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.
Preet Sahota is a presenter who needs no introduction to those who have been members for more than a couple of years. He has a reputation for bringing us lesser known wines from the new world, especially South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. We like the wines he shows us and they are well priced. So it comes as no surprise that Preet holds the record for the amount of wine ordered at our tastings. So it will be great to see Preet again and I know that we will all enjoy the wines he shows us this month. I confidently predict we're going to have a great evening and you will definitely like the wines!
In June we welcome Marion Tardiveau, who is presenting to us for the first time. Marion is a Customer Services Representative at Thorman Hunt, a family-run specialist wine shipper sourcing premium artisanal wine for restaurants and hotels in London and the UK. Italy is one of her favourite wine regions and it's wines from that country that we will be tasting this evening.
In April, member Alastair Dudley and I were invited to visit the Slovakian Embassy in London, where they were hosting a wine tasting of wines from Slovakia. It's fair to say that the wines we tasted very much exceeded our expectations. So this month we welcome Lucia Dovalova, Director of The Naughty Grape, which retails wines from Slovakia in the UK. Her passion and enthusiasm for wine is remarkable and her knowledge exceptional. This is a tasting not to be missed.
In September, we welcome back Mark Bedford, owner of our local wine merchant Caviste. Mark will introduce the people and their stories behind 9 wines that Caviste has sold over the years. It takes commitment, skill, vision and a high degree of craziness and self-sacrifice to make many of the wines that we enjoy. We shall endeavour to identify both the terroir of the vineyard and the personality of the winemaker, while Mark amuses us with the stories behind the wines.
It is with enormous pleasure that we welcome back Alun Griffiths to present our October tasting. Alun is a great friend of our Society and needs no introduction to many of our members. We know that his evenings with us are always informative, interesting and fun. For the benefit of our newer members who may not know Alun, he has been a Master of Wine since 1991. For many years, he was Wine Director at Berry Bros & Rudd, following which he was based in Hong Kong for several years. Back in the UK, Alun lectures on wine and has been a panel judge at the International Wine Challenge and the Decanter Wine Awards Competition. He’s a regular member of the Decanter Magazine tasting panel.