This month we welcome Lynda Mellor on what will be her first visit to our Society.  Lynda will be presenting wines from South Africa, an area which she is well regarded for her knowledge and enthusiasm. She came to the wine industry by mistake, having been offered a sales position by a South African wine importer. She took the job, found her calling and has never looked back!   In recent years, Lynda has been UK Ambassador for Holden Manz wines, so these wines will feature amongst other wineries which she knows well.

For our Christmas tasting this year, we'll be taking members back to the 19th century! Society Member Nesta has come up with this brilliant idea and she will be coordinating our evening.   Nesta discovered that Charles Dickens was a “bon viveur” who had a wine cellar at Gads Hill Place in Kent.  The list of the wines he held there reveals that he purchased most of his wines from the three Ellis brothers merchants. The wine company the Ellis brothers created now trades as Ellis Wines, so it is fitting that their Business Development Manager Chris White should present the wines.

Our planned tasting with Tim Syrad has been postponed until Wednesday 9th March.

Our AGM will be held using Zoom. The AGM papers and Zoom joining instructions will be e-mailed to members in late January. This will have similar content to previous AGMs, including the regular reports and members' acceptance of the annual accounts. We expect the meeting to last about 30 to 40 minutes. We'd like to encourage as many members as possible to attend the AGM, so please put this date in your diary.

This month we welcome back Tim Syrad. Tim is well known to many of our members as both an excellent presenter and also an organiser of great wine tours. This time Tim will be presenting the wines of Portugal, introducing wines which have been well received by enthusiasts on his wine tours. We will taste a fascinating array of grapes encompassing wines from a number of different regions.

Condor is a UK-based independent specialist importer of Argentine, Chilean and Uruguayan wines. and was awarded ‘Specialist Merchant of the Year (South America)’ by the International Wine Challenge in 2019. Tonight we welcome Condor's Regional Manager, Aaron Irons.  He's worked in the wine trade since 2007 and at Condor since 2019. Aaron also holds the WSET Level 4 Diploma in Wines & Spirits.

Some of you will remember Nik Darlington, who presented to us a few years ago when he was at Red Squirrel Wine. Nik has now created Pip, an independent wine merchant based just down the down from us in Seale near Farnham.  It's a local wine shop, run by locals, for locals - with around 200 wines on the shelves. Tonight Nik will present his pick of Pip's best selling wines, so there will be something for everyone.

It's been four years since we last welcomed Robert Boutflower to present to us. We had a great time on that occasion, so we have no hesitation in giving him the opportunity to talk to us again. Robert is a Director at Tanners Wine Merchants, a long established retailer, well known to many of our members. We expect the sun to be shining in June, so we've chosen a summer theme of sparkling wines for our evening.  Robert has selected 8 of Tanner's top sparkling wines, all of which demonstrate their own individual style and character and all of which are excellent value for money.   

This month we welcome Dan Farrell-Wright, who is presenting to us for the first time.   Dan is a Director of Wickhams, an online wine merchant. They're a relatively new company, having been started during the first Covid lockdown. Since then they have been shortlisted for two Decanter Retail Awards and they've won a Gold Trusted Service Award from Feefo. Dan will be presenting a selection of wines from Italy, so this should be popular with most of our members!

It's been four years since Simon Taylor last presented to us, so we are delighted to be able to welcome him back this month.  Simon is owner of merchant Stone Vine & Sun, near Winchester, and one of our most popular speakers. Stone Vine & Sun specialises in the wines of Languedoc-Roussillon and they have been shortlisted for the award of Specialist Merchant for Languedoc-Roussillon 2022 by the International Wine Challenge.   So we thought it would make a great evening if Simon presented wines exclusively from this region of France.

For details of how to book, please click on the bold heading above.