We crowned the first tasting year of the new North Hampshire Wine Society with a party to celebrate Christmas and wines.  Thirty Six of us booked in for a Four Corners themed tasting arranged and provided by our own members.  Christmas jumpers of various levels of absurdity abounded and we arranged seating in a "club table" format to encourage social interchange.

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Members were welcomed by the committee with a very fine glass of Dry Fino Sherry from Pedro's Almacenista Selection sourced from Majestic (£9.99) and the socialising began. Our corners were very much Old World, being from two regions of France - Burgundy and the Loire, Spain and Italy with a dash of Portugal. 

 

Andy Bori exhibited two wines from Buxy in Burgundy reflecting a recent travel experience of his own; a Cremant de Borgogne Millbuis from the caves de Buxy and an unusual semi sweet Ratafia de Borgogne also from Buxy.

 

Martin Harris showed three wines from Spain: a pleasing dry 2021 Albarino from Galician Rias Baixas, (Tesco £11.25), a robust Rioja Gran Reserva in the form of a 2011 Faustino 1 (Tesco £12) and a dreamy Pedro Ximines super sweety from Andalucia (Waitrose £10.99 for 50cl).

 

Our Chairman, David Rossell, showed two wines from the Loire region of France: a fresh and zingy 2022 Muscadet by Oliver Dubois (Majestic £8.99) and a rather more robust red, a 2022 St Nicolas de Borgeuil (Majestic £15.99).

 

Jon and Penny Barnes favoured an Italian theme showing an intriguing white Fiano 2022 from Surani Pietrrariccia in SW Italy (Majestic £8.99) and a 2022 Ameroni de Valpolicella from the NE Veneto region (Aldi £11.99).

 

We toasted Christmas with a glass of Porto Westport Blanc sourced from Carrefour in France (£6.00)

 

Sue Rossell had provided a generous table for the finger buffet with a splendid collection of cheeses cold meats and, of course Christmas cake and mince pies to accompany the Pedro Ximines.

 

Brian and Ruth Wiseman won a bottle for the most outlandish Christmas sweaters.

 

It was a great way to round off the club's tasting year and we look forward to a full programme for 2024. 

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