Previous Events, 2014/15

This season we have had some excellent tastings.  Why not come along and join us next time?

10th April

The Loire with Humble Grape

The Humble Grape presented a flight of their wines from boutique producers who make hand-crafted wines from this beautiful region.

Humble Grape are an independent wine merchant and tasting event company specialising in boutique, hand-crafted wines from small vineyards. Our events are geared towards discovering new gems from small producers you may not recognise. and are governed by the simple philosophy that wine should be fun and approachable, without any snobbery, with laughs guaranteed. For more details about them, visit their website: http://www.humblegrape.co.uk/.

6th March

Californian Wines with David Cooper

We had a small but delicious tasting of Californian Wines on the 6th March.

The USA was originally called ‘Vinland’ by the Vikings due to the number of wild vines growing, unfortunately they were not suitable for grape juice and jelly! European immigrants made several attempts to plant their own vines and eventually the missionaries were successful. California now produces 90% of all Us wine but most of that is volume and only 4% of the quality wine comes from the Napa Valley. David Cooper has visited the vineyards of Napa & Sonoma and will provide some of the history of wine-making through a selection of wines that will also highlight the diversity in the varieties and styles of wine they produce.

6th February

Slovenian Wines with Blice Wine

The lovely Stasa Mozetic Flauto, founder and owner of Blice Wine, took us on a fascinating tour of Slovenian Wine. There are areas in Europe where amazing wines are made thanks to unique combination of climate, soil and dedicated wine-makers. Slovenia is one of such areas. The national production of wine is only a fraction of that of somewhere like France (0.1%!). However, the result is some excellent, slightly unusual wines, which are exclusive and rare, with only a couple of thousand bottles of each produced every year.

Slovenia has a rich viticulture history. In fact the oldest vine in the world is in Slovenia! The Old Vine is the oldest living specimen on our planet of a noble grape vine that still bears grapes! With an age of over 400 years it is registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest vine in the world. Wine varieties span from worldwide renown varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot to indigenous ones like Rebula and Refosk. Thanks to a unique combination of climate, soil and passion the high quality wines have Balance, Length, Intensity, Complexity and Expression. So you can experience and enjoy wines that arouse the taste buds and create a burst of flavours in the mouth!

For more information about Blice Wine, visit their website: http://blicewine.co.uk/

9th January 2015

The Southern Rhône: In Search of Perfection

Paul Mapplebeck guided us through the quality levels of the Southern Rhône and show just how fine these wines are in good vintages. He even raided his rapidly declining collection of top wines and give us some great wines from the Chateauneuf du Pape region, with Robert Parker marks up to 95 such Clos de Papes.