Garstang
Wine Circle
February 2023
The February meeting of the Wine Circle was held on the 20th February at the Arts Centre. We were delighted to welcome Steve Cobham from Enoteca Wines which is located in Huntleys Farmshop at Salmesbury.
Steve brought us a selection of wines from France, two whites and four reds. All of the wines were produced in the Languedoc Region of Southern France. This region has been associated in the past with mass produced ‘vin de table’, the sort of wine that tasted wonderful when on holiday in that part of the world, but awful to drink when you got it home ! Over recent decades however, the quality of wine produced in this area has improved dramatically, and the selection of wine tasted during this evening demonstrated this improvement.
Both of the whites, one made from Grenache Blanc and one from Viognier, were equally good and would be wonderful on a sunny summer day both with and without food.
The first two reds, a Pinot Noir and a Cabernet Franc, were very good. These grape varieties are usually associated with cooler climates than in the Languedoc, and as such the winemaker has exercised considerable skill in getting wines of this quality from them.
The final two reds were blends of grapes such as Carignan, Syrah and Grenache Noir. These are the varieties more usually associated with this part of France, and again the quality of these were obvious. They were perfect for winter drinking with hearty meat stews containing beef, lamb or game.
A very good evening enhanced by the excellent refreshments provided by Carol Allan and Brenda Ashton, so thanks to them, and also to Guy Pugh who gave the vote of thanks.
March 2023
At the meeting in March we welcomed back Stuart Rothwell from the Vineyard wineshop in Ramsbottom to give a presentation on “Wines from the Americas”. We Sampled three whites and three reds.
The whites from California and Chile were produced from the Reisling and Gewürztraminer grape varieties, both often associated with Northern Europe, and in particular Germany and the Alsace region of France. The Uruguayan white was made from Viognier, often used across regions in Southern France for production of white wine. The whites were very acceptable and well received by the majority of members.
The first red was a Pinot Noir from Brazil. Pinot Noir is a grape associated with Burgundy, but is now used for producing good quality wines in many other countries. Sadly the Brazillians need to do more work in order to produce good quality Pinot as it was a little disappointing. The Angentinian red was a powerful wine, made from a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot. The Californian red was made from Zinfandel, very much a signature grape variety for California. The latter two reds were very good and well received.
Thanks go to Stuart for coming over to Garstang to give us the tasting, to Ann and Richard Harrison and Philippa Catterall for the tasty food for the evening and Rosemary Stokes for the vote of Thanks.
April 2023
The meeting in April was a presentation by Jim McVey and Anne Whitehead of a collection of Brazilian wines. Jim was contacted by a company in Ipswich that is marketing wines from Brazil and he arranged to be sent a selection of wines together with tasting notes.
We sampled a total of six wines; two whites and four reds. The reaction was mixed, but I think that the general opinion was that the Brazilian Wine Industry has some way to go in catching up with Chile and Argentina in the quality of its wines, even though it is the third largest wine producer in South America.
Thanks go to Jim and Anne for organising the evening and thanks also to Richard and Jena Pearson for providing us with some excellent food to accompany the wines
May 2023
The coronation of our new King was indeed a great cause for joy and the wine circle celebrated it in good style with a selection of English and Commonwealth wines at a special event at Garstang Arts Centre.
The wines chosen by Richard Harrison and Mervyn Stokes were all worthy. Unusually,
Alan Jefferson proposed the “Loyal Toast” with a glass of Plantagenet Lancaster Shiraz
Mount Barker 2018. This luscious, full bodied red wine was exceptionally good -
Our normal May tasting was another “Call My Quaff” evening. Richard Harrison who had chosen the wines introduced Linda Pugh, Anne Whitehead and Fran Whitehead. They all gave animated descriptions of each of the six single varietals and members had to guess which was true. Was it a Verdejo, a Verdicchio or a Vermentino? A Malbec, a Merlot or a Montepulciano? The member with the most correct answers was a very surprised Jena Pearson who also won the raffle.
June 2023
A group of members of the circle attended a tasting put on by Bowland Forest Vintners
at the Inn at Whitewell. A beautiful setting and a perfect evening weather-
At our regular monthly tasting Jim McVey and Anne Whitehead presented a selection of wines all produced from the Merlot grape. The wines were from Moldova, Italy, France, Spain, South Africa and Australia. The selection was supplied by the wine merchants Averys of Bristol.
Moldova is perhaps an unfamiliar name, but archeological evidence suggests that this country has been growing grapes and producing wine for Millennia. There is evidence that both Romans and Greeks imported wine from the area, but the industry was curtailed during a period of 300 years under the influence of the Ottoman Empire, as Islamic Law does not approve of alcohol.
The industry revived in the early 19th century when it produced wines fine enough to be drunk in the courts of the Russian Tzars.
Merlot is a grape used for the production of wine across the world as can be deduced from the selection tasted at the meeting. All the wines were of good quality and at a reasonable price. An excellent presentation by Anne and Jim gave us the history of the grape variety, and information about the individual wines, all making for an informative and enjoyable evening.
Many thanks to them for the organisation of the evening, to Pat Hansell and Jackie Hastings for the delicious refreshments and to Glynis Jefferson for the vote of thanks
September 2023
The “Summer” (note inverted commas) has flown past again and we started the 23/24 season of meetings of the Wine Circle with the AGM at Garstang Arts Centre on Monday 18th September. The chairman’s report highlighted another successful year for the circle, with nine meetings together with other events, including the Christmas party, Coronation Picnic and a visit to the Inn at Whitewell for a wine tasting evening.
Membership is slightly down on the numbers pre-
The AGM was followed by a “Committee’s Choice” tasting of six wines: two white and four red. These were presented by Alan Jefferson’ Paul Hewitt, Anne Whitehead, Richard Harrison, Rosemary Stokes and Mervyn Stokes. It was an interesting mixture of wines from the USA (California & Oregon), France and Spain. As always, there was much discussion about the wines presented. Thanks go to the presenters, and also to Glynnis Jefferson, Rosemary Stokes and Anne Whitehead for presenting the refreshments for the evening.
October 2023
In October we were delighted to welcome back Preet Sahota of Edgemond Wines. Preet’s wine shop in Edgemond near Newport specialises in wines from South Africa but also, as was shown at our tasting, stocks selections of wines from around the world. For our meeting he presented four South African wines and two from Australia.
The first two wines were whites, a Sauvignon Blanc, followed by a Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier blend. As ever, these wines divided opinion, with some of the group preferring the first which was different to the usual Sauvignon, while others preferred the blend.
We then moved on to the reds. The first, a single vineyard Malbec was well received.
This was followed by a 2018 Pinotage which Preet had acquired on one of his trips
to South Africa -
The final two wines were both from Australia -
It is no surpise that we could not all agree on a favourite for the evening but what we did agree on was that it was another excellent presentation by Preet and our thanks go to him for travelling some distance to see us. We also thank Anne Whitehead for preparing the refreshments.
November 2023
Unfortunately John Harwood from Waitrose was unable to present his selection of wines for personal reasons. Thanks go to Anne Whitehead and Jim McVey for stepping into the breach, collecting the wines at an advantageous price, and doing the research in order to present them at the meeting.
It was an eclectic mixture of wines, with two whites from Greece and Georgia. The first was a very pleasant Greek wine, but as with a previous tasting the Georgian wine was not well received.
The Reds were from Chile, Germany, the Lebanon and Australia. All of these were well received, except that the Australian wine was a little lightweight given the style that would normally be expected from that country.
It was a good evening with a selection of wines that were pleasant, but not perhaps as good as last year’s event.
Thanks go to Glynnis Jefferson, Ann & Richard Harrison for providing the sandwiches.
December 2023
Saturday the 9th of December was the Circle’s annual Christmas Event at the Arts Centre. There was a selection of wines from France, Australia, New Zealand, Italy and Greece for members to enjoy with the buffet supper, which was provide by Pebbys of Great Eccleston. Thanks go to Alan Jefferson, Richard Harrison and Mervyn Stokes for selection the wines and to Anne Whitehead for arranging the buffet which was excellent.
Party games were organised by Debbie Hewitt and Guy Pugh, and the music by Steve Ridings. Thanks to them for all their work in arranging the entertainment for the evening. The chairman also expressed his thanks to Lynne Ridings, Rosemary & Mervyn Stokes and Glynnis Jefferson for helping prepare the room for the evening.
An evening of fun and games, good company, good food and good wine that was enjoyed by everyone.
January 2024
At the meeting held oh the 15th we were delighted to welcome back Adam Ventress and Liam Shannon from Chapel Street Wines in Lancaster. The evening’s presentation presentation was of five wines from Greece and one from North Macedonia. Greek wine has had a poor reputation in the past, retsina being a notorious example of the poor quality associated with the country, and very few were available here in the shops. This is now changing as quality has improved and more Greek wine is now available in the UK.
We were therefore pleased to have the opportunity to discover whether the improvements that we saw in a presentation of Greek wine in 2022 represented a continuing upward trend in quality.
There were two whites, and four reds. A majority of the wines were produced from indigenous grape varieties, some from quite old vines. So it was a refreshing change to see local varieties being used and preserved rather than being ripped out and replaced with the more common parade of international varieties that we often see during our tastings. Opinions were split as regards likes and dislikes, but the wines seemed to be very good in terms of quality, supporting the idea that Greek production is indeed improving.
Yet another enjoyable and successful tasting and a good start to 2024. Thanks go to Adam and Liam for visiting Gartstang and to Glynis Jefferson for preparing the excellent refreshments.