Whitewater Valley Wine Society

Washington is the second largest wine producing state in the USA. So it's perhaps surprising that our Society has not had a tasting of Washington State wines in the past. We'll put that right this month as we welcome Craig Mitchell, who is European Ambassador for Chateau Ste. Michelle winery. The winery is the oldest in Washington State, initially named Ste. Michelle Vintners, but changed its name to Chateau Ste. Michelle in 1976 following the building of a French style chateau in Woodinville, just outside Seattle. The winery aims to build on old world winemaking traditions with new world innovation.

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. I'm confident that we can expect to taste some great wines! The evening will start with a brief Annual General Meeting.

Our Society receives tremendous support from The Wine Society and we are very pleased to announce that their Head of Buying Pierre Mansour will present to us this month. One of Pierre's specific roles is as buyer for Spain, so it very appropriate that he'll be presenting wines from the Rioja region. The Wine Society has an excellent range of Rioja wines in its portfolio. We'll be starting with a couple of whites, then moving on to taste a range of the reds for which the region is so well known. This is definitely one not to miss!

This will be a very special evening as we welcome Mimi Avery, 5th generation owner of Averys Wine Merchants. Tonight, Mimi will present eight wines from Averys own label range.  These are wines chosen by Averys to reflect excellent wines from around the world at sensible prices.  These are wines on which Averys stakes its reputation.

This month we are delighted to welcome Sarah Ahmed, aka The Wine Detective.  Sarah is an independent, London-based wine writer, educator and judge. One of her main speciality areas is Portugal and she was awarded Wine of Portugal Personality of the Year (Europe) in 2019.  It is a privilege to welcome Sarah as our presenter and we can look forward to a very special evening.

This month we welcome Heather Dougherty, who is presenting to us for the first time.  Heather is a qualified and experienced wine educator, based locally in Surrey.  She is one of only three Certified Rhône educators in the UK.  So good reason for us to ask her to present wines from that region.

Our visit to Stanlake Park Wine Estate will take place on Saturday 24th June at 11am.  The estate is situated near Twyford in Berkshire.  It's about 18 miles from Hook, so should be easy to reach for our 11am start. The tour will include a walk around the vineyards, a visit to the winery, a tutored tasting and a cheese platter. What a way to spend a summer morning!

Reflecting members' feedback, we welcome back Preet Sahota, who last year enthusiastically presented some stunning boutique wines from South Africa.  Since then Preet has expanded his portfolio to include boutique wines from Australia and New Zealand.  So this tasting will include wines from all three of those countries - a real treat for New World wine lovers!

This month we welcome back Tony Cloke, who last presented to our Society five years ago. Based in the UK, Tony is European Sales Manager for Spy Valley Wines.   A key advantage of having an evening dedicated to one wine estate is that we will be able to taste most of the varietals produced on the estate.

It's with great pleasure that we welcome Ethan Harvey, Shop Manager at our local merchant Caviste. Ethan has been Manager at Caviste for the last year and it's fair to say that he's become very popular with Caviste's regular customers.  I've asked Ethan to focus on red wines and we've rolled out the budget so that he can feature some premium reds from the Caviste portfolio.