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Wine Quiz Night for The Village School, Belsize Park, 7th February 2019

WanderCurtis Wine Quiz Night, Belsize Park, 7th February 2019

 

Getting together 100 people on a cold winter’s night was a formidable task. Lindsay and her excellent team were up to it.

We hosted at the Village School Belsize Park, raising money for Friends of Della and Don in support of Ratmalana in Sri Lanka devastated by the 2004 Tsunami.

We carefully selected wines to show of varietal qualities for the blind tasting quiz part of the evening and amended our wine quiz to compliment the evenings themes.

It featured an art auction with a collection of fine work from artists such as Grayson Perry and delicious homemade Italian cuisine by Riccardo of TortelliniCup.

The following wines were served-

 

Aperitif – Prosecco La Gioiosa et Amorosa NV DOC Treviso

 Wine 1 Viñalba Selección Torrontés 2018 Lujan de Cuyo

Wine 2 Grand Ardèche Chardonnay 2016 Louis Latour

 Break for Italian buffet

 

 Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi 2017 Monte Schiavo

Alain Grignon Carignan Vieilles Vignes 2017 PGI Pays de l’Hérault

 

Wine 3 Edna Valley Pinot Noir 2016

Wine 4 Valpolicella Ripasso 2016 Villa Borghetti

 We used the local Majestic Wine in Chalk Farm. The Torrontes exhibited great typicity with floral fragrant notes of lychee and white blossom. This was in stark contrast to the buttery rich Chardonnay from Louis Latour.

The reds were similarly rewarding. To find a Pinot Noir of this quality from California for under a tenner was an achievement. The Edna Valley showed earthy qualities with a good red fruit core. Villa Borghetti’s Valpolicella Ripasso fermented on pomace from Amarone production displayed a richer wine with blueberry and spice aromas.

The winning table  was ‘Chardonnay’  who leapt up in joy and around £11,000  raised for Charity.


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The George Club , Mayfair , Wine Tasting Quiz , Monday July 7th

The line up

Following our recent  wine tasting and  quiz night in Highgate for 100 people in aid of  KINOE we hosted one for The Mcgrath Foundation at The George Private members club in Mayfair.

We had a mixture of wine related questions on a  variety of subjects including Geography, Art , Music , Culture and a new Logo round.

The 6 wines were all served blind and chosen from The George wine list .We recently visited the vast  cellar under Annabels to chose this selection.

Wine 1: Chardonnay ‘Terres Dorees 2012. Jean Paul Brun. Beaujolais. France.

Wine 2: Torrontes ‘ Composed by Hispa’ 2012. Argentina.

Enticing aromas similar to Gewurztraminer, with hints of apricot stone, flowers, and lychees. On the palate, it has a beautiful structure and acidity along with enticing fruit flavours that keep you coming back for another sip. Fruity, floral and yet still quite dry, this Argentinian Torrontes has a bitter almond finish.

Wine 3: Sylvaner 2008, Joseph Cattin. Alsace. France
Golden in colour with a pronounced nose of honey combe, wax and dry hay this Alsatian Sylvaner has as a lovely lingering silky mouth feel.

Wine 4: St Amour 2012 Domaine des Pins. Beaujolais, France.

On the nose, loganberry, raspberry, hint of banana skin & wet flannel. In the mouth this young Beaujolais is fruity with light body & low tannin.
Wine 5: Malbec ‘Composed by Hispa’ 2012. Argentina.

Wine 6: Mark’s Club Saint Emilion 2009. Moueix. Bordeaux, France.

This st Emillion from2009 is a classic merlot dominated claret with lovely notes of polished wood, forest floor red fruits leather and smoke .On the palate plumb and more delicious savoury notes.

We were delighted by the amount of money raised for the charity and the excellent   feedback from the 40 attendees.


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Kinoe charity quiz and wine tasting

Our Kinoe charity wine tasting and quiz night was held at Channing School in Highgate on 8 November. 120 people attended, and we raised around £6,000 for this fabulous charity. Started by Amanda Faber, Kinoe helps educate disadvantaged children in India and Nepal.

An afternoon of nerves and squeaky bottom time, as the Tormentoso Shiraz mysteriously went missing from Suzi’s office. Robin saved the day and had a small supply at the office.

Arrived at New hall to find the wine fridge at a refreshing 22°C! Majestic obliged with an urgent delivery of ice and all was chilled. Seven rounds of blind wine and quiz questions, a corbieres with supper and a gratefully happy crowd.

We had eight lovely wines blind tasted with quiz questions and a delicious buffet supper catered by The Punch Tavern, Fleet Street. The following wines were included:

  •  Capolemole, Marco Carpineti 2011
  • ‘Red Claw’ Chardonnay, Yabby Lake 2009
  • Buitenverwachting ‘Christine’ 2009
  • Soli Pinot Noir, Miroglio,Thracian Valley 2009
  • Corbieres, Chateau de Durfort 2010
  • Tormentoso Shiraz Mourvedre, Malmesbury 2009
  • Adega de Pegoes White Colheita Seleccionada 2011
  • TerraVin Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

A great success for our second big quiz night!


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Chateau Pavie-Maquin 2004 St Emilion grand cru classe tasted blind with Penfolds Bin 407 2006

The first business meeting of the New Year was aptly commenced by a ‘new world versus old’ blind tasting. After a bit of tooing and froing it was clear that wine A had more complexity, more on the nose and was our clear favorite, with a mixture of fruits and cedary wood. Wine B was good enough to enhance the lamb lasagne verdi but somewhat lacking in depth. Wine A indeed was the Pavie, although we were slightly worried, having watched the film ‘Bottle Shock’ the night before.

Lots was discussed, including the proposed structure of the vertical tasting, introductory talk, costings and feedback sheets.

We structured the SMSA event into eight rounds (further details here). Rather pleasingly, we had both already written proposals for the structure and both came up with near identical plans. Other proposed events will be a Channing school tasting in Sept/Oct and a spring WanderCurtis tasting, possibly at Jacksons Lane/Red Hedgehog/Highgate Society/Bull or other venue. It will be an exciting year!

We may attend the Justerini and Brooks Burgundy 2008 tasting next week and Decanter Bordeaux tasting in February.