‘Tis the Season!

Ironically, Christmas is often seen as a period of intense stress: be it how to get the whole family round the Christmas table, or indeed even in the same house, who to invite over for your New Year’s Eve bash, or (as I found to my horror last year) the last-minute realisation that the turkey won’t fit into what you realise belatedly is an unfeasibly small oven. In amongst all this chaos it is very easy to forget one of the most important components of a successful festive season – the wine!

The ‘Tis the Season tastings were designed to take the stress and hassle out of this time of year. In a break from the usual formats of The Wine Society’s tastings, the events were divided not by style or region, but by festive event: aperitifs – Champagne, Cava and Sherry – were followed by the party wine section in which we suggested crowd-pleasing reds and whites on a more modest budget which can be drunk in any occasion.

The Christmas Day selection recongised that this day is always the perfect opportunity to treat yourself to something a bit special, whilst the Boxing Day and beyond section showcased wines to liven up those inevitable turkey leftovers. Finally we showed some fortified and sticky wines with which you can curl up on the sofa; perfect for when everyone has finally gone to bed, and you have a moment to sit and engage in the quiet contemplation of a box of chocolates.

The Bradford tasting was a relaxed and informal gathering, and with only 45 members there, all had ample opportunity to try all the wines and discuss their relative merits at length. There was a great atmosphere and everyone seemed to find at least one wine that they really liked. Following the tasting the three of us from The Society went in search of a good curry, never hard to find in Bradford, and I am pleased to announce that following some rigorous testing, the 2009 Bruno Sorg Gewurztraminer is indeed a good match.

It’s been a few years since we were last at King’s Lynn, and it was great to see such a good turnout of members, all of whom again seemed to be enjoying themselves. We held the tasting at the Town Hall’s Assembly Rooms, a beautiful venue which whilst being on the cosy side, made the tasting all the more friendly!

We try and get up to Scotland every six months and so on this occasion we chose Perth and Glasgow. The Perth tasting was a nice gentile affair for the most part; the venue was the Concert Hall, an amazing modern building right in the centre of town, with unsurprisingly fantastic acoustics. The wines showed well. The Champagne Marc Hébrart was a winner on both nights, albeit not the overall winner – that accolade went to the McHenry Hohnen Rocky Road Zinfandel. This lovely anomaly (it is Australian rather than Californian) has ranked amongst the members’ favourites in every tasting it’s been shown at so far and its impressive stuff.

Glasgow’s tasting took place in the Trades’ Hall in the Merchant City, in a beautiful old, wood-panelled hall. There were 150 of us in all and the evening was much more raucous than Perth (in a good way of course, being members of The Society!). Here the noisiest vote went to the Bleasdale’s ‘The Wise One’ Tawny. This fortified wine is another example of what fantastic wines are being produced in Australia, albeit with a slightly scary label (if you’ve seen it you’ll know what I mean!).

Thanks to all members who attended. We had a fantastic time and hope you found some great wines to enjoy this festive season.

Emma Howat
Tastings & Events Co-ordinator