Next Tastings

28 August
25 September
9 October
October
December

What did we have last time...

10 July
19 June
22 May
3 April
24 January
13 December

Our tasting evenings allow you to taste a range of delicious items and have an informal discussion led by an enthusiastic expert. Each evening will begin at 7:30 p.m. for a 7:45 p.m. start and tend to finish about 10:15 p.m. Only 24 tickets available for each evening which must be purchased in advance and prices will differ depending on the range of wines and foods on offer. To book your place contact us on 01235 537405. or

Thursday 28th August: Loire Valley wines. Richard Veale of Stevens Garnier Independent Wine Shippers will introduce us to a selection of Loire wines.
Tickets: £18.50 per person
Arrival time: 7:30 p.m. for a 7:45p.m. start

Thursday 25th September: Brightwell Vineyards with Carol Nielsen

Thursday October 9th: A slightly different evening - Moroccan food, handmade local tagines for sale with the potter here to talk about them and lovely wines!

October - Exact date to be confirmed. Wines to go with cheese – Arthur Cunynghame, former owner of Paxton & Whitfield

December! Exact date to be confirmed. Andrew Higgs, one of our favourite speakers, with a selection of wines for the festive season.

Thursday 10th July: English Wines from A'Beckett's Vineyard of Devizes: Paul Langham the Director of a'Beckett's took us through his range of red, white, rosé and sparkling wines including the 2007 rosé which proved to be as excellent as the 2006 which won a silver medal at the English Wine of the Year Competition.

Thursday 19 June: Spanish wines with Colin Brooke-Jones

Thursday 22nd May: Germanic Wine Tasting with Donna Rogers: German grapes are used elsewhere than Germany. We tasted some produced in Germany, and others also.

Thursday 3rd April: Holiday Regions Tasting with Andrew Higgs of Select Vineyards
When we go off on holiday we often get the opportunity to taste different wines and wonder if we can get them at home. So, we thought we'd turn the tables and give you some ideas of wines you may want to look out for because you tried them here first and learnt something about them. As usual, Andrew delighted our palates with a range of hand-picked wines which we teamed up with suitable foods.

Wines

• 2006 Vernaccia di San Gimignano, Riccardo Falchini, Italy - white £7.30
• 2007 Auburn rose, Vin de Pays des Alpilles, Domaine de Lansac, France - rosé £7.20
• 2006 Vina Farnadas, Pazo di Vieite, Ribeiro, Galicia, Spain - white £9.00
• 2006 Rouge classique Vdp des Alpilles, Domaine de Lansac, France - red £7.20
• 2001 Gran Recosind, Crianza Tinto, Cellers Santamaria, Capmany, Costa Brava, Spain - red £8.40
• 2006 Chianti Colli Senesi, Riccardo Falchini, Italy - red £7.80

Food

• Smoked salmon curled into croustades with a little lettuce at the base and a smear of horseradish
• Breast of chicken marinated in sambal oelek, with a little ginger and garlic, sealed in extra virgin olive oil and lightly cooked before being wrapped in spring roll wrappers with sliced spring onions and shallow fried in tomato infused extra virgin olive oil
• Squid ink tagliatelle cooked for 7 minutes and vongole sauce (alrerady warmed through) mixed through and all tossed into a warm bowl
• Local leg of lamb diced and marinated for two hours in Nomu Lamb rub and a little oil. Cooked for one hour then beans (from a jar so already cooked) added. Further cooking for 20 minutes with a little stock also to blend all the tastes into one.
• Serrano ham with sun-blushed tomatoes served simply on lettuce leaves
• Red Devil and Ginger Spice cheeses from the Snowdonia Cheese range served on oat biscuits

24th January

Colin Brook-Jones and Jean Soubeyrand from the Olivier Leflaive estate in Burgundy discussed the Leflaive wines which are always excellent and amongst my personal favourites.

At the January wine tasting we tasted the following fantastic wines .....

• Bourgone Aligote, Olivier Leflaive 2006
• Bourgogne Blanc les Setilles, Olivier Leflaive 2006
• Rully 1er Cru les Clous, Olivier Leflaive 2006
• Montagny 1er Cru, Olivier Leflaive 2006
• St Aubin 1er Cru, Olivier Leflaive 2006
• Cote de Nuits Villages, Nicolas Potel 2005

....and ate

• salmon cooked with tarragon in white wine and butter
• pork & tarragon pate on six day sourdough
• amatriciana sauce in canneloni with spinach and ricotta
• leg of lamb cooked in Italian spices with new potatoes
• meringues (free range eggs) with fruit and crème fraiche
• cheese Conquerant and Bleu de Brebis
• crackers - charcoal and rye
• bread - ciabatta, rustic and o.m. rye on the table

13 December

Donna Rogers introduced us to a range of sparkling wines and food for the festive season