Roux Jr's
Michelin-starred restaurant, Le Gavroche, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that
many members thought this wine should be sampled again and again!
As Yapps are a Rhône specialist, we
were treated to their flagship Côtes du Rhône.
Trescartes 2015, St Gayan is a
mix of Syrah, Grenache, Cinsault and Mourvedre.
Jean-Pierre Meffre is based in Gigondas and the Meffre family have been
wine-making since the 17th C. His father
was instrumental in winning the Appellation Contrôllée status for Gigondas in
1971 and changing the law regarding the percentage of Grenache, which was
raised from 65% to 85% in 1985.
Jean-Pierre has an impeccable track record and, is regarded as being one
of the commune's finest estates.
It is always good to have the
opportunity to taste, to have the opportunity to sample food and drink from
around the world, particularly if you can do this in the comfort of your own
village. It is always interesting to see that taste and
approval, is, most definitely, personal choice.
Judith
Adam
- Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
9
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TO US!
Berrynarbor Wine Circle was born in 1988; it doesn't take a mathematician to work out
that we've been going for 30 years.
That's quite a period of time for anything these days! Geoff
and I joined in October, 2007, about a month after we moved here; we've been members ever since and look forward
to our October to May Wednesday evenings.
We are not wine buffs, none of us are; we just enjoy sampling and
learning about the different varieties of wine available, worldwide.
Our celebratory year begins at 8.00 p.m., 17th October, in
the Manor Hall.
•
We shall be welcoming Chris
Bullimore of the WineBeer Supermarket in Roscoff, Brittany.
•
November sees Majestic
returning, with a new member of Barnstaple's team.
•
December has been chosen to mark
our 30th, with a Christmas celebration at Comyn Farm.
•
January is the annual and
hilarious 'Call My Wine Bluff' evening.
•
In February, we have the
pleasure of David Rowe's company. He was
Recreational Wine Tutor at Petroc.
•
Bray Valley Wines, South Molton,
will be sending a new member of their team.
•
Nigel Pound, owner of Totnes
Wine and Radio Devon's Wine Guru appears again, in April.
•
May is the final month of our
2018-19 season, and, therefore, we begin with a very brief AGM, followed by
Members' Choices.
We meet every 3rd Wednesday of each month, but our Christmas
event is the 2nd Wednesday. For those
new to the village, it is a great way of meeting people other than your
neighbours. Our charges are minimal: an
annual fee of £5 per person, usually paid in October, and a monthly charge of
£7 per person that covers our overheads: the hall fee, the wine and cheese and
biscuits.
NEW MEMBERS ARE VERY
WELCOME. Conviviality is completely free of
charge!
Judith Adam
Promotional
Co-ordinator & Secretary
17
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Wine
gives great pleasure; and every pleasure is of itself a good. Samuel Johnson
We were supposed to have Chris Bullimore, from the Wine Beer
Supermarket in Roscoff, Brittany, in February, but the snowy weather
intervened. He offered again for April,
but a mini-stroke then intervened, only five days prior to this event; however, Chairman Summers rallied to the
cause and covered, ably!
Morrison's, Bideford, is like other supermarkets, as their
stocks are dictated by wine buyers,
but Tony still managed to produce, an interesting evening. Bideford is just 19 miles from here, but we
hadn't used this retailer before.
Prices were revealed once we'd
sampled . . .
Gerárd Bertrand Reserve Speciale, 2016,
was a 12%, French, Sauvignon Blanc.
Members' descriptions were: 'a bit sharp', 'seductive', 'bland', 'tinny'
and 'thin'. Many Sauvignon Blancs have
a fruity perfume or nose, but this was missing.
It's always good to compare and 'Kiri' was also a 2016
Sauvignon Blanc, but produced in Marlborough, in New Zealand's south
island. Also a 12%, but everything else
was different. Pale lemon in colour,
its nose was likened to gooseberry and passion fruit. Additionally, it had delicious fruit
flavours. Its label stated: refreshing
acidity and a crisp finish; many felt it
was noticeably better than the French.
A Sancerre triggered positive
"Oohs"! Another 2016 sample and
described as elegant and complex; it was
specially selected for Morrison's. A
Loire product, which has produced Sancerre since Roman times, due to its
mineral rich, with chalky soil and steep-sloping hills: perfect conditions for producing juicy
grapes; however, some thought our sample
would, probably, be the cheap end of Sancerre.
The cheapest created a stir, as it
wasn't our first! 1st: £8.50, 2nd:
£7.70, 3rd: £13. Marlborough wines are
known to produce fruity, punchy Sauvignon Blancs, at reasonable prices.
Tony said it had been difficult to find three
bottles of the same type, but chose a Côte du Rhône wine. These are graded: Côte du Rhône, Côte du
Rhône Village and then a C. du R.V. with a named village; the latter being the
best. We began with a C. du R. Village
from Cairanne, aged for 15 months in oak barrels. Le Pinson des Garrigues, 14.5%, was
described as highly drinkable. Its
grape mix: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvidre, made it very smooth. A mix of grapes provides structure and it
would be good with food.
Our next was South African, produced in Parle on the Western
Cape. Timestone, 13.5%, was another mix:
Shiraz, Cinsault and Mourvedre.its label description included 'lured by the
fresh cool water of our natural springs', but Tony didn't hear anybody that
liked it!
A St Emillion Grand Cru, 2014, wasn't the dearest of the night, surprisingly. Chateau Lagarelle Puits Rasat, had a brown tinge to it. This chateau is a property in the heart of this appellation. This wine offers well-balanced tasting - complex, witharomas of ripe fruit and subtle woody notes. It had toasted aromas but looked thinner than our first.
The first was £10, our least favourite
was £9 and the final sample was £12.
Would I bother to drive to Bideford for any of them? Over to you!
'The
smell of wine, oh how much more delicate, cheerful, gratifying, celestial and
delicious it is than that of oil.'
François Rabelais
May is synonymous with AGM's. Many think that these are tedious affairs,
but ours are brief and to the point! In
just under 5 minutes we were listening to Nigel Pound, Wine Consultant, of
Totnes Wines. This is his business and he is a
traditional wine merchant. His shop
lacks the usual bright lights and racking.
Bright lights, by the way, makes wine deteriorate.
Nigel began by saying that he's been involved with wine for
40 years. In addition to being a wine
retailer, he travels abroad for research, assists professional auctioneers with
valuations of liquid items and is Radio Devon's Wine Wizard with his Saturday
appearance, approximately every six weeks.
He believes, firmly, that wine is about people; wine is about history
and that 70% of wine in the UK is not very good. 'Wine', he said, 'should be produced and
bottled in the same country'. The
reasoning for this: sulphites would be added at every stage, so it makes
complete sense to keep it local.
Our first white was a Montagny Buissonier, 2014, 12.5% and a
white Burgundy. One sommelier, via the
'net and passionate about White Burgundy, states it is the ultimate French
Chardonnay. Ours was unoaked and it is
the oakiness of Chardonnays that give it a bad name; however, this was
delicious! We wouldn't drink it on a
daily basis as it was £14.95 a bottle.
The back label described it as intense and elegant . . exotic fruits and
white flowers. It was bottled at the
Vignerons de Buxy and a good example of you only get what you pay for!
Piqoli Greco-Fiano, 2016, Basilicata, from Southern Italy,
followed. It was 12% and although this
wine is produced in a hot climate, the growers have cold cellars and,
therefore, are able to make crisp white wines.
It was balanced, had a good finish and was £12.50. It was fruity, had acidity and finish.
It's always good to hear different ideas regarding any
topic; it helps you to think outside the box.
A wine described as a dessert wine, would be served at the end of a
meal, usually; however, Nigel suggested
that the Clarendelle Amberwine Monbazillac is great served as a slightly
sweeter aperitif as it makes you hungry!
This 13.5% non-vintage was a mix of three grapes: Sauvignon Blanc,
Semillon and Muscato. The 500ml bottle was £13.95. Ice would weaken it, but, it would, in our
opinion, be delightful poured over this, or, served in a very chilled glass!
When growing wine, the first question should be: Is the
vineyard in the right place? The 2015
Pierre Amadieu Côtes Du Rhône, Roulepierre comes from Gigondas, south-eastern
France and was grown in suitable conditions: poor soil and dry air. It was £8.95 and mostly Grenache and Syrah
with a little Mourvedre.
As Nigel's background and possibly his pores ooze wine, he
was full of useful snippets of information and reminders: sunshine creates
sugar and sugar creates alcohol, which will equate to stronger wine. The K-nom Clos Trotligotte is made in
Cahors, France; it was 100% Malbec wine,
made by Emmanuel Rybinski. It was dry,
2016, £11.99, 13.5% but had no nose.
Our final wine of the evening was a Rioja, a Lan Crianza,
2014, 13.5%, made with Tempranillo grapes.
'Rioja is Spanish Claret' stated Nigel.
It is versatile and was a High-Altitude Wine. The term Crianza indicates that it would have
spent one year in an oak barrel; it
would also spend another year in a bottle.
This was £12.00 a bottle. Nigel
recommended that it was drunk at 18oC or 64oF.
Nigel's learned and tasty presentation completed our 2017-2018
season. We've asked him to return for
our next. His cheese contact at Creber's
in Tavistock will be joining him: sounds
good to me!
We are NOT wine buffs, just people who
enjoy a glass. If you're not a member,
it's a great way to meet more neighbours!
We have finished now for the summer but restart at the Manor Hall at
8.00 p.m. on Wednesday 17th October, when we hope to welcome Chris Bullimore.
Newcomers
to the village will be very welcome.
Judith
Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
10
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Unusually, February's meeting for the Wine Circle was cancelled. The white weather intervened somewhat and as our speaker was from the Wine Beer Supermarket, Roscoff in Brittany, it was agreed by all parties that North Devon on a snowy Wednesday evening may not be the best place to be! Chris Bullimore travels between the UK and France frequently and offered to present to us all on April 18th; the weather should be dry and sunny by then!
As the planned timetable had to change, Berry Bros and Rudd wines will be presented, by Geoff and myself, a month earlier, on March 21st. This company began in 1698, in London and occupies, still, its St James Street premises. They are Britain's original wine and spirit merchant and have supplied our Royal Family since the reign of King George III. A great deal has been achieved, and, therefore, we should be fortunate enough to taste some great wines!
May's meeting, May 16th, will begin with our AGM, which will be complete but brief. This will be followed by Radio Devon's Wine Wizard, Nigel Pound. This meeting will be the last one of the 2018-19 season.
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator & Secretary
15
Berrynarbor Wine Circle
Always
carry a corkscrew and the wine shall provide itself.Basil Bunting (poet)
Our Christmas event, Committee's Choice and Members' Festive
Fare, occurred on Wednesday December 13th, in the Manor Hall.It was an amazing event;amazing because the Hall was filled with
happy voices, when they were not eating superb cuisine made in the village, by our
lady members, washed down with six excellent wines and all for free!Where can you beat that?
Wine suppliers were: our friends at Bray Valley Wines of
South Molton, Majestic, Morrisons and Virgin Wines.The
cheapest was surprising; it was a Hungarian Gruner Veltliner and only £6.99 a
bottle.Many thought it was a great
find.This 2016 wine was one of over 300
blind tastings carried out by Majestic in order to find 'the cream of the
crop'.It really delivered on incredible
quality and value.
Our dearest was a Marlborough-busting
Adelaide Hills classic!This was a cool
fruit, Sauvignon Blanc from South Australia, rather than New
27.Zealand.It should
have been £13.49, but, Virgin Wines Online supplied it for just under
£10.00 per bottle.Beneficio, Adelaide
Hills is described on the VWO website as having aromas that leap out at you and
a killer citrus zest that keeps the fruit charging along to the juicy end.
Both whites were very good.It was easy to decide which was the cheapest;
however, if you want to crack open a
chilled bottle on a summer's day, that won't break the bank, the Hungarian
deserves tasting, perhaps, repeatedly, just to make sure, of course, that it's
OK!
I have taken more out of alcohol than
alcohol has taken out of me. Winston Churchill
Having
spotted this quote, I felt I had to use it, as the film, The Darkest Hour,
focuses on his early days as P.M, is to have general release days before we
have our popular, Call My Wine Bluff event, on Wednesday 17th January.In our household, both are awaited
eagerly.
Judith
Adam
As has become usual for our January
meeting, the theme was Call my Wine Bluff. This is a great fun evening loosely based on
the old BBC2 program Call My Bluff.
The wines for the evening are tasted
blind and after each one, the panel of three experts, also known as the three
prevaricators, each give a description of the wine.Of course, only one is telling the truth!
The members in teams of 6 have to decide
who is telling the truth, the age of the wine and the price, and get points
accordingly.
As the scores are revealed at the end of
each round one can imagine the banter and leg pulling that goes on,
particularly for a low score!
The winners for the evening were called
the Cuatro Amigos, who won a wonderful prize of a packet of M & M's, for
the rest, a wonderful social evening with some very tasty wines!
Next month's meeting will be held on the
4th Wednesday of February, 28th, as our presenter is coming from
Roscoff and prior to that date, there are no suitable ferries.
Tony
Summers
16
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'What
is better than to sit at the table at the end of the day and drink wine with
friends'?James Joyce
Some time ago, the Wine Circle was
treated to a presentation by the shop's Managers: Debbie and Karen.It was an excellent evening, so much so that
we had no hesitation to offer the shop a 'slot' for our current season.
Karen, supported ably by Vicki Elden, a Shop
Volunteer and Wine Circle member, delivered, literally, a Wine and Cheese
Evening, with all products from our marvellous village shop.Wine prices sit between £4.50 and £14.99, so
a bottle needn't break the bank either.
There were some 'stars' on the night and they deserve the following
space!
We began with a Tanti Prosecco Spumante
Extra Dry. The Glera grapes were from the banks of Lake Garda and produced by a
leading family-owned vineyard. It would be good with fish, shellfish,
appetisers and snacks, or cheeses, and was!
Its price, just £7.99, matches
equivalents from local supermarkets, but without the mileage!
Our third, the dearest white, is £11.59,
but it's dearer online. It was English but, actually, Devonian.Sharpham Dart Valley Reserve 2015 comes from
the banks above the Dart, near Totnes. It was described as off-dry with rounded
mellowness.Mmmm, I agreed with that; it was lovely. It deserved its award for the Best Dry White
Wine in the South West vineyards completion 2017. The Sharpham Estate has been producing wines
and unpasteurised cheeses for more than 20 years.
We had their Sharpham Brie too; this was good, extremely good! It was voted runner up in the Best Soft
Cheese category in the Great British Cheese Awards this year.On a
personal note, we love our cheese and would eat this one every day of the week, if it wasn't for
feeling we should watch the cholesterol intake.
Running Duck, Cabernet Sauvignon,
£7.99, is a South African organic, and familiar with many Circle members,
because we've had it before.Its unusual and memorable name relates to the
Indian Running Ducks used by the Trawal vineyard to eat the vineyard's pests. It's a popular purchase from the shop because
being organic it, unusually, doesn't contain the sulphites, a preservative,
believed to cause RWH. That's red-wine hangover to you and me.It
would go well with a punchy pasta dish, pizza and dare I add, duck!As a red wine drinker, I think this is great
value and the fact that its makers have created wine without the sulphur
dioxide has proved to the industry that you can create wine without the
inclusion of chemicals!
Our other white was a Brancott Estate Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc 2016, £8.49, less than Majestic's. Our 1st and 3rd reds were a
Louis Jadot Beaujolais Villages, £10.99 and a Barefoot. The latter was a Californian Merlot, £6.99,
and has been a gold medal winner.
In addition to the Sharpham Brie we tried
and tested goats' cheese: a Ticklemore
Goat, also from the Sharpham dairy and the West Country Billie Goats'
cheese.The former was semi-hard, but moist, slightly
crumbly.The Devonshire Devil is a great-tasting mature
Cheddar. Many people don't like goat's
cheese, but, on the other hand, many present liked these.The Devonshire Cheddar was devilishly good: a rich, creamy cheese with a slight
nuttiness.
The shop's shelves boast 30 varieties of
wine.Up to 50 different cheeses, all from the south
west, are in their chilled cabinet, throughout
the year! That's a staggering number and
very impressive for a rural village
shop! Some of the wines are not found
on large retailers' shelves, such as the Running Duck range.Local
produce has travelled fewer miles than many mass-produced products and small or
family-owned producers always seem to manage to include a certain 'je ne sais
quoi': an indefinable quality.They are well worth a try!
'God
in His goodness sent the grapes to cheer both great and small;'Anonymous
Once upon a time there was a wine
company whose business was entirely wholesale.
Thankfully, that has changed, because Bray Valley Wines of South Molton
are a friendly, professional, knowledgeable, privately-owned company who give great
personal service. They claim that their
aim is: quality, value and excellent service; it is.They sell easy drinking wines at everyday
prices to everybody.
Basa, was produced in Rueda,
north-western Spain, from local Verdejo and Viura grapes, in what Peter
Rollinson described as a beautiful but barren landscape.Bray Valley described it as packed with
crisp, clean flavours; members described
it as very drinkable and could be enjoyed without food.This provides strong competition to a good
Sauvignon Blanc.I wasn't the only one
who loved it!BVW retail it at £8.49.
Muscadet once suffered at the bottom of
the market but our second white was lovely, atypical of what many expect from
this wine type and would be even better with food.Muscadet Sevre et Maine sur Lie is a Loire
wine.It was dry and full-flavoured but
still delicate and would be good with fish and seafood.Made with Melon de Bourgogne grapes on vines
aged between 15-30 years old, it retails at £8.69.
Chardonnay makes many groan and induces,
often," I can't stand it. ABC: Anything
But Chardonnay!" Peter produced another
atypical wine, as it didn't smell oily, nor did it taste greasy, as many
Australian and Californian Chardonnays can, but usually, their wines are
heavily oaked; however, Montagny 1er Cru les Saint Morilles is a 2015 White
Burgundy, pure Chardonnay and French.
Part of its maturing process occurred in
oak
barrels; the other was in stainless steel tanks at controlled temperature,
which made an obvious difference and many agreed that they would drink it
again; however, it retails at £16.99, so
it may not be considered as a daily tasting!
Our first red was Beaujolais.Domaine Romy produced the Vieilles Vignes Les
Pierres Dorees.It was a light and
fruity wine and light red in colour.It
was a good example of a Beaujolais, grown on old vines, hence its name and was
nicely aromatic, with a refreshing finish.
It retails at £8.99.
Californian wine doesn't, usually, have
a revered reputation, perhaps the Blossom Hill label has affected that, but in
my opinion, and many others, our second red was the obvious winner of the reds'
contest. Southern Hills Cabernet Sauvignon comes from the Wente Vineyards' in
California.At 2013, it was the oldest
wine of the evening, but it wasn't the dearest!
Its grapes come from the valley floor and southern hills of the
Livermore Valley in California, located close to San Francisco Bay.Sunshine, warm sea breezes and gravelly
alluvial soils make wine-making heaven.
It was smooth, sweet and delicious, a big wine, perfect with a steak or
other grilled red meats, and a great partner to your Christmas roast beef,
perhaps!£12.99.
Another French product finished our
evening, Chateau La Tour de By is a Medoc, 2014. This was the dearest red at £15.99 and a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon,
Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes. It is oak matured for 14 months
and comes from a Cru Bourgeois estate and one of the leading Cru Bourgeois
properties in the Medoc.It was Cabernet-dominated
and packed with lively, spicy blackcurrant tastes and would work well with
grilled and roasted meats or cheese, but, sorry, France, you've been beaten by
a Californian on this occasion!
Our Christmas meeting is traditional:
Committee's Choice.Six wines are
presented by our six enthusiastic committee members.Presenting one only means that we all enjoy
the festive food and fun.
January's Call My Wine Bluff, on the
17th, is another high point.Its
hilarity is created by three, straight-faced committee members; however, they all
present a plausible description for our six wines.Only one is correct, obviously!
The Wine Beer Supermarket, in Roscoff,
Brittany, will make their first presentation to the Circle, although, it's a
known wine outlet to many members.
Unusually, this will be the fourth Wednesday of February, as the 28th
is more convenient for WBS as transportation involves a ferry crossing.
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator and
Secretary
19
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'And
wine can of their wits the wise beguile, Make the sage frolic and the serious
smile,'
Homer,
The Odyssey
Some of you will know that although we
are only a smallish Devon village, Berrynarbor Wine Circle, BWC, was founded in
1988 and is still going strong. I sense
a future celebration ahead! Our new
season starts on Wednesday, 18th October and runs to 16th May 2018, so next
year's programme will include some additional merriment!
For those of you new
to this village, we meet every third Wednesday of the month, but our Christmas
event is always on the second Wednesday.
Our venue is the Manor Hall and our start time is 8.00 p.m.
We are a happy 'band of travellers', as we sample six wines at every meeting, from
far flung points of the globe:the
Americas, Europe or Australasia, all for a ridiculously cheap annual
registration fee of £5.00 per year, plus the monthly admittance sum of £7.00
per person.In addition to the wines,
you can soak up your alcohol intake with bread and cheese and be surrounded by
familiar faces or unfamiliar, and, have a great time!What more could you ask for on a Wednesday
evening?
Currently, our programme looks like the
following:
•
Karen Loftus and Vicki Elden,
from our wonderful village shop, present a cheese and wine selection on October
18th.
•
Our 1st professional of this
season: Peter Rollinson from Bray Valley Wines, South Molton, will be with us
on November 15th.This company has a
superb selection.
•
December [13th] is always
Committee's Choice. Our six committee
members present their choice for your benefit and pleasure. Members supply a superb spread, usually a
three-course meal.
•
Call My Wine Bluff based on the
BBC programme Call My Bluff is our usual topic for our January [17th]
tastings. Three committee members
present six wines and we have to guess who is telling the truth!
•
February, March and April are
still under discussion;
however, a well-known Roscoff,
Brittany, wine supermarket is interested in presenting wines from their vast
selection during this period. A
convenient date for their ferry travel is awaited.
•
Nigel Pound, of Totnes Wines
makes a very popular re-appearance for our May event.
We believe we have compiled an enjoyable
programme for the masses!Our village
hall is a great space, so, on behalf of BWC, I look forward to seeing friends,
after a 'summer recess', and greeting many
new ones.
Judith
Adam
Secretary
and Promotional Co-ordinator
10
BERRYNARBOR HORTICULTURAL & CRAFT SHOW 2017
A Big Thank You to all who entered and
supported the Show 2017 held on the 19th August in the Manor Hall.Without you there would not be a Show.
On the day, we covered our costs as
well as raising just over £60 for next year.
We also raised £47, which we will
round up to £50, for the British Heart Foundation on the Charity Section, so a
big thank you to those who made a mobile.
We'll soon be planning for next year,
so if anyone has any ideas for next year's classes, then please let us know so
we can consider them - we are always looking for new ideas.
This year's winners are as follows:
Floral
Art The
Globe Cup Sloley Farm
Home
Cooking The Walls Cup Sloley All Stars
HandicraftsThe Davis Cup Mary Gingell
HandicraftsThe Watermouth Cup
Steph Long
Grow
Your Own Spud Kim Beaver
Widest
Sunflower Sloley Farm
ArtThe
George Hippisley Cup
Wendy Applegate
Photography The Vi Kingdon Award Jim Constantine
Fruit
& Vegetables The Derrick Kingdon Cup Tony Summers
Potted
Plants The Lethaby Cup Karen Narborough
Cut
Flowers Manor
Stores Rose BowlRosie Arnold
Best
Horticultural Exhibit - The Manor Hall
Cup:Tony Summers
Best
Non-horticultural Exhibit - Ray Ludlow
Award:Jim Constantine
Best
Exhibit on Show Theme - Watermouth Castle Cup:Mary Gingell
Children's Winners [Cumulative Totals]
Under 5
years - The Mayflower Dish
1stRoxanne Barrow 21 points
2nd Poppy Townsend
6-9
Years - The Wine Goblet
1st
Salah Gingell17
points 2nd Ruby Barrow 15 points,
3rd =
Rosie and May Townsend 10 points
10-13
Years - Men's Institute Cup
1st
Holly Morrish 19 points2nd Jasmine Morris17 points
3rd Ruby
Reynolds8
points
The Organising Group would like to
congratulate all the winners, thank everyone who took part or helped run the
event in any way.
On behalf of those who entered and
everyone who came to the Show in the afternoon, a big thank you to Karen and the
Organising Group for all their hard work in achieving another first-class show
- well done!
9
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
In March, quite by chance I heard a
Wine Talk one Saturday morning on Radio Devon and the presenter said he
regularly did presentations to clubs, groups, W.I's, etc. to spread his love of
wine. I therefore got in touch to
invite him to do a presentation for us, which he kindly accepted. He could not
do our normal meeting date of 19th April but could manage 26th. To say I twisted his arm off could be an
understatement!
Nigel Pound is the boss of Totnes
Wines, a true independent wine merchant, and has been in the wine trade for
over 30 years. His presentation was
entitled A Few of My Current Favourites, and one could easily see, or taste,
why they were favourites;they were
excellent!
He
brought us seven wines to sample, one more than we usually have and gave a
detailed description of each with many amusing anecdotes and tales associated
with them.
The wines
were a sparkling wine from Saumur made by the Champagne Method, not white wine
injected with carbon dioxide the way that Prosecco is. An Albarino from Galicia; an Italian white from the Veneto area and a
white Burgundy from Macon. The red
wines were a typical Bordeaux claret but from the Graves area south of Bordeaux
rather than the more usual Medoc;
Biberius Roble from Ribero del Duero and a merlot called Paisaje de
Tupungato from Mendoza in Argentina.
The
favourites on the night for those I spoke to seemed to be the Albarino of the
white wines and the Ribero del Duero of the reds but of course individuals may
have had their own, different preferences.
To listen
to someone who is an expert in his trade is always interesting and informative
and Nigel certainly was. One of the main
bits of knowledge to come from the evening was that if you tend to have a
headache after drinking wine, particularly red wine, it is probably not a hang
over, but from the sulphites that are added to preserve the wine. This is
particularly true of New World wines, as sulphur has to be added at virtually
every stage because of the climate and then the vast distances it has to travel
to get to us. Incidentally, it doesn't
travel already bottled, in most cases it comes in a container lined with an
enormous plastic bag then bottled in Europe, requiring yet more sulphur! The moral of the story is, if you want to
avoid headaches, only buy wine that was bottled on the estate. Also, NEVER buy what is called British
Wine. This is the commercial equivalent
of the DIY home brew wine kits of the 60's and 70's. It is grape concentrate from virtually
anywhere in Europe that is then fermented in the UK and bottled. Do not confuse it though with English wine
which is proper wine, grown and produced in England that can be superb but
usually expensive.
Although
15 of our regulars were unable to attend, 50 people did and all had an
excellent social evening with many newcomers asking for details of how to
become regular members and even the presenter saying he would love to come
again. What a successful evening!
Tony Summers - Chairman
'Eat
thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart.' Ecclesiastes 9:7
May seems to appear in print a lot
currently, but May for us means the end of yet another season!We began our meeting with our AGM, which
our Chairman, Tony Summers, managed to complete in record time, literally, 3
minutes 15 seconds! Formal proceedings
complete, we were now able to taste his Wine and Food Pairings.Tony used Majestic's for the wine and
decided to see what Berry Brothers & Rudd would suggest for pairings.
We began with a dry sherry: La Gitana, a
Spanish Manzanilla. This was matched
with roasted and lightly salted almonds and marinated anchovies - delicious all
round!We followed this with a
Muscadet Sevre et Maine, 2015: a great summer-drinking option and good with
bi-valves, pan-roasted chicken, cheeses, fondue. Our third white was another Spaniard:
Albarino Caixas perfect with seafood, light dishes or as an aperitif.We sampled it with a chicken pate - a
delightful match.
Reds followed:Parilla 2014, by Vinalba of Argentina is a
Malbec, a perfect match with steak or grilled sausages.Santa Rita Medalla Real is a Cabernet
Sauvignon from the Maipo Valley in Chile and great with a soft creamy goat's
cheese. This combination was suggested
by a Majestic's staff member and it worked very well!Our final May tasting was a Cote du Rhone
Village, 2014: Les Hautes Vignes Cairanne, great with Tony's barbequed and
seasoned sausages.
The results were a resounding
success.There were no favourites as all
wines were enjoyed by most! The wines
were between £7.99 and £11.99 per bottle, the latter achieved as a reduction
due to their Mix 6 offer.
Holidays are on the horizon and,
therefore, we resume in October: Wednesday 18th, at the Manor Hall, to be
precise.New Berrynarborians will
receive a warm welcome and a drink!
Judith Adam - Secretary and Programme Co-ordinator
19
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'If God forbade drinking, would He have made wine so good?'
Cardinal Richelieu
Wine presentations can be easy, sometimes! If professionals are giving them, then we can all sit back and enjoy them; however, there are occasions when members feel that they should or could stand before the Circle.
Geoff and I elected to do February's event because we had done a Danube and Rhine cruise in 2016 that provided some spectacular and particular views. We sailed from Budapest to Amsterdam passing through Hungary, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Holland.
En route, from our floating hotel, vineyards became part of beautiful Austrian scenery and continued throughout and into Germany. We realised that every available space was given over to wine - if the soil and the aspect were appropriate. A few vineyards are flat, but others were incredibly steep and, therefore, everything regarding viticulture was carried out by hand: planting, managing the vines, watering and picking. It's hardly surprising that wine prices can also be steep!
Along the Rhine Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, vineyards vied for space with captivating castles and palatial 'piles'! From the bottom of the ancient and charming town of Rudesheim am Rhein, a cable car took us up to see Germania, an impressive and famous statute, but the vines came up with us! These were impressive too!
Our holiday route was memorable, not least because of the numerous and almost vertical vineyards! These gave me the idea for our BWC presentation. With Internet assistance, we managed, after many searching hours, to buy Hungarian, Slovakian, Austrian and Germanic wines. An almost-unanimous vote gave our first white top marks along with the same for our second red.
Berry Brothers & Rudd supplied our first winner: the 2013 Frittmann, Cserszegi Fuszeres. BBR say that it would be more popular if it had a more pronounceable name. I agree! This Hungarian white is the result of crossing the local Irsai Oliver with Gewurtztraminer and made into dry and off-dry styles. It's 12% and was £10.95. It was good, but then BBR have been in wine since 1698, have two Royal Warrants and seven Masters of Wine.
Our second red was a 2014 Anselmann Dornfelder Trocken, but it was only £8.60. If there had been a blind tasting, it would have fooled many into thinking it was South American or Australian instead of German; it was a rich, full-bodied red, even though it was a single grape variety, Dornfelder, and it was 14%. The Anselmanns have been associated with viticulture for more than 400 years; among numerous accolades they were chosen to supply the German team for the Rio Olympics.
'Wine gives strength to weary men.' Homer
The evening was billed as The Old Bills & Virgin Wines because two retired policemen had offered to present Virgin Wines. The wines were described and, unusually, we also heard about the presenters' past: stories from their experiences within the Met and Birmingham constabulary.
Our first white was South African and, in many people's opinion, was the best white. Perdeberg Winery Vineyard Collection Chenin Blanc Muscat, 2015 was different. It had all the floral, grapey loveliness of Muscat, jazzing up the brilliant freshness and body of Chenin Blanc. It was 13% and described as the most quaffable, not a cheap grape mix at £11.99.
In between wine descriptions given by John Hood, Bill Scholes, once of the Met, regaled stories of his early policing duties around the Kings Cross area. He joined in 1964 when this famous district was decidedly unsafe and undesirable. At the time, his equipment was a wooden truncheon and a whistle, to 'phone in, they had to find a telephone box.
After a night shift, he visited a shop to collect his breakfast; it only sold fresh eggs and bacon. To convey it back to the police canteen to be cooked, the bacon was placed on his head, the eggs were perched on the bacon and it sat under his helmet! To keep these safe, he would walk as if he was on a catwalk at a finishing school!
After we'd had a 2015 white Rioja, voted as thin, and a 2016 Australian Chardonnay that was lighter oak than normal, the reds arrived. Usually, I enjoy a Shiraz, but I didn't; however, the Zeitgeist 2015, 13.5%, from the Languedoc, was soft, smooth, delicious and £19.99 a bottle! La Traversee estate is a sensation in France, but doesn't export a great deal. It will improve for 10 years and beyond.
We finished with an Italian Fazzoletto Barbera Passito 2015. Virgin Wines sold 9,000 bottles in four days, but many thought that the Zeitgeist beat it, hands down.
This season continues with April's event a week later than norm: 26th April. Our host will be Nigel Pound of Totnes Wines and Radio Devon. May's is our AGM followed by a wine and food-match evening with
Tony Summers.
Judith Adam - Secretary and Programme
24
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect Robert Louis Stephenson
December is synonymous with drinking and eating, and, therefore, I suspect that none of us felt guilty imbibing and consuming our Committee's Choice for wines and Members' Choice for a superb banquet. We do it every time!
Two wines presented at Members' Choice in November to 10 of us were SO successful that these were served to the masses. Bray Valley and our wonderful village shop supplied the goods on both occasions.
Sauvignon Blanc seems to be extremely popular with white wine drinkers; many expect it to come from Marlborough, New Zealand. Bray Valley produced a real find and a delicious alternative to expectations: a Pinot Gris from The Crossings Vineyard in Marlborough. It's a shame it's a bit dearer than 'Sav Blanc', but it's worth it. If it's in stock, you'll pay £9.99.
The second was the South African Running Duck Pinotage, from the shop's shelves; it's £7.98. As its name is unusual, it appears to be memorable because its fame has spread beyond our Circle! A shopper, not a Circle member, was overheard asking for a red wine: ". . something about a duck . . . I've read about it in the Newsletter." Who needs to drive anywhere when you can trot to the shop for a liquid Duck - red or white!
Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep, a bath and a glass of wine.
St Thomas Aquinas
Wine Circle members know that January means Call My Wine Bluff: it's a fun evening. None of us are wine buffs, but we all try to use what knowledge we have to work our way through the True and False
descriptions. Tony quoted Eric Morecambe's famous lines of 'All the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order'; Eric applied these musically but it works on Wine Bluff nights too!
Three whites, three reds were tasted, from France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Italy. The High Street supplied in the forms of Lidl's and Marks & Spencer. Tasting, prior to the evening, had not happened, so we were all sampling these for the first time, including our presenter trio.
One wine created a resounding and unanimous response, with disapproving grimaces all round. I have tasted acceptable wine from Lidl's; however, I wouldn't say it is a renowned stockist, and I'm afraid I was totally convinced that Tony had bought the Vino Nuevo de Tinaja sold as Fresquito from LIdl's. I was wrong! It was from M & S! What possessed their buyer to include this?
Tony's script said that it was a 'most unusual white wine' because it is made 'from Pedro Ximenez grapes.' These are usually associated with a deep, chocolaty, ultra-sweet sherry, often called the Christmas Pudding wine, which is absolutely delicious, particularly poured over ice-cream - fantastic stuff, but not this one!
Thirty-six members uttered a loud, "No," when he asked if we liked it. On her first smell, one lady said it smelled of old carpets! Another thought we had said 'armpits', which triggered another negative of, "Yes, that too!" Never tasted a wine like it . . . hope I don't again, but, as another saying goes, you live and learn!
Judith Adam - Secretary and Programme Co-ordinator
13
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'When
a man drinks wine at dinner, he begins to be better
pleased
with himself.' Plato
Bray Valley Wines [BVW] is a privately-owned wine importer
in South Molton, run by Charlie Cotton and Peter Rollinson; they are
enthusiastic and knowledgeable. Peter
presented six wines that were recent stock.
Apart from the Chardonnay, a grape and
white wine that many dislike, the general consensus was that the other five
were either lovely or very good. If a
red-wine drinker states that they think a white wine is lovely, it must
be! Their Dourthe No 1 Sauvignon Blanc,
2015 from Bordeaux is £8.99.
A Galician vineyard in Spain produced
our Albarino, Pazos de Lusco, Rias-Baixas, 2015. BVW retail it for £11.99, probably a bit more
than you'd pay for your daily quaff, but it would be good as part of a social
event. All Peter's reds were delicious
in my opinion, but my white-wine drinking husband thought they were too! Valpolicella Ripasso, Classico Superiore,
Cantina di Negrar, 2014, was our first and cheapest red, at £10.99. Our next, was a 2010 Graves, our dearest
wine of the evening at £19.99. It was intensely
fruity and would be a superb accompaniment to any red-meat dish.
We finished with a brown-red, smooth,
fruity Gigondas Cuvee les Pigie, Domaine Font Sarade 2013, from the southern
Rhone. It was £17.99, not cheap, but it
could be regarded as a delicious investment, if you can manage to keep it in
your wine-rack!
'One
not only drinks the wine, one smells it, observes it,
tastes
it, sips it and - one talks about it.' King Edward VII
Geoff and I joined the Circle in October
2007 and haven't encountered a Members' Choices evening before, so we were
intrigued! Six couples, per table,
provided and presented a bottle of wine, continuing our usual six tastings per
person. Three people presented their
choices at any one time, but three tables of members added atmosphere and
plenty of additional vocal noise!
Suppliers for our wines were the new
Asda's in Barnstaple, Bray Valley Wines, South Molton, Majestic and Sainsbury's
in Barnstaple and our village shop. We
began with a 100% Pinot Gris, from New Zealand, at £9.99, chosen by the
ever-knowledgeable Peter, from Bray Valley.
Tony's Muscadet, Chateau La Bidiere, is
from the Loire, via Asda's. It was a
good buy at £5.99 only.
Matching
wine with food is beneficial as some wines appear to improve with an appropriate partner. Gewurtztraminer, a
pink-skinned grape variety, is quintessentially Alsatian, eastern France, and
complements spicy or exotic food. It was
£8.00.
Kath provided a Chianti Reserva, a young
Sangiovese, made by the Piccini
family, wine producers in Tuscany since 1882, from Sainsbury's at £8.50.
We are fortunate in this village to have
a shop; we are also fortunate as it
stocks drinkable and reasonably-priced wine rather than wine for the pot only! Their Running
Duck Pinotage, £7.98, was a great choice.
It is, according to Debbie, very popular with the young mum's in the
village, because the lack of sulphites means a lack of hangovers! As a red-wine drinker, I'm glad it was
included; others were impressed with it
too.
Californian Zinfandel, probably, doesn't
have the best reputation in the world, but, perhaps it's one of those 'Marmite
moments'! Having sampled Phil's Choice
from Majestic says that it would be good 'by itself, with flavourful duck
dishes or a cheese platter.' I think it
would be good with any red-meat dish as well.
Currently, it could be yours for £7.99 a bottle, instead of £11.99.
Our wines proved that gone are the days
when you could produce a fiver to buy a respectable bottle of wine, and get
change, but nothing stays the same. They
also proved that you don't have to spend a fortune to taste an acceptable glass
of wine either.
Judith Adam
Future
Meetings 18th
January:Call My Wine
Bluff
15
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Wine
makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more
tolerance.'
Benjamin
Franklin
Unusually, our seasonal programme isn't
finalised yet; however, I can tell you
that we begin on Wednesday, 19th October, with Peter Rollinson of Bray Valley
Wines, South Molton. Bray Valley began in 2002 with Charlie Cotton
recognising that only the supermarkets could provide his daily drinking
wines. Their wines, 80-100 types, are shipped in and
known to him as they have all been tasted at some point. Peter jumped at the opportunity to join the
business in 2005. When I mentioned 'livers', he replied, "I
probably don't have one!"
November is 'up for grabs', but
December, is our pre-Christmas event and will be our usual Committee's Choice. Wednesday, 14th January 2017, our first meeting
of another new year, is on the 18th and will be our ever-popular Call My Wine
Bluff. One of our members said that she wished we
could do this every month! I know it takes hours of preparation by Tony
Summers, our Chairman, so I know it won't happen, but we like to provide a
varied programme too.
Our season begins in October and runs
until May. Tastings are always the third Wednesday of
every month, apart from December's, which is the second Wednesday. The
monthly fee, per person, has been £6 since 2008; this covers the bills for our food and drink
and Hall fees. As we all know, all
prices rise; so, as from October,
per-person fees will be a very reasonable £7.
We don't charge for conviviality! Our
monthly tastings are a great way to meet others from the village who may not be
your neighbours. We look forward to seeing new faces; the Hall has plenty of space, but our
enjoyment often fills it!
Judith
Adam - Secretary and Programme Co-ordinator
5
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'If
food is the body of good living, wine is its soul.'
Clifton
Fadiman [US Essayist etc.]
An AGM is the annual starting point,
always, for our May meetings. Tony
Summers, in typical Chairman fashion, kept to tradition, made it brief and
managed to conclude in 5-6 minutes: all matters addressed.
Portuguese wines are difficult to
locate; unusual in supermarkets!One of
their products, though, bears the claim to fame that it broke Majestic's
website recently!This and Laithwaites supplied our six wines.
Wine is produced throughout Portugal: 27
regions, all DOC.During Dr. Salazar's
government, growers' grapes were only sold to co-operatives and private growers
were excluded.EU membership has changed
this and private firms can own and sell where they please.
Vinho Verde is
a well-known Portuguese region. Our Aluado Alvarinho 2014, grew in
the Lisbon area and was £8.99. It was a
light and refreshing dry white.Oz
Clarke describes the Alvarinho grape as fresh with an
acid minerality to match grapefruit and apple blossom
scent.It smelled of lemons and peaches
. . . great for summer sipping or serving with light-tasting food: seafood or
salads
Our next two were Porrais
Reserva 2013, a white from the Douro region and our
dearest at £11.99.It had spicy peach
and zingy lemon curd flavours . . . good with
fish.An Albarrada
Rosado 2014: deep pink, rich, dry and fruity, £7.99, was grown in the Alentejo region and touches, partially, the Spanish border.
Winegrower, Jose Neiva Correia, was dubbed 'aluado':
'moon crazy', because he dared to use
the Alicante Bouschet grape in pure form; usually, it
is added to the country's top reds.It
became a triple gold medal triumph, grown at his 12th century Quinta de Porta
Franco estate, thought to be the oldest vineyard in Alenquer,
the region surrounding Lisbon.Its
colour was deep, black red and had an intense, and savoury
aroma, best served with roasts.His Aluado Alicante Bouschet 2014 was
£8.99.
FOZ Touriga
Nacional 2013 won Decanter Trophy for Best regional Portuguese red under £15
and a 'must try!' It's £9.99 and
originates from the region, a mountainous area,
located between the river and the Serra da
Estrela.This mid ruby red would be
luscious with lamb.
TV chef and Yorkshire lad, James Martin,
of BBC'sSaturday
Kitchen claimed that the Porta 6, grown in the Alenquer
and Cadaval regions, north of Lisbon, a blend of
three grapes, was 'one of the nicest reds I've tasted in 10 years on this
show!'As a result, Majestic sold many
thousand' of bottles and the quest crashed their website! It has another claim to fame - its
label!
This colourful,
crazy cartoon portrays a historic tram that runs around Lisbon's streets,
designed by a slightly eccentric German artist, Hanke
Vagt; his creations were sold to locals and tourists.Antonio Mendes Lopez went to great trouble to
find him and gain permission to use it as an eye-catching label for a very
popular red! Currently, it's £7.99 for
a Mix 6.
Wine Circle summer trips continue;in the past, we've
visited Eastcott and Yearlstone
Vineyards.We took a different view in
July, as we headed for Tapeley Park, Instow, for picnics, with wine of course! House tours are given by Tapeley's
owner, Hector Christie, but only for groups of between 20 and 30.We lunched on the sheltered Italian Terraces,
beneath his impressive 'pile' and were treated to blue skies and glorious
summer sunshine.
We were able to see parts of the
internal grandeur of his home, a property that has been in the family for 300
years, since the time of Queen Anne (1702-1714). The Clevlands were
its owners, but in 1855, one of their daughters, Agnes Clevland,
married William Langham Christie.
Hector, eldest son of Sir George and
Lady Mary Christie, is a 'character', cares passionately about varied matters,
including the exclusion of GM foods from our shops and believes that he is only
a caretaker of Tapeley; he is caring for
its contents.His home is cold,
deliberately; the lack of heating and drawn curtains may seem odd, but this has
protected Britain's second-largest collection of William Morris furniture.It looked like the day it was made - not a
crack in sight!The cabinets' beautiful
inlays were perfect and are magnificent examples by this 19th century
multi-talented master. The gold and
silver inlaid piano was breathtaking -a
baby grand, with an amazing sound.There
are some stunning ceilings and equally stunning porcelain: Minton and all
exquisite works of English and European artistic heritage.
Gather a score together, take a picnic,
head for Tapeley Park and enjoy the views from the house across to Bideford.Sit in the
Italian gardens, take pleasure in your food, wine and friends and you'll gain a
privileged view inside this splendid
local, privately-owned North Devon home.
Judith Adam
13
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'A
bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect.'Robert Louis Stevenson
We were grateful to taste only 'A Few of my Favourite
Things' from Brett Stephens, as recently he had been to a corporate wine
tasting, where800 'things' were on
offer! Six is quite enough thank you!
His employer, Hallgarten Druitt, is one of the historic
names of the UK wine trade, importing wines from family-run producers for over
80 years. Novum joined HD in 2010.
Cava, not Prosecco, was Brett's initial offering.Spanish
bubbles is mainly from Catalonia; he believes that £ for £ it is much better
than Prosecco, as it's made the same way as champagne.He popped the cork quietly and uttered that
this should be 'no louder than a nun's fart'!
Our Cava Brut Seleccion had fine bubbles.+&+ is an unusual name, but points
towards its calibre; there were many mmm's
from the Hall.It's from Barcelona and
was £9.26 + VAT, or £11.11.
Cyprus is not renowned for its wine, but maybe in the future
- Petritis, 2014, a dry white wine crafted from the indigenous variet, Xynisteri,
grown in the Troodos Mountains.It had
partial ageing in oak barrels and was fresh and aromatic. At £12 including VAT, many thought that it
was good.
The third white caused lively reactions and it wasn't the
£20 price tag.Gewurtztraminer is a
Germanic grape synonymous with Alsace wines.
Ours was from the Alto Adige, Italy. A web site review described the Nussbaumer,
2014 as juicy and thirst quenching.Many said it was highly aromatic, smelled of
roses' and tasted of Turkish Delight!One lady member said it tasted like pot pourri
and didn't feel that you should be drinking it!
Yet others have sourced it via the net and bought some as it was their favourite!
The reds were cheaper and not so controversial! Gran Reserva, Echeverria, a Pinot Noir 2013
from the Casablanca Valley, Chile. The
label described it as 'Rich and elegant (with) aromas of strawberries, black
cherries (and) raspberries'. Dark rose
in colour, some described it as pale and deceptive for a red but very nice; others thought it was thin and tasteless.It was £10 + VAT.
Comte de Senejac a Haut-Medoc, 2011 bore an unfamiliar Gold
award label. Each year in Beaune,
France., more than 600 tasters worldwide attend the Feminalise Wine Tasting Competition.
Founder, Didier Martin, with 25-years'
experience, made a simple observation: 'The economical impact of women in the
wine industry'.The competition began in
2007 and went global in 2015.Last year
there were 3655 wines.Tasters numbered 688:
all experts and professionals working in the wine industry or seasoned
oenophiles.The Medoc, aged in oak
barrels was good and £14 ex VAT.
Petit Verdot from the Maipo Valley, Chile, produced
Chaski. It was dark, heavy, but it was
14.5%. Grown between Valparaiso and the
foothills of this famous mountain range, the alluvial soils produced a complex
wine with notes of red fruits, herbs, and spices;well structured, nicely balanced with soft
tannins too.We thought it was good, but
it was £20 ex VAT. A good act, but not
cheap, but Brett's 'Things' wouldn't be!
'Never
did a great man hate good wine.'
Francois Rabelais
Graham, Jeremy and Phil presented our first Men's Night, in
April.No showers just a good show.Four of the six wines came from Majestic's
easy access; however, the stars didn't and
were worth courier service!
Graham and Carol had eaten recently at an Ilfracombe
restaurant.They sampled a soft-pressed
grape wine.Hard-pressed grapes are the
usual component for wines: grapes, stalks and possibly leaves are pressed with
gusto. Soft-pressed means that only the grapes are picked and not squashed
completely as a balloon, within the tank, coaxes out the juice and less
tannin. Some experts believe that less
tannins means less chance of RWH - Red Wine Headaches. Majestic, Sainsbury and M & S were
contacted, but visiting Kent relations, a privately-owned Chiselhurst wine shop
produced the soft-pressed goods.This
white was an unusual mix of Sauvignon and Malvasia.The latter made it slightly sweeter than a
straightforward Sauvignon. The 2014 Il
Pumo, is an Italian wine from 'an Marzano in Puglia.It was £8.00 and would make an excellent
aperitif or go well with fish.His red, a 2013 Primitivo, also from San
Marzano caused a stir.Primitivo di
Manduria was a smooth, silky red, 14% and £14.95; however, some of us liked it so much that an
Italian supplier was contacted and Primitivo, imported from Puglia, is now in
Berrynarbor at £8 per bottle, quantity pays!
Jeremy's white and red were an Australasian Sauvignon and a
Pinot Noir.These are synonymous with
Marlborough, their signature grapes from the wine-growing area of South Island,
New Zealand and originate in the Wairau Valley.
The white, 2014, Goldwater Vineyard was £9.An
excellent Sauvignon, described by Majestic as rich yet fresh.Whereas, the single estate Pinot Noir, Ara,
almost 4 years old, reflected the purity of area, comes from the selected sections
of vineyard: Select Blocks. Majestic
write that this is smooth, fruity and complex.
It was £11.
France was the country of origin for Phil's white and
red.The 2014 Domaine Saint Ferreol
Viognier was barrel-fermented and came from near Montpelier, Languedoc.Majestic describes this as aromatic, rich yet
fresh, but some think Viognier can taste greasy.It was
£11.99 or £9.99 for a Mix 6. His red
was also from the same region: a 2012 Domain de Fabregues, £10.99 for a Mix
6.A Grenache-Syrah mix, it has won a
Wine Spectator award.
Our 2015-16 season ends on 18th May when as normal we shall
have a brief but informative AGM, followed by Tony Summers with The Wines of
Portugal.
Judith Adam
10
BERRYNARBOR
WINE CIRCLE
"Is your Englishman
so expert in his drinking? "
William Shakespeare,
Othello.
Call My Wine Bluff is a
favourite BWC evening based on the popular BBC game programme Call My Bluff,
that ran, off and on, between 1965 and 2005.
Bob, Geoff and Tony told us
our first was a Chenin Blanc, a Verdejo or a Pinot Grigio. It was Tony's:
a Spanish 100% Verdejo. It had a pale straw colour . . . greenish
tinges. . . citrus, tropical fruits . . . fennel and scrubland herbs.
Amazingly, Tony had bought this for £3.50 from Majestic; we didn't think this price was a UK
possibility!
Our second turned out to be
the South African Robertsons Sauvignon Blanc.
Our team were expert for this one, as it was a True! It was
full bodied with a lovely balanced acidity. The third white didn't
come from Portugal or Argentina, but did
come from Languedoc; it was a Viognier. I think this can be a little greasy - not a
preference of mine.
Old World wines are
European or Middle Eastern; they are structure driven and have more
terroir: how . . . climate, soils and aspect (terrain) affect
the taste of wine . . . or . . . earthy notes. Was our first red an
American Zinfandel, Italian Primitivo or South African Pinotage? It was a New World: Californian Old
Vine Zinfande', grown on 100-year-old vines . . . with . . . softer tannins and
a typical peppery finish.
Wine 5 was our dearest at
£19.99, but Majestically reduced to £13.22. It could
have been a Cabernet Sauvignon from Coonawarra, between Adelaide and
Melbourne. It was inky black with deep red hues, but, it could be from Medoc: from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot
and . . . splash of Petit Verdot. Apart from Rioja, Spain has another
world renowned red-wine-producing area, the Ribero del Duero: the upper reaches
of the Duero or Douro River. Our wine came from Pesquera del Duero
with a population of just 469, but its three-generation vineyard is prestigious
and regularly receives 90+ points from the Wine Advocate magazine.
Finally, our options were
from the Colchagua Valley in Chile, an Argentinian Malbec, or an Italian,
Barolo, from the Nebbiolo grape. The latter is known to be £££: Tony mentioned a Majestic's special
offer; it had just crept into our
budget. This was a smoke screen as we sampled a Chilean Gran Reserva,
made from the Carmenere grape. Chilean wines bearing Gran Reserva
means that it is their prestige wine, so on that flavoursome note, that's it
for another year!
If a life of wine, women and song
becomes too much, give up the singing.
Anonymous
Well, wine and women were
the order of the day as February's meeting was Ladies' Night and I believe Alex
Parke described Pam, Pip and I as the 'Old Brigade'; I think he was referring to our long-standing
membership!
Pam started proceedings with
a Spanish, 2014, Godello Caixes from Majestic. The wine was 100% Godello,
grown throughout north-west Spain. This was used as a constituent, but
has gained increasing recognition as a quality varietal in its own right.
Jamie Goode of the Sunday Express described this white as having
pleasant focus with bright citrus and pear fruitiness, lots of flavour, but not
heavy. Many thought it was delicious. It's still on offer: £6.99 instead of
£7.99.
Pip and I knew Pam was
using Majestic; we used alternative
importers, deliberately. We 'travelled' to the Valle de Elqui in Chile,
courtesy of Pip and Marks & Spencer and tasted a clean and fresh, 2014, PX.
The name didn't give much away; however, PX are the initials for the grape:
Pedro Ximenez. This was another 100% grape variety, but more commonly
found in southern Spain, known, usually, for dark, sweet sherry or Australian
sweet fortified wines. The Wine Circle has tasted the dark and sweet,
but, surprisingly, this was a dry white, similar to Sauvignon Blanc. I
heard 'delicious' and 'amazing', just £7 a bottle.
Tohora Point, Marlborough
and Sainsbury's are the names to conjure with for the last white. This
isn't similar to, it is a
Sauvignon Blanc. It was this grape, this wine that made the world take note of New
Zealand. Sainsbury's description is
enticing aromas of gooseberries, delicately fruity, stone fruit, pears, leading
to a crisp. refreshing finish. Many thought it was lovely.
Average price is £9.99: I had paid £6.
Portuguese wines are often
ignored or forgotten; they shouldn't be. Pam's Porta 6, was an award
winner and sold 20,000 bottles one afternoon because TV Chef, James Martin,
declared that 'it is one of the nicest reds I've tasted in 10 years on this
show.' Many of us agreed! It was a grape mix: Tinta Roriz,
or Tempranillo, Castelao and Touriga Nacional and £7.49 instead of £8.99.
Cotes du Rhone Villages
wines are usually, synonymous with quality. The best of these have their
own appellation, including Vacqueyras, which achieved this status in 1990.
Our sample was 2014 and could be kept. At the time of tasting the
deal: £13 down to £10.40.
In 1999, St Emilion was the
first vineyard in the world listed as a world heritage site by UNESC', due to
its outstanding example of a historic landscape that has survived intact and in
activity to the present day' Its wine is revered and can be very pricey; my 2013 was a Bronze
award winner in 2015; it was agreed, generally, that it would be good with
food. Its £10 price label didn't shriek cheap!
Judith Adam
20
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Champagne
is one of the elegant extras in life.'
Charles
Dickens, Household Words.
November provided another first for us,
a visit by Peter Rollinson from Bray Valley Wines [BVW], in South Molton. This is a two-man concern: Peter, and Charlie
Cotton who started the business in 2002.
Charlie has spent all his working life in the wine business and
established BVW to provide quality, easy drinking wines, at affordable
prices. Peter 'fell into wine', has
been with them for 10 years and loves it.
Both men believe that they should know their wines: over a period of
time they have sampled every wine
type in their stock!
We started with a Viognier from the
Western Cape, South Africa, 2014 and 13.5%.
Some described it as sweet and viscose; it was only £6.99. The next two whites were French. The Pouilly-Fume, 2013, 12.5%, from the
Loire, was dry, full of fruit, with a flinty freshness and £11.99. Our last was
a Pouilly-Fuisse, a white Burgundy, 2012, 13% and the dearest of the evening at
£17.49. It wasn't my cup of tea as it
was made from the Chardonnay grape . . .
which just goes to prove that if your palate decides no, then the price
is of no consequence!
Our first red was a Spanish Rioja
Crianza, 2012, 13.5% and £9.99. It had a
spicy feel and spends 12 months in oak barrels. The next, a Cabernet Franc, also 2012, from
Mendoza, Argentina, was chocolatey and 14%; it was £12.99. Our last wine of the evening was a
Crozes-Hermitage from the northern Rhone, with the Syrah grape. Peter thought this was delicious. It was £14.99.
December's tastings are chosen by our
six committee members as it's our Food with Wine evening. Our Chairman, Tony
Summers, had won a bottle of pink 'bubbles' for a short quiz set by Peter
Rollinson, in November; Geoff Adam, felt
that we should all know what this was
like, so we began with some festive fizz: the said 'pink bubbles'.
This wasn't Champagne, but it was a Cremant de Loire, produced by the
Langlois Chateau, managed by the Bollinger family, so we knew it would be
good. It was and it is, because you can
still buy this from BVW. Currently there
is a deal: seven for the price of six, which means you can have a £10.99 wine
for £9.42. It has a freshness, fine
bubbles . . . with beautiful summer flavours.
It's 12.5%, from the best terroirs of the Saumur area . . . made
entirely from Cabernet-Franc and well-worth a drive to South Molton!
John Hood had contacted Avery's of
Bristol for his Spanish white, from Rueda. It was a dry Verdejo, a Palacia de
Pimente', 2014. It was 13% and
£8.99. He didn't give us many other
details, just said we should drink it . . . so we did!
I presented a Portuguese red: a 2013 Azamore from the DOP Alentejo
region. These reds are described as easy
drinkers, rich and fruity . . . popular all over Portugal. It was popular in Berrynarbor too! It was £10.49 and another BVW purchase.
An Argentinian, 2015, Malbec, from
Mendoza, Argentina, followed: a Fairtrade red, 13% and £6.99 only. Our Treasurer, Bob Hobson, was proud to note
that it was the cheapest of the evening!
Majestic described it as a powerful red. It was like many other Malbecs: smooth,
robust and fruity.
Majestic's currently have
Chateauneuf-de-Pape between £25 and £60 per bottle; however, John Thorndycroft noticed a
pre-Christmas deal and purchased ours for £9.99 instead of £19.99; it was a
Reserves de Capouiers, 2014 and 14%.
This revered red, probably the most famous Southern Rhone appellation is
always a grape mix. It's another robust
red and Mrs T thought it was very nice.
Our final tasting had legs . . . as it
had travelled, literally, all the way from Spain, and arrived at Mr Summers'
doorstep only 5 hours before it needed to be at the Manor Hall! An Amazon purchase, it was sourced and
couriered from Cordoba, Spain. This
dessert red is like a very sweet sherry only much better! This Pedro Ximenez1927 oxidises as it is
maturing and made from the solera system:
a mix taken from several barrels, started for this particular wine, in
1927. Amazingly, Tony purchased this,
including the courier charge at the time, for approximately £11 per
bottle.
The February meeting on the 17th is Ladies'
Night, followed by Brett Stevens of Hallgarten Druitt & Novum Wines on the
16th March.
19
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Age is . . . totally irrelevant unless, of course,
you happen to be a bottle of wine.' Joan Collins
Italian wines, presented professionally, has never been done before, so a first for everybody. Paul Firman from Majestic, Exeter's 'Wine Guru', delivered some marvellous wines.
My preference is for red, for most of the time; however, there are occasions when white is wonderful: a chilled glass on a summer's day or served with a delicate dish such as fish. Paul's white choices were a surprise and delight.
The first, a Prosecco, was from their new Definition range: their first ever own label range of wines . . . with a little help from some of the world's greatest winemakers. Prosecco has become extremely popular recently, sales have increased by 400%! It is usually cheaper than another bubbly champagne, but it can be very gassy.
Majestic decided that their perfect' Prosecco had to be dry, it must have tiny frothy bubbles, and it must taste great with the trickiest of food matches, Prosciutto. It had approval from many of us, probably the nicest Prosecco I've ever tasted. Produced in the best Valdobbiadene vineyards near Venice, it was 11% and bears the DOCG, quality label. For a Mix 6, it was £9.74, but it could be £12.99.
Next was a Stella Alpina Pinot Grigio, 2014, Alto Adige. It amazed and fooled many; it was so fruity. Majestic describe it as 'in a different league to entry-level Italian Pinot Grigio, balancing a rich, pure palate of peach, melon and pear fruit with the crispest of finishes'. I couldn't describe it any better! It was 13% and should be £12.99, but there is a deal to be had. You could buy it for £9.74 if you buy a mix 6.
Lastly, a Soave Classico 2014 Inama. Classico is a good sign and this Soave comes from hand harvested Garganega grapes. This isn't an oaked wine but it is from the best slopes in the region of northern Italy and 12%. Again, Majestic's description was apt: 'Generous acidity and a rich texture enforce the elegant finish'. Another Mix 6 deal: £10.98, but it should be £14.65.
Our reds were a Barolo, Brunello and a Montepulciano. We started with the Montepuliciano, the driest, as it should be, but also the cheapest at £9.74 for a Mix 6, should be £12.99. Its production area, Abruzzo provides the demarcation point of southern Italy. Bright ruby, it was the youngest of our reds: 2013 and 13%.
Next was the Barolo Araldica, 2011 with the Nebbiolo grape. The Araldica is a Piedmont co-operative in north-western Italy. This was 14%, but £12.74 as a Mix 6, with a full price of £16.99. It would be great with a grilled steak or strong hard cheese. It had a lovely ruby colour with a long and complex finish.
The Brunello di Montalcino was a 2009. This could be enjoyed over the next 5 to 10 years. Age means care means £££; this could be £22.49 or £30 for a full bodied wine grown on a family-owned vineyard in Tuscany. It too was 14% and delicious with seasoned lamb, braised red cabbage and red wine sauce, Mm mm!
Our Pre-Christmas do is Committee's Choice of wines with members' food, will be December 9th. Our first meeting of 2016 on the 20th January will be the ever-popular Call My Wine Bluff.
Judith Adam
16
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Berrynarbor Wine Circle summer trips
have been occurring off and on for many years.
Recently, we have had a wine
tasting by Majestic at Arlington Court, visited Eastcott Vineyard, near
Holsworthy, had a wine tasting at Majestic's of Barnstaple and in July this
year, we visited Yearlstone Vineyard, near Bickleigh. They
have been well-supported and enjoyed by all.
Yearlstone
Vineyard was described by one member as the 'prettiest location we've been to'; I'm assuming that's
as a BWC visitor! It has, certainly, a stunning location with
wonderful views of the Exe Valley, but then, ideally, vineyards should be on free-draining
soil and south-facing slopes in order that grapes can ripen well in sunshine, and
they do. Their winery is one of the best
equipped in England; their bottling machine was fast, efficient and fascinating
to watch!
Owners, Roger and Juliet White arrived
at this vineyard in 1994. When they
arrived, some of the vines were more than 30 years old and, therefore, grape
production was poor. They have removed
and replaced vines to ensure that they can produce award-winning wines. Juliet, previously a Kitchen Designer,
undertook a viticultural course at Plumpton College in Sussex: England's only
wine college. They grow a variety of
grapes and produce six types of Cool Climate wines, including a refreshingly
dry rose and Vintage Brut: Yearlstone's fizz.
Yearlstone do group tastings in the
evenings; we followed their very friendly,
informative tour and tastings with an evening meal here too. Unfortunately, it was a cool evening, so we
had to eat inside their cafe; their spacious terrace overlooks their superb
views. I had their Spanish style king prawns
with garlic, wine and sherry, with salad.
They were absolutely delicious - I
could have drunk a bowl of the sauce!
Their desserts change regularly, but I had their lemon and pine nut
torte, which was good. All food is made
by their Chef, Tim Harris, initiator of Crediton's Food Festival.
The vineyard and cafe are open to the
public for tastings and lunches between 11.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. on Wednesdays
to and including Sundays, in spring and summer. They are well worth a visit.
Judith
Adam
The
2015/2016 Wine Circle season begins on Wednesday, 21st October. The programme up to Christmas is as follows:
Wednesday
October 21st: Jack Hicks of Majestic
Wines Barnstaple - The Variety of Italy
Wednesday
November 18th: Peter Rollinson of Bray
Valley Wines, South Molton
Wednesday
December 9th: The Wine Circle Christmas
Food & Drink Evening. Maximum of 60 people so tickets and food contributions must be arranged
at the latest by the November meeting.
24
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
"Wine is
inspiring and adds greatly to the
joy of
living."
Napoleon
Bonaparte
I'll drink to that! Seriously, wine tasting, for the Circle as a
group, ceased in May. However, I suspect that our members have managed to raise
a glass or two since then, as summer seems to be a season of socialising! Our end-of-season meeting always begins
with the AGM, once over a presentation was made to our Treasurer: Jill McCrae. A
lovely lady and one with staying power - she has been in charge of the money
since 1993!
We were fortunate to have a professional
with us for our last evening of the 2014-15 season. Brett Stephens represents Hallgarten Druitt
& Novum wines. Their website
describes who they are: Hallgarten
Druitt is a historic name in UK wine, importing wines from family-run producers
for over 80 years. Novum has been hand
picking wines for the . . . London
on-trade since 2004.
Brett's topic was Emerging Regions and
we were treated to an international variety: proving that the net has
introduced, truly, a World-Wide-Web of producers for us all. Our
wines were Croatian, Greek, Indian and Spanish. Produce from the latter may be seen on shop
shelves, but currently, the others are not regular stock. It was
interesting to taste a dry white wine all the way from West Istria and to
sample an award-winning Dindori Reserve Shiraz, produced in the Sula Vineyards,
180km from Mumbai! Both of these wines
were £10.
The 2015-16 season starts on Wednesday
October 21st and runs until May 2016. As this goes to print, I am fairly certain
that we shall taste Italian wines, courtesy of Majestic, presented by their new
Manager,
Jack
Hicks. He took a business trip to Italy
earlier this year, so I'm sure we shall be given a sextet with character,
delivered by a young and enthusiastic professional.
We meet at the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m. If you like your wine, do join us. If you
are a non-wine drinking partner, do come along too, there is no monthly fee for
you, but you can still enjoy the camaraderie and perhaps meet some more
Berrynarborians!
Judith
Adam
Secretary
and Promotional Co-ordinator
9
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Wine
is life.' - Petronius
Domaine GOURDON is a vineyard owned by Jonathan
Coulthard since 2003. An ex-pat, he
lives and works in Esclottes, near the beautiful medieval town of Duras in
South West France.
We have been fortunate to hear from him
on several occasions - he is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic gent. In the past he has presented his own wines,
but on another occasion we tested and tasted his competitors' wines, which were
also excellent.
April's meeting was a generous sampling
of his produce only, which he had called Vertical and Horizontal Tasting! He's remembered, obviously, how most of us
react to having more than our usual six tastings! Unusually, for our meetings, all five
whites were Sauvignon Blanc but the grape mix was different, the vines were
young or old, or their ageing process was diverse and they made interesting and
informative comparisons. The 2013, 70%
sauvignon and 30% muscadelle suited my palate best; it was fresh and had a
gentle acidity.
We moved on to his Rose circa 2014: 80%
Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 10% Cabernet Franc. It was pale, crisp and refreshing. The two reds were a mix of Merlot, Cab Sav
and Cabernet Franc grapes, but percentages differed. Twelve bottles were either: £92, £93.50 or
£102.00 for whites, rose or red.
May's meeting begins with our AGM, which
is brief but essential. Our final
presenter is Brett Stephens of Hallgarten Druitt Wines, with Emerging Regions. Their website includes management statements,
such as: 'geographical boundaries are no issue' and 'importing wines from
family-run producers for over 80 years.'
A gastro-pub chain owner, London-based, believes they are the 'best wine
merchants I've come across'. It sounds
as if we shall all be treated to an international and tasty education!
Judith
Adam - Secretary
20
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Good wine ruins the purse, bad wine ruins the stomach.'
Spanish proverb
The ever-popular 'Call My Wine Bluff' was the February topic for the Circle. Teams heard 18 descriptions for 6 wines and decided between the bluffs and the truths. Wine Masters Summers, Hobson and Thorndycroft presented the evening's delights.
For the first white, it could have been from Thailand or Austria, but proved to be an Essex Blonde'! It was a Bacchus, 2013, from the New Hall Vineyards, Purleigh, in Essex. Bacchus is a great grape for our English climate and, even though Purleigh's soil is London Clay, members described it as lively and a real fruity one! For a white, 10.5% alcohol level is low, and for an English wine its price was too: £8.65.
The Essex then a Spaniard, were well received, but the last was the most expensive: £12.90 and disappointed. It was agreed, generally, that the Sandstone White, from Walker Bay in South Africa, 2009, was quite old for a white . . . past its best. Perhaps a much younger version would have delighted palates, but may have been dearer...
Pictures of Australian, Spanish, Italian, French and New Zealand producers and wines followed. Obviously, the real origin was there somewhere! The first red was an Auzzie: a 2012, Wild Paw Cabernet Sauvignon and at £6.55 it was very popular or 'bonza' you might say!
Spain produces some brilliant wines that often pack a punch. Ribero del Duero is less well-known than the Rioja area, but members enjoyed a Crianza from here, but it was £13.60 a bottle.
The final wine of the evening was unusual: a Pinot Noir from Italy; most are produced in France, particularly Burgundy. Even with the vat, this was only £6.60. It was regarded as very good value and excellent, which sounds to be an accurate description of yet another Wine Circle evening!
All wines were purchased via Brett Stephens of Hallgarten Druitt Wines, who, after the AGM, will preside over our final meeting of this season on 20th May.
LIDL AND LARGE or Lidl and ASDA - March meeting
It was felt, sometime ago, that wines from the cheaper supermarkets should be tested, so Geoff Adam and John Hood researched, then presented.
Geoff bought 3 Pinot Grigio from ASDA: Chile, California and Italy, with prices of £4.00, £7.25 and £9.00. ASDA's most expensive wine appeared to be £12. All of these were 2013 or 2014.
The cheapest was described as light, whereas the next, a Barefoot from the US, had more character, deeper taste. It has won numerous awards, American of course; however, it can be purchased in other supermarkets including Waitrose. It seemed that I wasn't the only one who would drink it again, because it was good summer drinking.
Many, I'm sure, assume that if one wine is the dearest of a selection offered that it will be best. Wine is subjective, but, I described the dearest, the Italian, as wincey, or should I say highly tannic. It was as if I was sucking a lemon - and I wasn't the only one to pull faces!
Lidl's reds proved to be an interesting investigation! John's French were all £8.99. Generally, I am a red drinker, but the first two, a 2012 Bordeaux, then a 2011 Medoc, did not appeal. Bordeaux, described by experts such as Jancis Robinson, has the Quality Factor and is the 'world's biggest resource of fine wine'. Mmmm, don't think she'd include this one! Medoc's label described it as perfectly balanced but perhaps the Bordeaux and the Medoc would have been easier on the palate with a meaty meal! Food makes a tremendous difference...
The last was a Vacqueyras Serabel, 2012, which was worth the wait - smoother tasting. It, like the Bordeaux, were both awarded Appellation D'Origine Protege status, once the French had removed the Cotes du Rhone Villages label in 1990, but Protected designation of Origin is also applied to French food. The criterion is four-fold: a. geographic and historic origin b. a craft or form of expertise c. a link with the region and d. quality control.
Banter and laughter abounded. You do only get what you pay for, but it proved that Wine Circle nights, can, obviously, be wincey or tasty!
Judith Adam - Secretary
16
BERRYNARBOR
WINE CIRCLE
'Wine is the most healthful and
most
hygienic of beverages.'
Louis
Pasteur
Bugs and viruses abound and circulate
during autumn and winter and I succumbed in November. I was due to deliver this month's wines, but
at the 11th hour it had to be a presentation by proxy; thankfully, my very able husband, Geoff,
stepped in!
'Romania Surprises' probably, begs the
question why, would you choose wines from here? One sociable evening last summer, courtesy
of a friend, we sampled a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. Wine labels interest me, I saw that it was
from Romania. I was sceptical. However, it transpired to be a very pleasant
white wine.
Romania is landlocked, mainly. A small, south-eastern section of its border
is coastal, created by the Black Sea. It has a varied landscape, hot summers and very
cold winters, and, therefore, its winemaking regions follow a diverse
pattern. The north-east makes aromatic whites; the
coastal winemakers produce Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc; whereas the south,
with its warmer temperatures, is better for reds.
We
sampled a Feteasca Regala, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc. These were followed by a Pinot Noir, Merlot
and a Syrah. The reds were preferred by
the majority. I wasn't there, but I did
have a tasting sample of all and the last two wines, the Merlot and Syrah were
excellent value for their money, both £7.99, and I'd drink them again, Many members agreed that the Syrah was the
best of the bunch!
Their prices ranged between £8.95 and
£6.99, but they were couriered from Bristol and London wine merchants, so these
charges had to be added to the final bill.
Worth it, I think, to achieve a
better knowledge of this beverage.
Our Christmas celebration is very
popular. Sixty-one of us enjoyed
homemade 3-course meals and 6 good wines to round off a very successful Wine
Circle year. We started with a
Prosecco, followed by a star - a Pouilly
Fume made by Jonathan Pabiot. It was a
delicious white, an organic Sauvignon Blanc - a star of the Loire. It was pale
and refined, with a citrus fruit core.
It should have been £19.99 per bottle, but Majestic's deal was and is
£13.32 if you buy 2 bottles.
Unusually, we followed this with 4 reds:
two Spanish and two Italian: a Sicilian Corolla Red, 2012, and a Vina Del
Perdon, a Navarra Reserva, 2004, described as a 'historic vintage' and rated as
excellent by the Rioja and Navarra Control Board. Aged wine has been nurtured, costing money,
but this was only £9.99 from Avery's of Bristol.
I was keen to try a different supplier
and drove to Bray Valley Wine, in South Molton, but it was worth it. No tastings possible, but I was recommended
the Renato Ratti Ochetti 2012, Nebbiolo D'Alba, a Piedmont
red. It didn't
come cheap: £15.98 per bottle, a Christmas reduction of £2. Ratti's
website says: 'A slightly faded ruby red . . scents of strawberry and raspberry
. . elegant and full. It adds that it has: 'class, finesse and delicate aromas'. There were many complimentary voices,
including mine!
Tony Summers, our Chairman, provided us
with a Ribero del Duereo for the evening's finale with a Cillar de Silos 2010,
from Majestic's. Another aged, oak-barrel-matured red, £17.99, but £13.40 if 2
bought. It was another great wine to
end another great evening.
January
to May programme:
18th
February - Call My Wine Bluff.
18th
March - Lidl and Large
15th
April - Jonathan Coulthard from France
20th
May - AGM and to end this season:
Emerging Regions by Brett
Stephens Hallgarten Druitt Wines:
Judith Adam - Secretary
24
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Wine is sunlight, held together by water.
Gallileo
Turnout for our first Circle meeting of the
season, October, was unexpectedly high at 54.
Great turnouts are lovely to see, but I think it made our Debs even more
nervous! It was good to see the superb
support for Debbie and Karen. Their
presentation of some of our shop's stock was pure theatre! The
six tastings were varied, great value and included some surprises . . .
Their double act was one-sided,
initially, as Karen led the way with descriptions of five wines: four of which
were from Boland Cellar, a South African-based producer. Surprisingly, the white favourite appeared
to be Flutterby - a Sauvignon Blanc. As it was in a plastic bottle, many admitted
that they would have picked it up and put it back; however, it was a fruity white, and, of
course, safe to take on picnics and only £6.99.
Debbie managed to overcome her nerves
and presented the final red: a Bordeaux Claret, regarded as delicious by me and
those around me. This was imported by
Bottle Green Limited: a Leeds-based company who believe they 'bring you the
very best of France'. It had body, great
colour, taste and price, just £7.99: a very pleasant revelation.
We may be a small North Devon parish,
but our village shop provides a great service, walking distance for many. You wouldn't need to drive to Ilfracombe to
shop in a well-known store for your wine; it's on Castle Hill!
November's topic, 19th, is a first for
the Circle, as all wines are Romanian. I do hope we'll see you there. Fifty-four is a good number, but our Manor
Hall can take more!
Our December meeting is always on the
second Wednesday, the 10th this year.
It follows a tried-and-tested pattern:
Committee's Choice with members' food.
January's meeting, 21st, sees a change of plan: we have Ladies' Night, 6 wines with 6 ladies.
Judith
Adam: Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
27
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
We are officially in autumn, summer was kind, mainly. With autumn comes a new Wine Circle season and I trust all current members are looking forward to it.
We shall be very pleased to see newcomers. It is a very social event and a great way of meeting villagers who are not your immediate neighbours.
Our meetings are always on the third Wednesday of every month, other than our Christmas one which is always a week earlier, on the second Wednesday in December. 8.00 p.m. in the Manor Hall.
Our first meeting is on Wednesday, 15th October when Karen Loftus and Debbie Thomas will perform a Double Act with Shop Delights!
I shall be giving Romania Surprises at the November meeting on the 19th.
Future Programme:
10th December Christmas Meal and Committee's Choice
21st January Ladies' Night
18th February 3 Committee Members present Call My Wine Bluff
18th March Geoff Adam and John Hood - Lidl and Large, a budget supermarket investigation
15th April Paul Firman, Majestic Wines
20th May AGM and Brett Stephens of Hallgarten Druitt Wines - Emerging Regions
Judith Adam
Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
21
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Penicillin cures but wine makes people happy.'
Sir Alexander Fleming
May's meeting commences with our AGM, which is historically-brief, but informative and proper. As Chairman, Tony Summers delivered this and was pleased to announce, among other things, that because of our good attendances recently, our healthy budget enables our 40+ regularly-attending members to sample excellent wines. The hall is capacious and can take plenty more, so if you fancy joining us please do. Our 2014-15 season begins at 8.00 p.m. on Wednesday, 15th October in the Manor Hall.
Tony Summers' 'Mystery Tour' was so-called because the prices were to us! For our last Wine Circle meeting of the 2013-14 season, he presented wines bought in Roscoff, Brittany. We started with a bubbly - a Sparkling Saumur. Tony had done his homework: it would have cost anything up to £13.49 a bottle in the UK, however, it was only €7. It was a lovely bubbly, but the other two whites were equally as good. One was a Sauvignon Blanc, the other a Muscadet. Their prices were €4.50 and €4.00.
The reds were equally as good. The first was a 2010 Beaujolais. It was smooth, hand-picked Gamay grapes and €9. A Malbec next, stronger than the first, but also very good at only €7, and finally a 2006 Cru Bourgeois Bordeaux, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon which was described as complex, superior and needed food. On the 'net, similar wines would have been £16-£21 per bottle. Tony bought it for €11.5 or £9.80. There wasn't one 'iffy' wine among them, even though the cheapest worked out to be £3.42 a bottle, which just proves and highlights the tax differences on alcohol between France and the UK!
Judith Adam - Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
12
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
A Ladies
Night was a first for the Circle; six wines presented by six lady
members. I appreciate that I am biased,
but everybody around me and other members I managed to speak to on the night
thought their selection produced another excellent evening.
We started with Camel Valley bubbles; Cornwall
Brut was pretty special. It was fruity and dry with a great bouquet and the
price was special too: £24.95 per bottle, but hey, it's for the Wine Circle!
Our next whites were French and New
Zealand: a Picpoul de Pinet from the Languedoc region and then The Ned from
Marlborough. Many thought that the Pinet
was a bit thin, the flavour didn't last, but a Majestic employee described the
latter as 'That's New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc on steroids!' It is a punchy, fruity wine. Both of these are Majestic stock and were
£6.99 if two bought.
We followed these with a mixed-grape,
mid-Spanish red then two Pinotage wines from South Africa. If you're a red drinker, as I am, I should
be surprised if the Spanish Gran Status failed to impress; it was fruity, a smooth red with soft tannins. It's £8.50 a
bottle and from our marvellous shop.
Fancy being able to purchase a good red from a village shop!
The first Pinotage was Kadette from the
Stellanbosch region: the dearest red, at £10.50. It was typical of this grape: heavy and
fruity, but some described it as a 'Marmite moment'! Many felt it needed to be drunk with
food.
It is unusual at Circle gatherings to
have two of the same, but our final sampling was also from the shop and another
Pinotage, but from the Western Cape: Cappupino Ccintage. It had been compared to the Kadette, tried
and tested you might say!
Their presenters agreed that they were different; they were! It was described as smoky, obvious coffee smell, could or even
should be drunk with smoky BBQ food!
Judith Adam - Secretary and
Promotional Co-ordinator
13
BERRYNARBOR
WINE CIRCLE
'I
drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion'. Miguel de Cervantes
Sensibly,
Majestic sends their managers out to wine-producing areas to taste and
learn. In January 2013, Paul
Firman, Barnstaple's Manager, flew out, with others, to Chile.
It made sense to include him in this
season's programme, so we could gain from this education. Paul showed us, enthusiastically, just what
South America could offer. Vines and grapes benefit from temperature
variety. Chile's geological features include the Andes and the Atacama Desert,
which means that its grapes benefit from ideal climate conditions: hot summers,
cooling coastal breezes from the South Pacific and moderate rainfall. His six examples were single-grape only; four
Chilean and two Argentinean. Our first
wine was a white Chilean, with a grape usually associated with Germany: a
Gewurztraminer.
The Yali Reserva 2013 was produced in
the Colchagua Valley. It was
night-harvested, so that cool grapes are pressed without air contact and
fermented at cold temperatures. This
maximises its primary fruit character
and it did and had a nice balance of
texture and acidity. An
unexpected but delicious find; many members asked Paul for its price: £9.99 currently, but will have an April offer
price. Majestic recommends that it is
accompanied by lightly spiced satay, grilled tiger prawns or oriental noodle
salad. I'm sure it would be great on its own too or
with a salad. Two other whites a
Chilean Torrentes and an Argentinean Chardonnay followed before the reds:
Chilean Merlot, a Carmenere and finally the dearest red: an Argentinean Malbec;
however, the dearest wine of the evening was the Chardonnay at £23.00 per
bottle.
Wine is personal preference, but I
wasn't the only one who thought the Malbec was another delicious sample. This Italian, family-owned vineyard, in
Vistalba, has been producing wine since 1901.
They produced the Luigi Bosca 2011.
It was deeply fruity with a dark colour . . . and had well-judged acidity. It was new to Majestic stocks and was £15.99,
but £12.99 if two purchased.
Bringing Burgundy To You is a
company set up by ex-pats, Lynne and David Hammond, in 2003, who live and work
in the heart of this world-renowned region, near Beune. They take everyday Burgundy to great Grands
Crus to tasting events for companies, clubs, societies and private parties. They are the region's 'Ambassadors'.
We learned a lot from this husband and
wife team with an expert, passionate and confident delivery. I didn't know that a proper 'Kir Royale'
should be made with Cremant de Bourgogne, a lightly-fizzy white wine, not
Champagne, and Cassis. I learned that
young Burgundies should be opened and left for up to 1/2 hour, old ones should be
opened and drunk; Grand Cru vines face east and have a low yield; growers are
not permitted to exceed yield. Fancy
the French obeying rules!
Bourgogne wines use four grape types:
Pinot Noir, Gamay, Algote and Chardonnay.
Our seven wines were single grape only apart from our first: a sparking
with a mix of grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Algote. Our other three whites were Chardonnay. The last was £25.95, but it wasn't a 'Wow'
for me! Our reds were Pinot Noir 2011
and 2012 and included the cheapest of the night at £10.66.
As it is Ladies Night next month, 16th April,
I sought the opinion of some on Bourgogne wines. Four and surrounding friends gave feedback:
more expensive was obvious, little bouquet, lacking in flavours. The general consensus was that they weren't
particularly taken.
It
was an interesting evening. If wines are disliked by some, we all appreciate
that our Circle gives us the opportunity to enjoy a sociable evening and the
opportunity to taste, learn and be educated...
Tony Summers presents our final
gathering of the year, 16th May, which
begins with our historically brief AGM.
His topic: Tony's Mystery Tour.
We reconvene on 15th October, after what we hope will have been another
wonderful summer!
Judith
Adam: Secretary and Promotional
Co-ordinator
13
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Wine
is the thinking person's health drink'
Dr
Phillip Norrie
Our November meeting was too late for
inclusion in the pre-Christmas Newsletter, so I reflect on two gatherings, in
December, for the first of 2014's Newsletters.
This month is a social month - many of us will be tippling a glass of champagne,
or a red or white and perhaps more than our usual, so I thought Dr Norrie's
statement would bring comfort to us all!
We certainly tipped a few with Jonathan
Coulthard in November. Our usual
tastings are 6, but he provided 8 wines from the Duras area. He is a producer-grower in the smallest
appellation: Cotes de Duras AOC, in the Department of Lot et Garonne, in the
region of Aquitaine, but it was one of the first: 1937. The town of Duras is close to Bergerac and
Bordeaux.
All wine was produced 'en famille': in vineyards
privately owned, generally by more than 1 generation. They all seemed to meet with approval and,
annoyingly, 7 were less than €10, but French duty is only 3 cents! The penultimate was a sweet wine - 80%
Semillon, 15% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Muscadet, but this was €25.50. His own award-winning red: Chateau Terra
finished the evening. Another inclusion
was a 14%, €5 Merlot, 2009. This was
Domaine de Grande Mayne. Jonathan
described it as coming from a 'progressive vineyard' and was where he gained
his work experience having trained at Plumpton College.
Plumpton in East Sussex, as a matter of
interest, specialises in 'land-based courses', and is a 'Centre of Excellence
in wine education'. It is the only
Higher Education Institute to offer undergraduate degrees in Wine Business and
Production in English in Europe.
As another point of interest, a red and
a white wine from his vineyard are now stock items in our village shop. His next visit may be next year, so you need not wait for this to be able to
sample some good French wine, made from hand-picked grapes only.
Good cheer, good food and wine were
enjoyed by 52 members and friends, exactly 2 weeks before Christmas Day. 'Committee's Choice' was presented by 6 of
our 7 committee members. We began with
'bubbles': a Cava, that used to be termed 'Spanish Champagne', a Viognier and a
delicious Sancerre. These were followed
by 2 Merlots and the question was 'Which is better?' The answer was lost in the
conviviality! We ended our evening with
a superb 9-year-old Claret. This was the
dearest at £15.99, but less £3 each if 2 purchased, the Merlots were at the other
end of the scale at £6.99. All were purchased through Barnstaple's
Majestic.
Sampling a few mouthfuls of a variety of
wines at the Circle is a wonderful way to taste and discover. Our meetings provide an excellent opportunity
to sample wines and avoid the situation of buying something,
particularly for a
special occasion, and then realising that you don't like it! I have realised
that, usually, during our 8-meeting season, we get to sample 48 wines and all
for an annual fee of £5 per head and an evening charge of £6 per individual
that covers wine expenditure.
As far as I'm concerned, our winter months
can't be over soon enough and without its festive gatherings and occasional
blue-sky days, it would be even more of a lacklustre season. Thankfully, our excellent Christmas meeting
is followed by another: January's 'Call My Wine Bluff '. These have been running since 2007 and are
always a tremendous hit with our members.
Seven teams pitted their wits against
the descriptions delivered by Geoff Adam, our able Chairman Tony Summers and
John Thorndycroft. All six wines,
foil-clad, were given three plausible descriptions and, therefore, Tony said,
their night of words could be summarised by a famous Eric Morecombe quote: 'I'm
playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order!'
Our wines came from France, Germany,
Spain and Australia; other whines came from the floor and were again clarified
by Tony: 'it was interesting to hear the moans and groans when answers were
wrong and the cheers when teams were right!'
The quintet winners, 'Famous Five', each walked away with a Spanish
'Reserva'.
Judith
Adam - Secretary & Promotional Co-ordinator
14
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Wine Circle meetings resumed on
Wednesday, October 16th, the first of the eight meetings in our new season:
2013-14. It was pleasing to see many
familiar faces and several new members.
Geoff and I joined in October 2007 and have enjoyed every meeting
attended and I'm sure our forthcoming programme will not disappoint.
John Hood, in his inimitable fashion,
invited us to taste six wines from the Iberian Peninsula, which has a greater
wine-growing area than any other country, but is only the world's 3rd
producer and this is because the vines are placed further apart than in other
areas. All wines were sourced from
Averys in Bristol, which were couriered.
Two of the three whites and two of the
reds were Spanish. The Pazo do Mar
Expression 2012, from Galicia, N.W. Spain, is made from a single grape:
Albarino, and priced at £11.99. Quinta
Nova Pomares 2012 is from the Douro region of Portugal, a triple-grape mix,
£10.99, but both gained appreciation.
All reds were from blends of grapes, but
the Clos del Pinell, Gran Reserva, 2005 closed John's presentation. At £10.99 it was the dearest. There seemed to
be a general consensus of opinion that the dearest were the preferred tastings. Perhaps this proves that you only get what
you pay for!
The last meeting of 2013 is Wednesday, December
11th. It doesn't matter if you have
missed November's meeting, we are always pleased to see new faces. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, our December meeting
is our Christmas special: our Food and Wine gathering. Incredible edibles are produced by our
members for a specific number, and, therefore, it would be very useful, prior to the meeting, to know
if you think you may join our Circle in December. The first meeting of the new year will be on
Wednesday, 15th January - an evening of 'Call My Wine Bluff'.
Judith
Adam: Secretary and Promotional
Co-ordinator
7
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'... good company, good wine, good welcome, can make good people.' William Shakespeare
I've always thought this Bard was a clever man. 'Company . . . wine (and) welcome' are in 'good' supply at our Wine Circle evenings!
We've had several months of wonderful sunshine recently, so I'm sure many have enjoyed a glass or two with or without family and friends in our gardens. This has been the best summer, I believe, for seven years; however, the nights are beginning to draw in, signalling that autumn is on its way and, therefore, it is nearly time for enjoying six tastings at the Manor Hall.
Wednesday 16th October sees the beginning of our forthcoming programme for 2013-14. John Hood, a long-standing member and witty presenter, introduces the season with a look and taste of Iberian Wines. Knowing John's ability, I am sure he will find some interesting and delightful examples from this large European wine-growing area.
20th November is our second event when we shall have the pleasure of hearing Jonathan Coulthard again. For those that don't know, Jonathan is a 'vine to wine' man, living and working on his French vineyard in the Cotes du Duras. His presentation will include his award-winning Terra: a terrific red, but the majority of samples will focus on his local competition. Earlier this year, members and guests had the pleasure of sampling some of this competition and it was good, very good.
Proceedings begin at 8.00 p.m. in the Manor Hall. I look forward to seeing numerous 'good people' - old and new faces. It's a great way of seeing if Shakespeare is right!
Judith Adam: Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
7
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Wine is bottled poetry.' (R.L. Stevenson)
Typically, our May meeting began with Alex Parke, our Chairman, presiding over this season's AGM. Having delivered the formalities with his usual brevity, the Circle learned that he would be standing down from office. The Circle has benefitted from 20 years official service, but he will continue, gladly, as a member. Flowers and wine were presented to Pam and Alex in recognition of their years of support. Other committee members were re-elected unanimously, as was Tony Summers for the Chairmanship; we shall be in good hands again.
It is always a pleasure to welcome and listen to Jonathan Coulthard, a French vineyard owner. Two thousand and thirteen has been a very special year for him and his Domain Gourdon wines. Earlier this year he, and invited guests, celebrated the tenth anniversary of his vineyard near Duras in Lot-et-Garonne. Additionally, this independent wine producer can now boast, proudly, a Gold medal from Paris. He entered his Chateau Terra Rouge 2010, in the Vignerons Independents de France competition regionally. Regional winners were then submitted to the Parisian finale. His Terra is a mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, described as 'oak aged, mellow and smooth'. It certainly was.
We had the pleasure of tasting this along with a Sauvignon, Rose and another red, a sparkling Sauvignon and a dessert wine from two other Cotes de Duras producers. Unusually, many thought all wines were delicious apart from the sparkling wine. All grapes were hand-picked, making the noticeable difference. Members sipped whilst enjoying the pictorial story of the celebrations at his home and workplace.
Currently, holidays are at the forefront of people's minds, but when these are past and it becomes, once again, the 'Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,' October sees the beginning of our 2013-14 Season: 8.00 p.m. Wednesday 16th October in the Manor Hall. I'm sure Jonathan will feature again, at some point, in this forthcoming programme.
Judith Adam: Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
8
BERRYNARBOR
WINE CIRCLE
A most entertaining and provocative
evening was had at our April meeting when the speaker was the Wine Circle
secretary, Judith Adam who came up with a novel theme which she billed as
"Judith's Mystery Tour". We have had
blind tastings before which are always great entertainment, particularly when
you hear suggestions of what the wine is that are wildly out. Judith produced a novel twist to this as she
took the Antiques Wine Show idea of basic, better, best and applied it to wine.
The wines were supplied in foil wrapped
bottles hiding all trace of what they were and although poured separately, we
were encouraged to keep an amount of each in three separate glasses so that
they could be compared. We had to decide based on our estimate of price, which
was basic, which better and which was the best of the three.
The wines were all from the Cotes de
Rhone/Languedoc area and sourced from Majestic wines in Barnstaple. The first group of three wines were all pale
rose, sometimes called 'blusher' wines and it was quickly apparent that we
found ourselves out of our comfort zone in trying to grade them. We had to agree on a consensus from the table
of 12 but we had such a variety of opinions that in the end we had a show of
hands for each one to decide on our result - and it was wrong! I think this was indicative of how little we
tended to drink rose wines resulting in little experience to base our marking
on.
We then moved onto three reds to be
judged on the same basis. Here it was clear that red wine has become the first
choice for most people at the Circle as nearly everyone got it 100% correct.
The better and best of the red wines were really excellent. These were a
Rasteau, Cotes de Rhone and a very good Chateauneuf du Pape that Judith had
spotted months ago at a really bargain price, £9.99 instead of £17.99! No
wonder we liked it. The Rasteau was strong, fruity and full
bodied, particularly well-suited to accompany food such as red meat dishes and
strong cheese. The Chateauneuf du Pape
was similar although more complex, as one would expect from a wine that may
have up to 13 grape varieties in the blend and with a smooth, mellowness to it
that you only get from a top quality, well matured wine.
Well done Judith, a novel idea, well
presented and very much enjoyed by all.
Our last meeting of the season
is on the 15th May. Following our short
AGM, we'll be delighted to see and hear Jonathan Coulthard again with his
home-grown produce.
TS.
18
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Sip Some, Tip One!
Pam and Alex Parke used 'Can we Trust a
Newspaper Guide?' as their theme to present to February's Circle gathering. Aided and abetted by Victoria Moore, Daily
Telegraph Wine Correspondent since 2010, they referred to her 'Wines for the
Festive Season' article featured last December.
Following usual format, six wines were
purchased via 'off the shelf' and 'on the web'. Majestic, M & S,
Sainsbury's and Tesco's supplied; prices ranged between £5.99 and £13.99.
Tesco's Finest Albarino 2011 was voted
favourite white; Mont Milan Corbieres 2010 was a 'very good value' red:
Majestic's £5.99 for two or more; and the Finest Via Mara Rioja Gran Reserva
2004 was also thought to be 'very good, but pricey': Tesco's £13.99. Riojas are never 'cheap', but any wine that
deserves a 'Gran Reserva' and is 8 years old has been looked after and is
'aged', and, therefore, is always going to be dearer than your daily 'plonk' -
a special occasion perhaps?
Hunter Valley, two hours north of
Sydney, is one of the New World's famous producing areas: home to numerous
wineries, including Lindemans and McGuigans.
Another is 'award-winning winery' McWilliam's, producer of our 3rd
white of the evening, a 2006 Taste the Difference Semillon, £9.99 from
Sainsbury's. 'Taste the
Difference'? We certainly did!
... and it proved to be the tipping
point for more than 40, as it was sipped then tipped. Descriptions included that it was 'like
diesel', had an 'unpleasant, industrial, metallic taste' and others wondered if
it was 'off'.
'Off' or 'corked' is a possibility, but
an 'e' conversation between the Parkes and Ms Moore revealed others too. She wondered if it was a 'stylistic thing' as
she drinks 'loads' of Semillon at home and knew many others in the wine trade
did too; however, another email revealed she had 'Twittered' colleagues and
learned that wine shop owners had 'stopped showing it at consumer tastings as
no one liked it or bought it.'
Jancis Robinson, described as the
'world's most prolific wine author', which includes ' The Oxford Companion to
Wine', is a 'Master of Wine' and has been 'writing and broadcasting since
1975', should know a thing or two, but she can be quoted as saying that she
thinks 'Hunter Valley Semillon is Australia's unique gift to the wine
world'. Mmm, perhaps we should email her
and ask what we've missed!
A
'Fabulous' Finale . . .
Brett Stephens, has been the face of
'Fabulous Wines', for the last seven years: three at St John's Garden Centre,
then four as an internet outlet. His
training began as a part-time job at 'Bottoms Up' many years ago because he was
a musician. He informed us at our March
presentation that this was his last; he returns to music.
We wish him well, particularly as
evenings with him and his choice of wines have always been most enjoyable. His final choice included surprises; they
were all foil clad! Time at the Wine and
Spirits Education Trust in London meant blind tastings, so we did too.
Many members admit to being 'ABC':
anything but Chardonnay; however, we were all surprised when we sampled his
first: 'Deer Point', a non-oaked, Bulgarian Chardonnay, 13% at £6.39. Many around me thought this was 'lovely',
atypical and great for a summer's sipping.
He admits to being a Francophile, but
only two of his six were French and none were dearer than £8.00 a bottle. Thanks to the internet age, all wines can be
purchased electronically, so, Brett, 'If music be the food of love...play on!'
Finally, our penultimate event is
Wednesday April 17th at 8.00 p.m. entitled: 'Judith's Mystery Evening' and it
doesn't include a Semillon!
Judith Adam, Secretary and
Promotional Co-ordinator
21
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Half-way there . . . .
By the time this is read, the Circle will have had four of its eight meetings and be looking at its fifth. Where do the months go? Perhaps some disappear in an alcoholic haze!
Our Christmas tastings were a great success, considerable cold buffets were devoured with Committee's Choice. We began with the Marks & Spencer's Mulled Wine, which was agreed by many to be excellent. Their festive season offer was two bottles for £10. It was agreed that if you could buy something this tasty making one's own was unnecessary - just add the oranges!
January's meeting was our usual Call My Wine Bluff. Tony Summers was allowed to step down as Secretary last year, with the proviso that he continue to be scriptwriter and manage this gathering. Giving consideration to blind tastings in this annual team event has proved to be another popular and hilarious evening with 'lies, damned lies and statistics'! The True or Bluff trio John T, Tony S and Geoff A presented 6 interesting wines supplied by Brett Stevens of The Fabulous Wine Company. The Sterridge Sizzlers sipped their way successfully through to score a first prize - more wine, of course!
Pam and Alex Parke, our Damson Cottage duo, will be our hosts for Wednesday, February 20th. Their topic will be 'Cheap and Cheerful to a special red', or, 'Can we trust a newspaper guide?'
March 20th, April 17th and May 15th will be our final presentations: another season completed. Our membership has increased recently; however, the Manor Hall can take plenty more . . .
Judith Adam: Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
24
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
6 + 17
+ 20 +
42 = 1st Berrynarbor Wine Circle meeting of 2012-13.
and in
reverse order . . .
Forty-two
members, new and old, were reminded that our Wine Circle has existed for twenty years in its current form by
Alex Parke, our Chairman, who was also the Master of Ceremonies for this
season's first meeting on 17th October
. Six wines were presented by Paul Firman,
Manager of Barnstaple's Majestic.
Paul has become a regular with our
Circle, but this presentation was a special, entitled Award Winners - a summer
theme this year, if ever there was one! A white Rioja, and an Argentinian Malbec for
under £10 were voted Best in Show by the prestigious Decanter World Wine
Awards, 2012 and were just two sampled by those present.
November's meeting on the 21st will be
hosted by yet another visiting professional, Jonathan Coulthard. Jonathan's wines are, however, his own, from
his vineyard: Domaine Gourdon in south-west France. His wines are, certainly, worth tasting and
worth buying, which will be a possibility.
Our festive tastings will be on
12.12.12, accompanied by a 'bring and share' meal - the tables groan, but the
participants don't! A great time is had
by all.
Judith Adam - Secretary and
Promotional Co-ordinator
29
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'Miss
Chichester's Big Adventure' There
haven't been many dry August days and evenings, but the 2nd was, which added to
the enjoyment of 36 members and friends attending a first: a Wine Tasting at Arlington Court. Majestic supplied the wine and Circle
supplied some of the support! Someone
has to do it!
In the 1920's, Arlington's lady of the
manor, Rosalie Chichester, travelled to South Africa, Australia and New
Zealand. Twenty-first century testers
tasted a trio of samples from each - a small selection from Majestic's current
stock. It gave us all an opportunity to
socialise, discuss and decide those we liked or not. Samples were ample, so too were the
delicious canapes produced by the National Trust's caterers.
Many seized the opportunity to have a
private house tour or a quiet walk around the grounds as well as a drink and
chat on a summer's evening in majestic surroundings. The homeward coach journey was a noisy,
high-spirited affair. I wonder why!
Via the 'grape-vine', I have
heard that there are couples who are interested in our group, but one person is
either a teetotaller or doesn't drink wine.
Geoff and I joined the month after we moved into the village and have
always enjoyed, thoroughly, these evenings because it is a superb way of
meeting and getting to know fellow villagers.
Usually, there has been a £6 charge for every person attending each meeting; however, from October, there
will be no charge for anybody that wishes to socialise, comes with their
'partner' but does not participate in the wine tasting at all.
Judith
Adam: Secretary and Promotional Co-ordinator
27
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Our March meeting was unfortunately too
late for the report to go in the April Newsletter, so although some weeks ago,
it should be mentioned that Pam and Alex Parke presented 'Wines That We
Like'. We began with a white Spanish
'fizz' and ended with a 'heavy' Portuguese 'Shiraz type'. In between we sampled other whites from New
Zealand and South Africa and an Argentinean and Lebanese red. Typically,
preferences varied; some white-wine drinkers enjoyed 'The Ned Black Label', a
Pinot Grigio from Marlborough, whilst others thought the 'Musar Hochar' from
the Bekaa Valley was 'rather good'. It
really was a case of 'each to their own'.
Even though our 'Circle' has been going
since 1988, new presentation ideas still occur.
April's meeting was 'Members' Choices'.
Proceedings began with Jonathan Peat
presenting a blind tasting of another 'Ned': a Sauvignon Blanc Trophy
winner. Members wrote an individual
assessment without discussion, and, therefore, avoided the usual 'peer pressure'. Most of us had decided that this white was
very 'gluggable'! Phil Brown's choice
was 'Wines with Cheese': The 'Yarg' then
the 'Dorset Blue Vinny' complemented the wines well. A French Sauvignon Blanc followed by our
first red, from Tuscany. Many red drinkers thought this 'Poggioargentiera' was
delicious. Popular in Italian
supermarkets, it was the dearest of the evening at £11.99 for one bottle at
Majestic. Raymond Blanc, in 'The Very
Hungry Frenchman', had revealed
that his favourite grape was
Gewurtztraminer. Bill Scholes used this
revelation for his choice. Its bouquet of lychee, roses and Turkish Delight was
noticeable; however, many white wine palates, generally, found it too
sweet. Another 'Wines That We Like'
were French reds, presented by Len Boudier on this occasion. A 2006 mix of Merlot and Cab. Savignon preceded an example of the Solera process,
more usually used for sherries. This was
100% Grenache grape, aged by a percentage taken annually from 1999 to 2011 to
produce a bottle with the most bizarre label and name: 'Little James' Basket
Press'. Comments abounded on their
marketing but not their wine!
May is our last meeting of the
season. Members and wines were award
winners on this occasion, which began with a presentation to our Secretary Tony
Summers and his wife Pip, who have researched, organised, presented, cooked for
and supported meetings for the last twenty years. Flowers by Sue Neale and a case of Majestic
wine were, apparently, 'gratifying' for what Tony said has been 'a labour of
love'.
Jan Tonkin, seemingly synonymous with May, presented 'Everyone's a
Winner'. Our six wines had won an award
from either Decanter World Wine or Wine Magazine. Our first, from Lidl, was
champagne: a Commended and Bronze 'Decanter' winner in 2009, 10 and 11 and at
£14.99 is cheap for French 'bubbly', but was the dearest white, as the others
were £6.99 and £7.45: one French, the other a German Riesling, both from
Majestic. Two reds and a rose followed,
but the latter was a desert wine: a 3-year-old, half-bottle of a Croix Milhas:
a Rivesaltes Ambre from the Pays D'Herault region, courtesy of Tesco's. It had won a 'Silver' from 'Wine', had the
highest percentage, 16%, and was 'plum, prune, nuts' and purchasable at
£4.49.
Summer is ahead, we hope; time to sip
and sample with friends and family. Our
meetings are usually on the third Wednesday of the month and we shall meet
again at 8.00 p.m. on Wednesday 16th October, at the Manor Hall and look forward
to seeing new faces.
21
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The February Wine Circle meeting was billed as Judiths Mystery Night, and it turned out to indeed include a bit of mystery. She came up with the novel idea of presenting a blind tasting of a wine for which we had to decide what the grape was, then to compare it with wines made from the same grape but from different areas of the world.
The mystery white drew several different proposals as to what grape it was, including Chenin Blanc and Pinot Grigio, but was correctly identified by one table, not only the grape but to its actual region an appellation Touraine made from Sauvignon Blanc in the middle Loire region in France.The Touraine is similar to two other, but expensive wines made from Sauvignon Blanc in near-by areas - Sancerre and Pouilly Fume. The Touraine, like them is a crisp white wine, perfect with all forms of sea food, but at a much more affordable price. The Touraine Sauvignon Blanc was then compared with one from South Africa and a most unusual offering, a sparkling Sauvignon Blanc from Brancott Estate, New Zealand, a first for most of the members.
The mystery red had everyone guessing, and mainly wrong! It was in fact a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Pays Doc region of France - most thought it was a Merlot from just about anywhere else in the world but France.However, once the grape variety had been revealed the next two reds were more typical of the grape with its strong blackcurrant flavours. Once again though, the difference of style from Pays Doc, France, Clare Valley Australia and Mendoza in Argentina made for very interesting tasting and comparisons.
Well done Judith, a new idea very well executed and again a most enjoyable social evening for the Berrynarbor Wine Circle.
TS.
20
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Jonathan and Susie Peat saw Jean and Peter Pell's advert, 'Home for Rent'
and seized the opportunity to leave a South Devon let and transfer to a North
Devon village to see if they liked this area of the county. They joined the
Sterridge community on the 4th November and the Circle on the 16th!
Newcomers to the village and to the
Circle can provide a valuable, interesting and perhaps beneficial opinion. Their first impression of the Circle was that
it was 'thriving . . . impressed with
the number of people supporting it and the level of interest'.
When asked about our Christmas
'do', Jonathan commented that it was 'a
nice idea . . . clever to combine a social occasion with a wines'
presentation'. For those that haven't
yet joined, our Yuletide tables groan with a three or four course meal,
supplied by our members.
Personal preference affects everything;
it was interesting to hear his thoughts on our Christmas selection: two whites,
three reds and a dessert wine. Following
a Sancerre taste-a-like, he remembered, particularly, 'the Yorkshire one',
another white wine. Yes, this came from
a West Yorkshire vineyard first planted in August 2007, in, ironically, Last of
the Summer Wine territory, Holmfirth.
Jon found it 'sweet', but heard others nearby saying that they liked
it. 'I'm usually disappointed by English
wines... they're expensive . . . perfectly acceptable, but tend not to meet my
taste because of the ones that they can grow here. I like something dry like a Chardonnay or
oaked Chardonnay. It was a well-made
wine, but at £11.99 I wouldn't buy it.'
Two southern Italian and a French red
followed, but a Chilean dessert wine: 'Vistamar Late Harvest Moscatel 2010' was
our finale. A new addition to Majestic's
stock, it sells at £4.79, for a half bottle, when two bottles are
purchased. It made a delicious
accompaniment to our dessert and positive comments abounded. On Christmas Eve, we visited the Warehouse,
specifically, to buy some; however, we
discovered that The Times had written recently about this little sweetie. Their article had spurred many others, to buy
it, so, unusually, we left empty handed.
'Call My Wine Bluff' is synonymous with
our January meeting; it's a 'winederful' beginning to a new year! Brett Stevens of the Fabulous Wine Company
supplied the alcohol and our three presenters supplied the 'lies, damned lies
and statistics!' Our three white and three red taste tests
were wines from Italy, France, Argentina, Spain and two from
Australia. Their prices ranged from £5.99 to £10.99.
Noise levels always rise as any
successful social event progresses. Our drinking and debating of
whether, for example, we were drinking a Pinot Noir from Argentina, a
Burgundian Fleurie or a Chilean
Merlot was accompanied by plenty of hilarity and banter, which filled
the Manor Hall and all for an entry price of just £5! Strength does not always
come with number; five teams of six and one team of four competed, but,
ironically, or perhaps, because there was less debate, the smallest team
won: four bottles of good wine.
Our season continues until
May. If you fancy joining our
'motley crew', please contact our Secretary, Tony Summers, on 883600 or Jill
McCrae on 882121 for details.
Judith Adam - Promotional
Co-ordinator
29
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Wine,
Women... but no song!
Our
2011-12 season began in a 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness', as our
first presentation was in October. It
was a good start, as Majestic of Barnstaple's Manager, Paul Firman, introduced
us to a few of their 'Chenin Blanc and New Wave Spain' wines.
Majestic
Wine Warehouse is the 'UK's biggest and best retailer specialising in sales of
wine by the mixed case'. They were
founded in 1980 and now have over 160 stores throughout the Kingdom. 2011 has been a bumper year for them as they
collected the overall Merchant of the Year award at the International Wine
Challenge, as well as receiving the Decanter High Street Chain of the
Year. As a company, I suspect that they
would expect all of their staff to know more than their main competitors, i.e.
the supermarkets, as suppliers like Taylors, of Port fame, do tastings' trips
in order to educate Majestic staff.
All wine
prices were 'subject to buying 2 bottles of the same wine as part of a mixed
case of 6'. Our first was the cheapest
at £9.99 and our last was the dearest at £14.99.
The
evening's tastings began, typically, with a white, a 2009 Vouvray from the
Loire, which, if kept in optimum conditions, could be served up in 2031! Oher Chenin wines were from the famous South
African wine-growing region of Stellenbosch, with the final sampling of the
evening again from the Loire, but this was a dessert wine.
The
Spanish selection was intense... complex and structured, reds, with colours of
blackcurrants or blackberries, plums and cherries: a liquid fruit bowl! They were 'rich' too and would have made
great mates with 'game, charcuterie' or 'cow'!
South Africa: stunning scenery sits under blue skies
and hot sunshine. It's hardly
surprising that the climate of this big country makes it a well-known wine
producer, but it is its Western Cape that is the place for its vineyards.
These cluster around Cape Town and its beautiful coastline and head
north beyond Lambert's Bay and south and east ending at Plettenberg Bay.
Together,
Tony Summers with Majestic's help produced three whites and three reds for our
November meeting. The Bellingham
Homestead, close to Fransschhoek regarded as the dining capital of South
Africa, was built in 1693. It is a
National Monument and the home of Bellingham Wines. They provided our first and last: a white
Viognier and a red Pinotage. The white
was fruity but regarded by some as 'wincey', but their red Bush Vine had
sediment, a sign of quality and was regarded as excellent.
Rustenberg
is another late 17th century estate;
we sampled one of their 'hand-picked' whites. Only one member present had heard of the
Roussanne grape, perhaps unsurprising, as it has been stated that it 'ought to
be extinct'! Its yields are irregular;
it has little resistance to mildew and rot and is easily damaged by wind and
drought. It was 14.5%, high for a white,
but it was good that its producers couldn't hear our verdict: not worth
£13.99!
Prices for our evening's selection began at £6.99 for a
Porcupine Ridge red and the £13.99 was our dearest. Six wines: a small sample from South Africa's
wine region, but they provided another interesting, convivial evening.
Our
December meeting is our Christmas gathering, where the tables groan under
buffet food and it's all washed down with another six wines. As seating and feeding have to be organised
for this gathering, if you would like to join the Circle on Wednesday December
14th, please contact Tony Summers, 883600, or Jill McCrae on
882121beforehand.
Judith
Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
14
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
'. . . new wine into new bottles and
both are Preserved.'
Yes, it's that time again; October is the first of Berrynarbor Wine
Circle's 2011/12 programme, for newcomers and 'old-timers'
alike. Our first four dates and topics
for you all are Wednesdays, 8.00 p.m. in the Manor Hall:
19th
October Majestic
Wines presentation
16th
November South African Wines with Tony Summers
14th
December Christmas Food and Drink
18th
January Call My Wine Bluff.
Our programme for February through
until and including May is 'under construction', so we'll keep you informed, as
they say!
It
has been said before, but as removal vehicles have been seen in the village
since last May's meeting, newcomers will be given a very warm welcome. It is a great way to meet the 'old-timers'
and others like yourselves who have moved to the village recently and have
joined our Circle. If thinking of
coming to your first meeting, it would be a good idea to contact Jill McCrae on
882121.
We
have a £3 membership fee and members pay between £5 and £7 on the night. All monies received are 'returned' because
the meetings' fees covers the cost of participants' samplings. Joining is
possible throughout the programme.
Our
first meeting may herald autumn, but it's one of the many village
delights! We look forward to seeing you
all.
Judith Adam - Promotional
Co-ordinator
17
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Our
pre-Easter and pre-'that wedding' meeting saw us 'journey' to South
America. Thankfully, our enthusiastic
Secretary, Tony Summers, had travelled miles . . . all the way to Barnstaple's
Majestic Wine Warehouse to purchase his liquid presentation. Majestic wine tastings are possible, but
Tony decided upon a 'blind buy.' The
presenter and the tasters were pleasantly surprised by most!
Wine
is made all over South America, vines were planted in Peru in the 16th
century, but Chile and Argentina are the only countries currently producing
sufficient quantities for foreign markets to obtain easily. Argentina is the continent's largest wine
producer and ranked fifth in the world.
'Quantity' may be the accolade for this country, but it is its
neighbour, Chile, described by the trade as a 'viticultural paradise' that wins
the 'most meritorious award'.
Three
Chilean whites began the proceedings: a Gewurztraminer, a Chardonnay and a
Sauvignon Blanc. Gewurz means 'spicy'. This certainly wasn't, but it wasfruity and
happened to be the cheapest wine of the evening, at £7.49. Many agreed that it would be perfect with
fish, a light lunch or in the garden with sunshine!
Wine
label wording can include 'AOC' or 'Appellation d'OrigineContrlee'. For a wine to bear this it has complied with
certain tasting characteristics and will have been made in strict geographical
limits. Unfortunately, perhaps, it has
also come to mean 'Anything Other than Chardonnay'! You either love it or hate it; it didn't
suit many palates and this was the dearest at £10.99.
Argentina
had produced two of our reds: a Bonarda and a Malbec. The latter was our last, which delighted
many, even though it was the dearest of the evening at £12.99.
Usually
AGM's induce groans, but 'Mr Chairman', Alex Parke, delivered the necessary in
his annual speedy and efficient manner and introduced our final speaker for
this season: Jan Tonkin. May meetings seem to be synonymous with Jan
and his winter holidays: May 2010 was 'South African Wines', but the
expectation of 'Wines from Sri Lanka' was intriguing. The Circle was amused by the projection
screen as it revealed a blank list!
Where to now? Our answer: 'Wines
from . . . Where?'
We
zigzagged across the world accompanied by faces and places associated with
Romania, India, Tasmania, Canada, Lebanon and Mexico. There was a 'fruity, fresh and crisp'
beginning supplied by the Pinot Grigio from Romania, retailing at £4.79. An Indian Sauvignon Blanc, a rose
predominantly Pinot Noir from Tasmania, another Pinot Noir from Canada, a 'Cab
Sav' from Lebanon and a Mexican Petite Sirah followed. Others prices ranged between £6.99 and
£12.99.
Jan
had even managed to find his name on a label . . . well almost. 'Jansz' Tasmanian bubbling pink creation was
appreciated and one of two supplied by Oddbins.
Many members seemed to agree that the Lebanese red was a delicious find. It was one of four provided by Elixir
Wines. A commercial note: Oddbins went
into administration last month, but Jan's orders arrived as promised. Elixir Wines is a London-based wholesaler but
it will deliver to any address in the UK.
This
season has finished; however, we restart in October. That meeting will be another Majestic 'moment'
as Barnstaple's Manager,
Paul Firmin, will be our first
presenter for 2011-2012. If you enjoy a
glass or two, we shall be pleased to see new faces. Judith Adam Promotional Co-ordinator
20
Our
circle was delighted to have a third visit from Jonathan Coulthard this
month. March hares weren't there but
there were numerous impressed mutterings and smiling faces when they sampled
his two whites, one rose and three reds!
It is unusual to enjoy all presented wines; some can be too dry, too
sweet or a preference for a red wine, for example, means that whites just
aren't appreciated. This wasn't apparent
on this occasion and we were surrounded by members who agreed with us.
Jonathan
had a successful career in civil engineering at Heathrow until the '90's when
he felt a strong desire to change direction.
Student life beckoned, at Plumpton College in East Sussex, which is the
only college in the whole of the UK offering degree-level courses in
Viticulture [the science of cultivating grapevines] and Oenology [the study of
wine]. A further two-year's practical
experience in
Which reminds me . . . unfortunately,
our year is coming to an end. April and
May's evenings will be our last until we restart in October.
Tony Summers, our enthusiastic
Secretary, will enlighten us in April as we tap into South American
tipples. Our May
meeting includes formality, but there will be brevity too!
Our
Judith
Adam -Promotional Co-ordinator
15
Usually,
our monthly format means that a member selects six wines and, therefore, spends
the entire evening describing their selection, waiting for opinions, answering
questions and seated on their own before their audience. A new idea, 'Committee's Choice' proved to
be an excellent decision for our Christmas gathering on December 8th, as wines
were presented by six members. These
discrete deliveries enabled everybody to make their presentations, participate
in the generous three or four course buffet and
the camaraderie that always prevails.
Star of the alcoholic show was for many the dessert wine: a liquid
Christmas pudding if ever there was one!
'Call
My Wine Bluff' was another success, as usual.
Typically, the panel trio teased us with
February's
meeting, on the 16th, will be another interesting and varied sextet: a small
sample from the numerous, excellent wines produced by our nearest European
neighbour - France. Nicola Keeble lives
and works in the
A
date change means now that the March meeting will also be devoted to
Tony
Summers will 'travel' west to present 'South America Revisited' in April; Jan
Tonkin completes our 2010/2011 season in May and will 'head east' to supply
tastings from
New
members are always welcome; it is a great way to meet more locals and make
friends, particularly if you are newcomers.
Our party consists of a few 'Wine Buffs'; most of us just enjoy,
thoroughly, the ability to imbibe, learn a little, laugh a lot and, perhaps,
walk home!
Judith
Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
8
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Our new season began in October with a 'biggy'! Forty-four Members were treated to a Fabulous Wine Company evening. Brett and Jane Stevens produced delicious winning wines and very tasty tapas again, but on this occasion, Jane's sister had flown in from Melbourne to assist in the kitchen!
It was a hard act to follow, but John Hood whet our appetites with his tastings from 'The Last Decade'. We travelled down the years with international flavours: Europe, the New World and South America.
We end this year's gatherings on 8th December. As this is our Christmas meeting, wines of 'The Committee's choice' will be accompanied with food provided by our members.
2011 begins, for us, on 19th January, with the very popular 'Call My Wine Bluff' the panel tease us with their secret selections and the highest scoring team will win a bottle, but a good night will be had by all.
Judith Adam - Promotional Co-ordinator
23
The
We start on 20th October
with what should be a most interesting and enjoyable evening presented by Brett Stevens of the Fabulous Wine Company. He will again be providing both wine and
food, demonstrating the way in which they can complement each other. He will be accompanied by his wife Jane who will
provide all the 'tapas'. They did a
similar presentation last year for us and it was superb, one of the best ever,
so don't miss this one.
In November, on the 17th, John
Hood will be reviewing the 'Last Decade' for us. He always finds new ways of entertaining us
so another good evening is no doubt in store.
The Christmas Food and
Drink evening is on 8th December, and this will once again be
effectively a three course meal provided by the members between them and with
wines presented by the committee. Each
committee member will introduce a wine of their choice.
January will see the return
of our extremely popular Quiz Night - Call My Wine Bluff - always lots of fun!
New members are always
welcome, or if you can only attend one meeting, just contact me beforehand
on 883600 or email tony.veranos@gmail.com
. You will find it an enjoyable and
affordable evening out as membership fees are once again held at £3.00 for the
year and the monthly entrance charge has only to cover the cost of the wine and
hire of the hall each month.
Tony
Summers
15
In April we had the pleasure of Brett Stevens from the
Fabulous Wine Company as our presenter and what a superb night it turned
out to be. Brett's wife, Jane,
volunteered to make some canapes to accompany each wine and show the relationship
between wine and food - how one can complement the other. Not a small undertaking when you consider
that we have between 35 and 40 people at most meetings, so for 6 different
wines to taste - I'll leave you to do the maths yourselves! And what
wonderful canapes they were, superbly matched to the wines, even to the last
one an Australian equivalent to vintage port - a fortified
At the May meeting, preceded
by the Circle's
Alex Parke managed to complete that part of the evening in record time,
taking less than 7 minutes to conclude all business. Tom Bartlett stepped down from the committee
so we shall be looking for a new recruit to replace him. As the Circle has been going for over 20
years, most things virtually look after themselves so the position is not
onerous, but a new voice with new ideas would be welcome. Alex thanked the committee for all
their work making his job as Chairman an easy one before introducing the
speaker for the evening, Jan Tonkin, a long standing member of the group and ex-committee
member.
As usual, Jan gave a very
interesting presentation on South African wines accompanied by slides and
videos from last year's holiday he and Mary spent there. As usual a great night
was had by all.
The Circle now takes a
break and the next meeting will be in October by which time the committee will
have decided upon themes and presenters for the new 'tasting season'. If you have any ideas or suggestions or fancy
doing a presentation yourself, please contact me so that this can be
incorporated. The new programme will be
sent out to all existing members in September, anyone else who is new to the
Tony
Summers
23
WINE
CIRCLE
The
had two meetings since the last newsletter. In February, Nicola Keeble, Jill McCrae's
daughter who lives in
In March, we had a first
visit from James Nancarrow, the manager of Majestic Wine Warehouse in
James' theme for the
evening was wines from Argentina and he certainly gave us some different wines
to taste with examples of wine from not so well known grape varieties -
Torrontes, Bonarda, and of course the Argentine speciality, Malbec. The latter he described as "a bit of an
indulgence" and I think most people would agree wholeheartedly as it was on
special offer, reduced from £26.00 to only [?] £22.00 per bottle! The consensus was that it was very nice but
if the alternative was three bottles at £7.00 guess what the choice would be?
Our next meeting is on 21st
April when our speaker will be
Brett Stevens from the Fabulous Wine Company. Brett is a real wine enthusiast and with a
generous budget to work to will undoubtedly present us with some excellent
wines to sample. In May the normal
meeting is preceded by a short
Tony Summers
23
WINE CIRCLE
The Berrynarbor Wine
Circle has had two meetings since the last newsletter, one in December and one
on the 20th January. In December the
theme was Christmas Food and Drink, where the ladies for each table got
together to organise a starter, main course and dessert, while I, as the
presenter for the evening, organised and described the wine. This arrangement is excellent as if it was
the other way round and I organised the food
. .. !
The wines provided
covered those most people like to drink at the Festive Season, ranging from an
alternative to Champagne, to Claret and Vintage Port, and a superb evening was
had by all.
In January we had a very
different meeting - Call my Wine Bluff, a quiz loosely based on the old
television show, but instead of having to identify obscure words, the teams of
6 had to identify the wine they were tasting, a much better idea.
A panel of three
'experts [?]' , Geoff Adam, John Thorndycroft and Tony Summers, gave three
different suggestions as to what the wine might be. The teams then had to decide who was giving
the true description, the year of the wine and how much it cost. Points were awarded on a sliding scale
according to how close to the year and price they were. At the end of the evening the 'Other Halves' [a team which included the
wives of the panellists] were clear winners.
Despite claims to the contrary, they had no prior knowledge of what was
to be offered.
Next month will be a very
interesting one as the guest speaker will be Jill McCrae's daughter, Nicola,
who lives in
Tony Summers
31
WINE CIRCLE
The Christmas Food and Drink meeting is on 9th December, when
members get together beforehand to organise food for a table of their
friends. The theme is High Quality
Wines for Christmas. Entrance is £6 for
members and £7 for guests.
In January, on the 20th, we have our very popular panel game
based on 'Call My Bluff', except ours is 'Call My Wine Bluff'. Each wine is offered for tasting as an
anonymous covered bottle, when a panel of 3 experts [?] each give an
explanation of what the wine is. Teams
of 6 then have to decide who is telling the truth, what year the wine is and how
much it has cost. Marks are gained on a
sliding scale according to how accurate they are. If super confident about a wine, they can
opt to play their joker, which doubles their points. An evening of much merriment.
Tony [Summers]
24
The
This
wine appreciation group meets every third Wednesday in the month [except
December when it is the second] in the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m. from October to
May, to further knowledge and enjoyment of wines by talks and tastings.
Anyone
requiring more information or wishing to become a member is invited to contact
either Alex Parke [Chairman] on 883758 or Tony Summers [Secretary] on 883600
at least 24 hours before the day of the meeting. This is to comply with licensing laws.
Future Meetings:
Wednesday, 18th November: Quay West Wines - Andy Cloutman
Wednesday, 9th December: Christmas Food and Drink
Wednesday, 20th January: 'Call My Wine Bluff'
Wednesday, 17th February: West of
Lunch
in Sidmouth
Members
of the
The
day dawned dry with some sunshine and a small cavalcade of cars set off to
drive from the north to south of
Tom
Bartlett - Publicity
Esplanade,
Sidmouth, drawn from nature on stone by Geo. Rowe, 1826
22
For our
April meeting, the ever popular Jan Tonkin once again presented us with an interesting and amusing evening with wines
purchased from Majestic Wines in
At the May
meeting, stalwart Pam Parke presented the theme 'The
versatility of Grenache' [Garnache in
Preceding
the presentation and taking up minimal time, husband Alex chaired the
This
meeting concluded our 2008-9 season and we shall start again next October after
all the summer events have taken place.
As usual the meetings will be held on the third Wednesday of the month
at
Anyone
wanting more information about the
Tony Summers - Secretary
The
16
The
February presentation by Majestic Wines was not to be - they had not put it in
their diary! So, having purchased the
wine and written the notes for the 'Call My Wine Bluff' evening, Tony brought
this forward and a superb evening was had by all. It was great to see two teams play their
jokers on the last round, full of confidence, only to get it wrong and get no
score at all!
The March meeting was a resounding success with Jonathan Coulthard, owner and winemaker of the Domaine
Gourdon vineyard in the Duras
region of
He
was welcomed by Tony Summers, who had made all the arrangements for his visit
and who gave the vote of thanks.
Jan
Tonkin will be giving, much to his surprise, the presentation at our next
meeting on the 15th April. Jan believes
he will be a panel member on Call My Wine Bluff - could be interesting!
The
May meeting on the 20th, will be the AGM, and the presentation to follow has
still to be confirmed, but it looks as if it will be given by a committee
member hopefully they won't all resign at the AGM!
The
meetings take place in the Manor Hall at
28
The
For
February, the presenters will be from Majestic Wines in
Anyone
wishing to join us is most welcome, but please contact me on [01271] 883600
beforehand.
Tony Summers -
Secretary
17
The
We were all there at
The next day, having sent Jonathan an
e-mail to find out what had happened, on the principle of belt and braces I
found his telephone number in France and tried phoning. To my great relief, I did not have to rely on
my French, which is very suspect, as his wife answered. She checked his calendar and said it was
entered as 17th not the 15th, so I arranged for her to contact him in the
Our next meeting is on Wednesday 10th
December when we have our Christmas Food & Drink Evening for which the
presenter is Brett Stevens, the knowledgeable and lively owner of the Fabulous
Wine Company in
By now, if you are planning on coming
you should have organised yourselves into tables of six and arranged who is
doing what in the way of food for your table. If you haven't, please get
cracking, there's not long to go!
If you have not been before and wish to come along, please contact me [883600] and I'll put you in touch with others with whom
you can join.
Best Wishes, Tony S.
8
The Berrynarbor Wine Appreciation
Circle gets under way again shortly and I am pleased to report that we have a
full and exciting programme lined up for members, but first a little background
for those new to the area.
The wine Circle was started around 20 years ago by the late
Alan Richardson and has
been continued since his death by a small group who got together and 'self
elected themselves' to run the Circle for the first year. However, with a few variations, it is still
the same group. Despite resigning each
year at the AGM, they are then re-elected en-bloc. Either a sign that they are doing a good
job or else that no-one else is prepared to put in the work!
The
Anyone wanting more information or wishing to join should
contact me, the Secretary, on [01271] 883600 or by email to tony.veranos@googlemail.com. In fact I should appreciate all members who
use the internet sending me a note to provide me with their email address as
this would make communication so much easier now that most people are
'on-line'.
The
Programme for the coming year, 2008-2009 is:
15th October - Jonathan
Coulthard from Domain Gourdon, Duras, France, makes a
return visit, perhaps with some local delicacies
to taste as well.
19th November - The vineyards of
10th
December - Christmas Food and Drink with ever popular presenter,
Brett
Stevens of the Fabulous Wine Company.
Effectively a three-course meal and top quality wines for well under a
tenner! Come to the earlier meetings
to find out more.
2009
21st January - Our
popular Quiz Show - Call my Wine Bluff.
18th
February - The Majestic Wine Company -
another regular favourite, but this year it will not be Paul, but James, his boss.
18th
March - Pam Parke presents The
Grenache Wines [or Garnacha if you are Spanish].
15th
April - Regular favourite Jan
Tonkin
20th
May - Committee man Brian Wright
presents 'South African Wines - are we overlooking a top quality source?'
I look forward to seeing you all again in October and
hopefully a host of new members.
Please don't forget the email addresses.
Tony
Summers - Secretary
26
At the March meeting, Alex Parke gave an
excellent presentation with some superb wines.
The April meeting, on the 16th, will be a
presentation entitled "The Same but Different" and given by John
Hood.
The
May meeting, on the 21st, will be the Annual General Meeting, following by a
presentation by Jan Tonkin, who is highly knowledgeable and always gives a
lively and thought provoking meeting, with excellent, often unusual wines. This will be the last meeting for the 2007/8
season.
32
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The Christmas meeting on the 12th December was extremely well attended and proved to be a resounding success, under the able leadership and presentation given by our own Tony Summers. The food was plentiful and tasty and the evening more like a party than our normal meetings! Each table of six or twelve members having previously arranged what delicacies they would bring, meant that everyone participated instead of, as in the past, relying upon a lot of work by just a few members. Tony's selection of wines, champagne and port went down a treat and the evening closed with everyone wishing each other a happy and joyful Christmas.
Wineman's Bluff again proved popular and helped to cheer up what has been an extremely wet and miserable January. Chairman Alex gave a vote of thanks, in particular to Tony, but also to the remaining two members of the Panel; Tony added his thanks to Brett Stevens of the Fabulous Wine Company who had so ably assisted by providing all the wines and also some of the scripts for each of the three panellists to follow.
The February Meeting, on the 20th, will be a presentation by Andy Cloutman of Quay West Wines, and on Wednesday, the 19th March, Alex Parke will give a presentation. A warm welcome will be given to any new members who should contact the Secretary or Treasurer at least 24 hours before their first attendance. Meetings are held in the Manor Hall, commencing at 8.00 p.m.
Further information can be obtained from: Alex Parke [Chairman] on 883758, Tony Summers [Secretary] on 883600, Jill McCrae [Treasurer] on 882121 or Tom Bartlett [Publicity] on 883408.
Tom Bartlett
15
The
December 12th [please note a
week earlier than normal] sees the Christmas Food and Drink evening with wines
selected and presented by myself. I hope
I can match the earlier presenters with some interesting wines for the festive
occasion. At the November meeting and for
this meeting only, members will have grouped themselves into tables of 12 and organised jointly their starter, main course and dessert
and hopefully a great time will be had by all.
In January, in response to
many requests from members, we are repeating the wine quiz - "Call my Wine
Bluff". This is based on the TV panel
game "Call my Bluff" where three panellists give
their interpretations of an obscure word and the other panel
have to guess which of the three was telling the truth. In our version,
the members, divided into teams, have a wine to taste from a covered bottle and
then listen to three different explanations from the panel as to what they are tasting. They
then have to decide which panellist is telling the
truth, estimate the age of the wine and also its price. The team with the most points at the end of
the evening wins a small prize.
If anyone wishes to join us
for either the December or January meeting, we should be delighted to see them
provided that they have contacted us to arrange membership at least 24 hours
beforehand. We regret that to comply
with licensing laws we cannot sell tickets at the door to members of the
general public.
Tony Summers, Secretary
[01271] 883600
22
The
For those
new to the village, this is a wine appreciation society which meets every third
Wednesday of the month [except December when it is the second] in the Manor
Hall at
Programme 2007/2008
October
17th Majestic of
November
21st Brett Stevens of The
Fabulous Wine Company, Barnstaple
December
12th Christmas
Food & Drink - presenter Tony Summers
January
16th Call My Wine
Bluff - A new panel game!
The
remainder of 2008 is yet to be completely organised as we are awaiting
confirmation of their preferred dates from two of the presenters from within the
wine trade but it will include favourites Andy Cloutman of Quay West Wines,
committee member John Hood and the witty and innovative Jan Tonkin.
Presentations
are informal, friendly and highly sociable occasions, which normally include a
taste of six wines, three white and three red.
Membership is £3.00 and meetings are normally £4.00, depending on the
presentation. To comply with licensing
regulations, it is important that anyone wishing to become a member gets in
touch with either the Secretary of Treasurer at least 24 hours before the
meeting they are attending.
Anyone requiring more information or wishing
to become a member is invited to contact one of the following:
Alex
Parke, Chairman 883758; Tony Summers, Secretary 883600 or Jill McCrae, Treasurer,
882121.
20
At the April meeting, Ruth Diggle gave an
extremely knowledgeable presentation on English wines based upon Denbies
Vineyard in
The final meeting for the season was held
on 16th May and was preceded by the AGM.
Alex Parke, Chairman of the Club, welcomed everyone and undertook to
make the AGM as short as posssible, hopefully even beating his record of 9.5
minutes, set last year! He summarised
the attendance records, income and expenditure as all being slightly up on last
year. It was agreed that the cost of
membership and pricing system for the monthly meetings remain unchanged and
with no new nominations, the committee also remained unchanged. Alex thanked the committee for their work
and closed the meeting in a new record time of 7.3 minutes!
The evening's presentation with wines
selected by long standing friend of the
The committee will now start planning
for next season, which starts on the third Wednesday in October and then meets on
the third Wednesday of each month through to May 2008. Anyone who likes wine and enjoys an
excellent social evening with like-minded friends, tasting and learning more
about wines, is welcome to join us. A
better value, friendly, social evening is hard to envisage! Contact either Tony Summers [Secretary] on
883600 or Alex Parke [Chairman] on 883758 for more information and inclusion on
the mailing list. Or alternatively,
e-mail Tony at tony@veronas.freeserve.co.uk. Tom and Tony
19
The February meeting was a great
success with Brett Stevens of the Fabulous Wine Company giving a presentation,
which included wines from
March
saw James Nancarrow of Majestic Wines presenting two
excellent white wines from
Members
are now looking forward to the next meeting on 18th April when our own Ruth
Diggle will be giving a knowledgeable presentation on Denbies
Vineyard. Then on Wednesday, 16th May,
we have the short AGM to be followed by a presentation by Jan Tonkin as the
final meeting of the current season.
Tom Bartlett - Publicity Officer
32
Despite running for over 16 years, the
Christmas meeting saw a first for the Circle when we had a vineyard owner visit
us from
The
January meeting was a resounding success with our first ever "Wine Man's
Bluff'. Seven teams of six members had
to identify the correct description for each of six wines sampled. Our panel of three experts, Tony, Brian and
John, were referred to as A, B and C and made the evening memorable! The winning team, named 'Piston Broke', each
went home with a bottle of
The
next two meetings, on the 21st February and 21st March, will be presentations,
by Brett Stevens of the Fabulous Wine Company and James Nancarrow
of Majestic Wines respectively.
New
members will be warmly welcomed but, due to licensing regulations, it is important
to contact the Secretary or Treasurer at least 24 hours before your first
meeting.
Meetings
are held on the third Wednesday of the month at
Tom Bartlett - Publicity [883408]
23
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The November meeting was presented by
the ever popular Barney Dunstan from Laithwaites Direct Wines Ltd, the people who run the Sunday
Times Wine Club and many others. If you
encounter a mail order wine club it is usually run by Laithwaites!. Barney is undoubtedly a natural speaker and
extremely knowledgeable about wine. He
is also very amusing and kept us laughing all night with comparisons of
the meeting with his present day job as a Biology Teacher at a secondary
school. When someone's mobile phone
went off he went into school mode and asked the "boy" responsible to
hand it over, it would be returnable at the end of term!
Our next meeting is on the second Wednesday of the month,
13th December, as usual for the
December meeting as it would otherwise clash with Christmas. This is a combined wine and food meeting and
this year those attending are expected to bring along, either alone or in
conjunction with others they will sit with, whatever food they wish to
consume. They should also bring along
their own cutlery and crockery. Tickets, from Jill McCrae or Tony Summers, are
£6.00
This meeting will be presented by a
vintner from France.
Jonathan Coulthard is the English owner and wine maker of a vineyard
in the Duras region of France inland from Bordeaux,
who is visiting England to promote his wines.
In January 17th [back to the third
Wednesday of the month], we are having a new style presentation "Call My
Wine Bluff". This will be a panel
game with the members divided into teams trying to decide which panelist is
bluffing and which telling the truth.
Tony
10
The
The evenings, which are usually on the third Wednesday of the month
[December is always the second], start at
A
warm welcome will be given to all new members and if you would like more
information, please contact: Alex Parke
[Chairman] on 883758, Tony Summers [Secretary] on 883600, Jill McCrae
[Treasurer] on 882121 or Tom Bartlett [Publicity] on 883408.
The Programme up to Christmas is:
18th
October: Avery's Alternatives -
presentation by John Hood
15th
November: Presentation by Barney Dunstan
of Laithwaites
13th December: Christmas Presentation by Jonathan Coulthard, Domaine Gourdon - vineyard owner and wine maker from the Duras
region, inland from
19
At
the April meeting, our own member Ruth Diggle gave a wonderful presentation on
the Rothschild World of Wine and showed how the Rothschilds were producing
wines from all over the world. All six
wines sampled were well received by members and her knowledge of the subject
made for an extremely enjoyable evening.
Following
the AGM, when the Committee were re-elected en block, the May meeting, in the hands
of Brian Wright, was also excellent.
Brian presented some superb wines, both red and white, from
This
was the last meeting for the 2005-6 season, meetings
will recommence in October and details of the 2006-7 season will appear in the
August and October Newsletters.
Tom
14
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
April and May will be the last two meetings of the Wine Circle for the current 'Season'. The Circle next meets on WEDNESDAY, 19TH APRIL when we travel to France! No, not really, but Ruth Diggle will be presenting 'The Rothschild World of Wine'. The May meeting, on WEDNESDAY, 17TH MAY will be the Annual General Meeting, which only takes a short time, after which Brian Wright will give a presentation on 'Wines from Australia'. The new Season commences in October.
17
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The Christmas meeting was a complete sell out and once again Barney Dunstan and his wife did us proud. Members thanked not only Barney but also Tony Summers and all the many members who had assisted in making it another memorable Christmas Presentation.
The Members' Favourite Wines meeting held on the 18th January was also very popular and a super evening had by all. On the 15h February we welcome our own two Davids, who will be giving their very first Wine Presentation, whilst on the 16th March, Andy Cloutman returns to give a presentation on Quay West Wines.
The April meeting will be on the 19th and the 2005-6 season will finish with the AGM on 17th May.
Prospective new members are reminded that due to the new Licensing Laws it is essential to contact either the Secrerary, Tony, on 883600, the Treasurer, Jill, on 882121, Chairman Alex on 883758 or myself, 883408, to enrol as members at least 24 hours before attending your first meeting.
Tom - January 2006
28
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Well attended meetings were held in October and November and members were very grateful to Tony Summers for stepping in and taking over the first half hour of the November meeting when he became aware that Majestic Wines would be unable to commence their presentation until around 8.30 p.m!
Members are now looking forward to the Christmas Presentation on Wednesday, 14th December, once again with Barney Dunstan. This presentation includes wine and food and is by ticket only. These can be obtained from our Treasurer, Jill McCrae [882121], price £7.00 per person and need to be obtained prior to the meeting.
The January meeting on the 18th is Members' Favourite Wines, when each member or couple are asked to bring a bottle of their favourite wine and say a few words about their choice - always a very popular evening. The price for this meeting is only £1.50 and new members are encouraged to come along and will be made very welcome.
Our meetings are held at the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m., normally on the third Wednesday of the month.
Please Note
: Due to the new Licensing Laws it is necessary for any 'would be new members' to contact either our Secretary, Tony Summers [883600] or Treasurer, Jill McCrae [882121] to enrol as members at least 24 hours before attending their first Wine Circle meeting.Further information can be obtained from Tony, Jill or the Chairman, Alex Parke [883758] or Tom Bartlett [883408].
Tom
25
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
At the A.G.M. in May, the Committee were elected as
follows:
Chairman: Alex Parke [883758] Secretary: Tony Summers [883600]
Treasurer: Jill McCrae [882121] Publicity: Tom Bartlett [883408]
Committee: Ruth Diggle, John Hood, Inge Richardson, Jan Tonkin, Brian Wright
After the summer break, the Wine Circle will start its 2005-6 season on Wednesday, 19th October, with a talk entitled 'The Fabulous Wine Company.'
Meetings are held in the Manor Hall commencing at 8.00 p.m. on the third Wednesday [except in December, when it is a week earlier] in the months from October to May.
The November meeting will be on the 16th, when the presentation will be given by Bruce Evans of Majestic Wines.
Membership is £3.50 a year and there is a charge of about £4 a meeting to cover wine costs. New members would be very welcome. For more information contact Tony Summers [883600].
34
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The April meeting saw Pam and Alex Parke presenting wines from our village Community Shop, followed in May with Tony Summers' presentation 'Viva Espana'. His theme was the large rivers in Spain and how they related to the wine making areas. The samples were enjoyed by all and we learned some interesting bits of geography too!
The May meeting, the last for this season, was also the Circle's AGM and our Chairman, Alex Parke, gave his Report. There are currently 67 members with an average meeting attendance of 39 imbibers and more members would be welcome. Look for details of meetings in the October Newsletter, when the first meeting of the 2005-6 season will be held on Wednesday, 21st October.
The Committee were re-elected 'en bloc' with the addition of one new member, Ruth Diggle, a loyal member from Barnstaple who has a wealth of knowledge about wine. The Committee for the new season will, therefore, be: Chairman - Alex Parke [88337358], Secretary - Tony Summers [883600], Treasurer - Jill McCrae [882121], Publicity - Tom Bartlett [883408], Committee: Ruth Diggle, John Hood, Inge Richardson, Jan Tonkin, Brian Wright. Tom Bartlett
11
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Well attended meetings were held in October and November and we are now all looking forward to our Christmas Presentation on Wednesday, 15th December by Barney Dunstan of Laithwaites Wine Club. As this meeting includes wine and food, it is by ticket only and these can be obtained from our Treasurer, Jill McCrae [882121], price £6.00 per person, and need to be obtained prior to the meeting.
Our next meeting on 19th January is Members' Favourite Wines, where each member or couple is asked to bring a bottle of their favourite wine and asked to say a few words about their choice. This is always a very popular evening. The price for this meeting is only £1.50 per person and new members are encouraged to come along when they will be made very welcome. Our meetings are held in the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m., normally on the third Wednesday in the month. Further information can be obtained from: Alex Parke, Chairman - 883758, Tony Summers, Secretary - 883600, Jill McCrae, Treasurer - 882121 or Tom Bartlett, Publicity - 883408.
Tom Bartlett
17
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The 2004-2005 season begins on Wednesday, 20th October at the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m., when the Manager of Majestic Wines, Bruce Evans will be making a presentation. The cost per person will be £5.00.
The November meeting will be on Wednesday, 17th November with Andy Cloutman of Quay West Wines - same place, same time, same price!
The Berrynarbor Wine Circle was formed in 1988 and meets from October through to May. Meetings are held at the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m. normally on the third Wednesday of each month. There is usually a charge of approximately £5.00 - sometimes more, sometimes less, depending on the presentation.
A warm welcome will be given to new members who are invited to come along to the October meeting. If you would like further information, it can be obtained from:
Alex Parke [Chairman] 883758 Tony Summers [Secretary] 883600
Jill McCrae [Treasurer] 882121 Tom Bartlett [Publicity] 883408
25
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The December meeting of the Wine Circle was a resounding success with Alan Rowlands entertaining all those present with his choice of 'bubbly' and wines for Christmas. The January meeting saw members bringing along their favourite wine and then giving the reasons for their choice.
I give below the programme for the remaining four months of this 'season' and wish one and all 'A Healthy and Prosperous New Year'.
Tom
- 18th February: Laithwaites Wine Presentation - Barney Dunstanand Friends [£6.00]
- 17th March: Three Members - Six Wines Members [£4.50]
- 21st April: Quay West Wines Presentation - Andy Cloutman [£5.00]
- 19th May: John Hood - End of Season Spectacular! [£5.50]
Meetings of the Wine Circle are held on the third Wednesday each month at the Manor Hall, and commence at 8.00 p.m.
Further information can be obtained from Alex Park Chairman [883758], Tony Summers Secretary [883600], Jill McCrae - Treasurer [882121] and Tom Bartlett - Publicity [883408]
24
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
A total of 42 members and friends went on a truly memorable trip organized by Chairman, Alex Parke, to the Camel Valley Winery, preceded by a visit to the Smoke House at Tregida, Cornwall. We all had great admiration for our driver, who reversed his coach for almost quarter of a mile, with shrubs brushing both sides, to enable a lady driver to pass us!?!
A full programme has been organised starting on Wednesday, 15th October, 8.00 p.m. at the Manor Hall. The season begins with a taste of the 'French Wine Trip', organized by the Secretary, Tony Summers on the 24th September when members sailed from Poole to Cherbourg on a 'booze cruise'! [Cost £4.50]
The November meeting,on the 19th, will be a presentation given by Majestic Wines of Barnstaple and will commence, as usual, at 8.00 p.rn. [Cost £6.00]
The December meeting 'Christmas with Uncle Alan' will take place on the 10th and this meeting is by ticket only, price £7.00.
30
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The AGM and Meeting on the 21st May was the last in the 2002-3 season. Following the AGM [a report of which will be in the August Newsletter], several members introduced wines of their choice. Considered the most exceptional for the evening was the McLaren Vale, Kangarilla Road 2001 Zinfandel from Australia.
It was hoped to hold a BBQ at Tower Cottage in late June or early July weather permitting - and Chairman Alex hoped to organise another day visit to Camel Valley Wines in September, and Tony Summers a day trip to France probably in late September.
Tom Bartlett - Publicity.
34
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Alex Parke and Ted Paynter gave us a wonderful ()Christmas Wine Evening, ably supported by Pam and other ladies who provided suitable 'eats' to compliment the wines and champagne. There were even delicious mince pies by courtesy of Julie and Carmen.
The Members' Own Wines meeting in January was again a great success with a very wide range of wines, mostly red, being enjoyed by all the members present.
Our February meeting on Wednesday, 19th February, will be Jan and Tony's 'Special' evening, and we are still guessing! This will be followed in March - again on the 19th - with Kath Arscott presenting Spanish 'Rioja' wines - one definitely not to be missed if Kath's previous presentations are anything to go by.
Tom
17
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
Sadly, I missed the first meeting in October, but understand that Andy Cloutman of Quay West Wines gave an excellent presentation which was well attended. The Wine Circle was fortunate in November that Barney Dunstan and two of his colleagues came up from Plymouth and gave a superb presentation on 'Premium Wines' from Laithwaites Wines. The entrance fee had been increased for this evening, and I believe all members felt that this was more than Warranted and look forward to a return visit hopefully next year. The wines they chose were some of the best from New Zealand and France and ranged from Chablis Premier Cru at £13 a bottle, to 'Te Kairanga' Pinot Noir 2000 from Martinborough in New Zealand at £12 per bottle, and a sparkling wine from Cloudy Bay, New Zealand at £15 a bottle and made in the traditional 'champagne' manner from a blond of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We are now looking forward to our Christmas Special [by ticket only] being presented jointly by the Chairman, Alex Parke [and Pam] and Ted Paynter. This will be followed in January with our ever-popular Members Favourites, being again masterminded by Tony Summers.
Tom B.
29
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The Wine Circle begins its 2002-3 Programme on the 16th October, when Andy Cloutman will be presenting Quay West Wines.
Meetings of the Wine Circle are held on the third Wednesday of each month, from October to May, at the Manor Hall and commence at 8.00 p.m. Further information can be obtained from Alex Parke, Chairman [8833758], Tony Summers, Secretary [883600], Jill McCrae, Treasurer [882121] or Tom Bartlett, Publicity [883408].
At the AGM in May 2002, the retiring officers were re-elected 'en bloc' for yet another year, and it was agreed to increase the evening entrance from £3.00 to £4.00, leaving the Annual Membership fees at the same level.
The meeting on the 20th November will be Laithwaites Wines Premier Presentation by Barney Dustan and on this occasion the entrance charge will be £6.00.
Tom
28
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The last two meetings of the 2001-2002 programme will be held on Wednesdays, 17th April and 15th May. The April meeting will be 'Special Six Wines' presented by six members, and the May meeting will be a 'Surprise, Surprise' Evening with John Hood.
Meetings of the Wine Circle are held at the Manor Hall and commence at 8.00 p.m.
10
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The next two meetings of the Wine Circle will be on Wednesdays, 20th February when Jan Tonkin will be holding his Special Wine evening, and the 20th March when Tony Summers will be introducing Wines from Bordeaux. Meetings commence at 8.00 p.m. at the Manor Hall.
24
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
A reminder that the Christmas Meeting and Social will be on Wednesday, 12th December - admission by ticket only. Tickets should be obtained from a member of the Committee or telephone Jill McCrae on 882121. The January meeting will be on Wednesday, 16th January, when Alex Parke will be co-ordinating an evening of Members' favourite wines.
26
BERRYNARBOR WINE CIRCLE
The Wine Circle begins its Winter 2001-2002 Programme on Wednesday, 17th October, when the Chairman, Alex Parke, will be reviewing the wines of the St. Austell Brewery. In November, Tom Bartlett will be looking at Quality Wines from Germany.
Meetings are held in the Manor Hall at 8.00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month, with the exception of December and the Christmas Social. This is held a week earlier - this year on the 12th December - and to take part is by pre-paid ticket only.
Further information about the Wine Circle can be obtained from: Alex Parke [Chairman] - 883758, Tony Summers [Secretary] - 883600 Jill McCrae [Treasurer] - 882121, Tom Bartlett [Publicity] - 883408
22
THE WINE APPRECIATION GROUP
This friendly and cheerful group is open to all who love wine and good food. Meetings are held monthly at 8.00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month at the Manor Hall.
- 18th October - Wines of Portugal. Talk and tasting by Michael Morrow. Contribution £2.50 per person.
- 2nd November - Wines from Unusual Places. Talk and tasting by Dr. Brian Malcolm. Contribution £2.50 per person.
- 20th December - Wines for Christmas. Talk and tastings by Michael Alcock of Inter-County Wines. Contribution £2.50 per person.
Meetings in the New Year are planned to include wines from Bulgaria, Italy and English Country Wines.
Enquiries to: Alan Richardson, Sherrards, Barton Lane. Tel: 882831.
7