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.
It is with enormous pleasure that we welcome back Alun Griffiths, Master of Wine, to present our November tasting. Alun is a great friend of our Society and needs no introduction to many of our members. Alun is now non-Executive Chairman of Thorman Hunt, a family-run specialist wine shipper sourcing premium artisanal wine. Tonight he has chosen to present wines from the Loire Valley, building upon a recent visit to the region.
In December we celebrate Christmas by doing things a little bit different. Full details will appear here later.
We start 2024 by welcoming Nicholas Corfe, Managing Director of Go Brazil Wines. Established in 2010, Go Brazil specialises in importing and distributing wines of Brazilian origin to the UK market and they are proud still to be the only UK company to do so. Nicholas' pick of wines will show us the best of modern Brazilian wine-making and will incorporate a wide range of wine styles, producers and regions.
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 tasting will be preceded by a brief AGM.