Our Society has had a long association with Ellis Wines. This month we welcome Chris on his first visit to our Society and he'll be presenting his pick of wines from New Zealand. It's a country whose wines we haven't tasted for over two years, so we are well due a return visit. Expect some familiar New Zealand grape varieties, plus a few surprises!

It has been five years since we had an evening tasting dedicated to English wines, so an opportunity to discover their excellent progress is long overdue. The Hawkins Bros. business deals exclusively with wines produced in England and their tasting tonight will feature some great sparkling wines, which will be followed by whites and reds.

It's been 9 years since Chris last presented to us. So in our 30th anniversary year, it's great to be able to welcome him back, Chris will be presenting his selection of wines from South Africa, always a favourite of our members.

Sarah is in great demand as a wine judge and speaker at home and abroad, She is counted among Decanter’s “experts par excellence” in her capacity as Regional Chair, Portugal at Decanter World Wine Awards, the UK magazine for which she writes regularly. She has also been awarded Portuguese Annual Wine Awards Wine Writer of the Year. So this is going to be a very special evening and we are looking forward to tasting Sarah's pick of Portuguese wines.

Our summer event this year will take us to The Falcon at Rotherwick where we will enjoy a BBQ meal in their lovely garden. Bookings for this event have now closed.

For the first tasting of our autumn season, we welcome Tom Ellis, Managing Director of First Class Products. Tom is young, lively and enthusiastic and we look forward to tasting his selection of new world cabernet and shiraz from their portfolio.

In 1930, at just 20 years old, Serge Hochar founded Chateau Musar in Lebanon, inspired by the country's 6,000 year winemaking tradition and his travels in Bordeaux. Today, the legendary wines of Chateau Musar live on with Gaston now managing the day-to-day running of the Chateau Musar winery. This month we welcome Jane Sowter, Chateau Musar's UK Managing Director. Jane will present wines from across the Musar range. Tasting the wines of Chateau Musar is always a pleasure and this should be a fascinating tasting.

Quentin has not presented to us for over 10 years. So it's especially appropriate that we will welcome him back in our 30th anniversary year. Quentin will present a tasting of wines from the hidden corners of Italy, which is expected to include both whites and reds from regions such as Campania, Marche, Piedmont, Trentino and Veneto.

This year the boys will be up against the girls - Liz's team of four girls and Terry's team of four boys will each present a wine of their choice. So we can expect to taste some great wines and the evening is guaranteed to get us in the festive spirit! Full details of our Christmas tasting will be published in our Christmas newsletter.

Our first tasting of 2018 promises to be a very special evening. We are delighted to welcome Master of Wine Richard Bampfield to present to us. Richard is a wine buying consultant at Lidl and he is going to give us a fascinating behind the scenes insight into the thinking behind wine buying at the supermarket. Richard's talk will feature his pick of what's really good on the shelves at the time.