A Wine Tasting Event

WINE-TASTING EVENT PROVIDES AN ENJOYABLE AND SOCIABLE OCCASION

A late winter / early spring wine-tasting is becoming an established and popular annual event in the Club’s programme.  This event was held  at the Haywards Heath & Beech Hurst BC pavilion and attracted 33 participants (members and partners). This year’s theme was “Around the Mediterranean”, with wines selected and presented by Chris Bennell and complementary cheese, bread and other nibbles sourced by Robin Harrison.

A total of twelve wines from Eastern Spain, the South of France, Italy and Greece were subject to attendees’ discerning noses and palates: one sparkling, five whites, one rose and five reds; the wines came from either Waitrose, Marks & Spencer or Sainsbury’s and had recommended prices between £8.65 and £12.00 – though some were purchased when on offer for less.

Attendees were invited to score each wine on a scale from 1 (low) to 5 (high).  The highest-rated wines of the day proved to be a Valpolicella Ripasso (red) and a Greek (Santorini) white made from the Assyrtico grape; a rose from Provence proved to be the least popular / most disappointing of the wines tasted.

Interestingly, three of the wines tasted were scored by participants across the whole spectrum available (1 to 5); the scores of eight others showed a spread of four (either 1 to 4 or 2 – 5) and one, the Santorini white, had a spread of three (2 – 4).  Five of the wines were scored 5 by at least one attendee while ten of the wines registered at least one score of just 1.  The clear conclusion from the scoring is that, even with decent wines, people’s tastes and scores vary markedly according to personal preference.  Meanwhile, the accompanying food was acclaimed by everyone.

All who attended agreed that the occasion had been most sociable, enjoyable and informative, and looked forward to a similar member-led event next year.  Thinking caps for a different theme will be going on soon…