Wine Appreciation Three (WAGS 3)
Our monthly meetings in The Athenaeum continue to be well attended and Bob and Ann
presented a selection of seven wines from around the World: 3 whites, 3 reds and a rosé.
The rosé, a Rosé des Plages from Southern France, was a lovely example of a crisp dry
Provence style wine with floral notes presented in a beautiful bottle. The wine everyone
loved was red multi-dimensional complex red blend from South African Western Cape –
The Mentors. This 2019 wine with flavours of berries and cinnamon and soft chalky
tannins delivered a concentrated full-bodied wine.
Mike and Kate presented a selection in October again from a variety of countries. The
wines were from M&S and Waitrose - all at discounted prices. Of note was an organic
Sauvignon Blanc 2021 from the Marlborough region of the North Island of New Zealand.
The producers, the Babich family, are Croatian immigrants and this lovely wine tasted of
tangerine with floral and mineral notes. Well worth the £10 per bottle! Another well loved
wine was a French red Crozes- Hermitage 2019 from the Northern Rhone valley. The
Syrah grapes give this wine a berry fruit flavour with a hint of black pepper.
Colin presented a selection of wines under the theme” French grapes… but not French
wine”. He has a collection of very old wine books and took the group through interesting
excerpts from these. His opener was a Cederberg Private Cellar Chenin Blanc 2022 from
South Africa. It is SA’s most widely planted grape variety. It is quite peardroppy and at 13%
a full-bodied dry white. Another well received wine was a Cabernet Franc Napier Petite
Marie Rosé 2021 from Wellington South Africa bought at Yapp Brothers. This unusual
offering was liked by everyone.
In early December we had a great pre -Christmas drinks gathering hosted by Cynthia and
Roger and in early January, 16 members of our Group attended a lovely lunch at The
Warminster School organised by Nick from WAGS1. Altogether a busy time for our Group!