Our tasting this month concluded our year of the wines of Western Europe with a look at the Northern Rhone. The dominant grape of the Northern Rhone area is the Syrah – the same variety that turns up in Australia as Shiraz.  Our wines started off piste in Romania with Nonius: Feteasca Neagra / Shiraz […]

  This month was our penultimate on the theme for the year of wine styles of Western Europe and featured red wines from the southern end of the Rhone river.  We conclude next month with wines from the northern end of the Rhone – a rather different style.  Naomi brought us four very fruity wines […]

This month Alsace was on the menu, and Sylvia treated us to four wines made from different grape varieties – Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Gewürztraminer, all from Majestic Wines.  Alsace, in the shadow of the Vosges mountains, has low rainfall and therefore concentrated flavours in its wines, and this selection did not disappoint.  […]

  For the July meeting we tasted four wines made from the Riesling grape in New Zealand, Germany, France (Alsace) and Austria.  Most of the bottles claimed that their area was ideal for the cultivation of Riesling, and it is a tribute to the versatility of this noble grape that most of the wine for […]

This month the group enjoyed a party with a French theme at Michael and Marilyn’s home.  A selection of French wines were tasted and the group generally preferred the red “Les Jamelles” from the Co-op.  We are still trying to complete a quorum for a second wine tasting group.

This month Peter brought four white wines from Italy – spanning the country from the Alto Adige on the edge of the Alps to Campania inland from Naples. Our favourite was the furthest northerly – the “Stella Alpina” Pinot Grigio 2016 from the Alto Adige. We rated highly rated the Soave Classico 2016, “Inama” also […]

We are still recruiting to set up a new group for this, so please let us know if you are interested. The current group met to taste white Burgundy wine. In a change from our usual format we had three rather than four wines, the bottles were wrapped up, and there was a very wide […]

This month the existing group tasted four red wines from Northern Italy – a Valpolicella Ripasso from Veneto in the Northeast, and three from Piedmont in the Northwest.  Historically Piedmont has produced the most expensive and sought-after red wines of Italy and after the group overwhelmingly preferred instead the Valpolicella, the least expensive wine of […]

Our January meeting was the first with the new year’s theme of “favourite wines” – exploring styles of wines made in Western Europe. It was also our debut as group leaders, along with a change of venue. The group enjoyed a selection of premium wines from the Beaujolais region of France – a Beaujolais Villages […]

Peter brought four excellent, and very warming, South African reds to our November meeting including a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Paarl Mountain area.  This was obtained from the Coop in Harborough for £6.99 and whilst it did not get the highest score it was considered excellent value:  there is a 15% discount if you buy […]