This month we welcome back Dan Farrell-Wright, Director of Wickhams, an online wine merchant. They recently took first place in the International Wine Challenge Awards ‘Specialist Merchant of the Year England’ category. Dan will be presenting a selection of wines from Beaujolais and Burgundy.
This month we're delighted to welcome Duncan Ross, who is Sales Account Manager at Berkmann Wine Cellars. Duncan will be presenting wines from Argentina, the largest wine producer in South America and the fifth largest in the world. Key wineries represented will be Pulenta Estate and Bodega Norton. And reds will dominate!
We start our autumn tastings by welcoming back Janina Doyle, one of our most popular previous speakers. Since Janina was last with us in 2019, she has moved on to Balfour Winery in Kent, where she is Brand Ambassador. Balfour Winery is one of England’s leading wine producers, pioneers for both English traditional method sparkling wines, and a new wave of English white and red still wines.
We welcome Fliss Syrad, who is presenting to us for the first time. Fliss holds the prestigious WSET Diploma, and was recently awarded the Vintners Cup for coming top of all Diploma students worldwide. Fliss will present some top wines of New Zealand to us this evening.
In November we'll be welcoming David Wright, owner of David Alexander Wines. They are an importer, wholesaler and retailer of wine. David will present wines from Germany.
Tonight we'll be celebrating Christmas! And we're going to do that in style by raiding the Chair's Cellar! Yes, Keith will be digging deep into his cellar to bring you some superb wines, which will hopefully get us in the mood for the upcoming Christmas celebrations.
To start the new year, we welcome Richard Addison. He's a specialist in wines from the Swartland Region of South Africa. Swartland is a relatively young wine region, which has risen in popularity in the last 10 to 15 years. It is attracting many upcoming winemakers who make world class wines that have put this region on the map. Chenin Blanc and Syrah are sure to be included.
It should be a fun and fascinating evening to start the new year!
We have many wine enthusiasts within our Society and it’s always good to taste wines which are recommended by them. That's why this month we will open the floor to eight of our members, who will each introduce a wine of their choice.
This month we welcome Andy Brown. He's Commercial Director for Quinta de Pedra Alta, a winery with a long history based in the Douro Valley region of Portugal. I'm always excited when we can do a whole evening tasting wines from a single portfolio as it means we can explore their whole range of wines. Our evening will feature a range of whites, reds and ports. All the wines from Pedra Alta are blends, so we can see how the winemaker influences the style and character of the wines through careful blending of different varietals.
This month we welcome Robert Markham, who is presenting to us for the first time. Robert is Fine Wine Manager for Gonzalez Byass UK, a position he has held for 10 years.
Robert's speciality is fine wine brands from across Europe, including Domaine Zind-Humbrecht, Champagne Deutz, Quinta do Noval, Disznoko Tokaji and Domane Wachau. So for tonight's tasting we'll be going on a European tour, featuring fine wines from France, Hungary, Austria, Portugal and Spain.