Mark Bedford is a great friend of our Society so we're pleased he is able to present our October tasting. Mark has many years experience in the wine trade, so this month he'll be taking us on a kaleidoscope journey through the world of wine. We will start with a French wine region where the sparkling wine is older than Champagne. We'll then taste a wine from the tiny strip of land called the Lebanon where the vineyards are as old as the Bible, to the Antipodes where the vines are older than the oldest in the Old World. On to Northern Portugal where, by some accident of fortification, the British created a strong sweet dark wine to fortify the troops during the Napoleonic Wars. We shall unearth some ancient grapes in Georgia, home of the oldest winery in history and dip south to Lake Balaton where the famous sweet wine was given each year to Queen Victoria, on her birthday, by Emperor Josef. How does the new generation of drinkers perceive the world of wine within the ever changing world of flavour and fashion? ‘Why Wine?’ is Mark’s personal journey from underage drinking of his father’s bottles at home to his own business and current home of Caviste, the local wine merchant to the Whitewater Valley Wine Society.

By popular demand, Simon Taylor of Stone Vine & Sun will return to present our Fine Wine Evening. We had a great evening when Simon last presented two years ago, and we look forward to tasting some more fine wines from his portfolio.

Booking is now open, members have priority booking until 16th September.

This is Duncan's first visit to our Society, so we'll be giving him a very special welcome. The wines of Argentina are incredibly popular with our members, so this evening looks likely to be a sell out. Duncan is Sales Account Manager at Berkmann Wine Cellars, a long established merchants which has been awarded the prestigious title of Great Value Wine Merchant of the Year four years in a row (2011-2014) by the judging panel of the Sommelier Wine Awards.