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WARE WINE & BEER CIRCLE |
| PAST YEARS MEETINGS | |
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Other years available -
2023
2022
2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2024 December: Christmas Meal 16 members and 1 guest attended a Christmas meal at The Kings Mead. Starters included parsnip, rosemary and truffle soup, smoked salmon, brie and cranberry tart, duck and orange terrine; mains included roast turkey, slow cooked beef, sea bass; desserts included Christmas pudding, toffee and honeycomb cheesecake; mini mince pies were on the menu but for some reason did not appear with the coffee! December: Ware Christmas Festival We set up our usual stall at the Ware Dickensian evening in record time and were up and running just before 6pm on Friday December 6th. The price of our hot mulled wine was £2 per cup. We remained the cheapest in town, and but didn't sell out this year. Peter R. took control of the boiler, Kevin encouraged the public by shouting in the style of a street corner newspaper salesman with the half time football results, and controlled the queue; Richard and Chris kept the mulled wine flowing from the boiler to dispense to the public, with Eddie keeping them supplied with cups. Elaine took her usual place at the “till”, giving out change and accepting card payments! The link between Elaine's phone and the card reader was problematic for most of the evening, with the link constantly dropping. Emma took over collecting the cash, whilst Elaine took card payments from - mostly - patient customers. The evening was a reasonable success - especially given the weather - and the club raised £780 providing a profit of circa £670. Fifty percent of the profit has been donated to the Herts Young Homeless November: An 'Old and New' walk around London, by Elaine Robinson Our lowest meeting attendance ever with only 6 attendees! Seems like a lot of bugs going around. Elaine re-arranged a talk that the late MC Black was to have presented of a walk from Holborn to Charing Cross in London. Elaine showed images of what some buildings looked like today and what some of them were like in the early 1900s. Elaine had researched the history of these buildings and gave a brief history of them. Those attending preferred the old buildings to the new where the old buildings had been demolished to make way for new ones. The evening was accompanied by 'London' beers made by Chris, Kevin and Peter. At the end of the evening, Eddie thanked Elaine for the work she had done to provide the presentation. October: Spanish Tapas food competition 9 members attended the meeting, with 6 savoury and 2 sweet entries from 6 members. The results were as follows: Savoury - 1st Mushroom Tartlets Sue K; other dishes were - stuffed tomatoes, sausages, anchovy parmentier, Ensaladilla Rusa, bacon wrapped dates. Sweet - 1st Tarta Santiago Elaine; Other dessert was - Basque cheesecake. Drinks were as follows: Sherry (with added apple juice and chocolate liqueur) (Kevin) Home-made sparkling seyval blanc grapes, dry sherry, IPA (Peter R) Faustino Rioja 2011 (Peter B) Sweet white peach and orange (Elaine) Kevin thanked everyone for entering, and presented the Rolling Pin trophies to the winners. An enjoyable evening. September: A Tour of Japan by Elaine and Peter 12 members attended the meeting. The presentation of the trophies and certificates from the recent club show took place. Peter and Elaine then presented a talk and slide-show of their travels in Japan earlier this year. Peter described the differences between the UK and Japan - clean, polite, punctual - and described the castles, gardens, temples and shrines that they visited. The talk was accompanied by some Japanese beer, miso soup, matcha tea, nibbles, sushi, tempura prawns and sake. Eddie thanked Peter and Elaine for presenting the talk and providing the food. August: Annual Computerised Wine Drive, run by Elaine and Peter R August saw the return of the club's popular computerised Wine Drive. However, it nearly didn't happen! First, we arrived to find that the hall was locked! Peter B contacted John Wing who kindly arrived to open up for us. Then Peter R discovered that Elaine had forgotten to bring her laptop! Fortunately, Peter R was able to work out a combination of rounds where all the bottles were judged against each other, even though the teams did not move around so much! 11 members attended the meeting, and 8 bottles of wine were entered, including a commercial. The results of the drive were as follows together with Founders Trophy points awarded. 1st Robert (4 points), joint 2nd Peter R and Commercial (3 points to Peter), 3rd Chris (2 points), 4th Elaine (1 point), 5th Eddie, joint 6th Kevin and Peter B. Eddie thanked Elaine and Peter for running the evening. July: 42nd Annual Show The club held its 42nd Annual Show at Ware Arts Centre. This year the hall was open when we arrived, due to a dance competition and show being held in the other rooms. Entries and judges all arrived promptly allowing the show to commence on time. 10 competitors entered 134 bottles in eight wine classes and four beer classes. The Judges were Colin Hotham, Geoff Fryer, and Richard Baldwin, with Chris, Kevin and Peter R judging a class each as Daphne was unable to judge at short notice. After the judging, the judges and assisting stewards and show organisers enjoyed a salad lunch. Thanks to all who entered and well done to all the winners who will be announced at the August meeting and presented with their trophies. Click here for results and trophy winners. July meeting - Tea wine competition 13 members attended the meeting, which Chris co-ordinated. 9 tea wines were entered; all were well presented and clear. The results were as follows: 1st place - Chris; wine was made from Sainsbury's Taste the Difference blackberry/apple/beetroot/ginger tea bags 2nd place - Elaine; wine was made from Tesco berry fruits tea bags 3rd place - Peter R; wine was made from Yorkshire Tea Toast & Jam tea bags 4th place - Kevin; wine was made from manuka honey tea bags Chris thanked everyone for entering. Eddie thanked Chris for organising the competition. June Wales & West Diamond Festival The Wales & West 2023 Festival was held on 12th - 15th June at Weston-super-Mare with four members of Ware attending, namely Elaine, Peter, Chris and Carol. Elaine, Peter, and Chris judged various classes with Carol stewarding for Chris. Elaine, Peter, Chris entered the show. Ware Wine & Beer Circle retained the Leytonian Cup awarded to the non-affiliated circle with most points across all open classes and gained the circle Challenge Cup for the club with most points in classes 1-18 (wine classes). Chris was runner up to the Master Brewer. Peter won the fruit cake class (again), as well as two wine classes; Chris won one wine class and two beer classes; Elaine won one wine class; all three club members won other places as well. The festival included tastings of sparkling wines, wines and beers. There were discussions upon the merits of individual wine and beer entries over dinner. Once again, the Wales & West was enjoyed by all attendees. Next year's show will take place in the second week in June at Weston-super-Mare. June - Delicatessen food tasting with Italian wine by Kevin 13 members enjoyed a tasting of delicatessen food with wine presented by Kevin. The wines all came from Tesco, and the food came from M&S. The wines were as follows: Pinot Grigio 12.5% 2023 £8.00 (£5.25) Fiano 11% 2023 £6.50 (£4.88) Sangiovese 13% 2022 £8.00 (£5.25) Chianti 13.5% 2019 £10.00 (£7.49) Primitivo 13.5% 2023 £8.75 (£5.44) The wines were accompanied by olives, bread, and a variety of Italian meats - Serano ham, chorizo, pork loin and salami - and a variety of French cheese - Sainte Nectaire, Maroilles, Crottin de Chevre, Bleu d'Auvergne, Tomme de Brebis. Kevin also explained how salami and green olives were produced. Chris reminded members about the forthcoming club annual show in July. May: Quiz Nite with Dave and Sue 11 members participated in the meeting, plus the quizmasters. There were 3 teams of 3 members and 1 team of 2 members, with husbands and wives not allowed to be in the same team. There was on on-going round of anagrams of towns and villages in Hertfordshire. and 4 rounds of questions about food, flowers, shipping areas around Great Britain, and things connected with the seaside. The winners were Margaret, Elaine and Graham with 59 points; second were Kevin, Richard and Eddie with 53 points; third place were Peter R and Robert with 49 points ; fourth were Sue F, Emma, and Peter B with 47 points. Eddie thanked Dave and Sue for putting the quiz together. Members were reminded that the next meeting will be a food evening, the July meeting will be a tea wine competition, and of the Annual show on July 20th. Annual Show page. April: National Show at Britannia Royal Court Hotel, Coventry Peter and Elaine R, Kevin, Robert and Susan, and Chris and Carol went to the 64th National show at Coventry. See the NAWB website for details. Ware Wine & Beer Circle and its members were among the 38 individual entrants at the National Association of Wine & Beer Makers (Amateur) Annual Show in Coventry on Saturday 20th April 2024. A total of 752 bottles and 2 photos were entered across the show’s 65 classes. Ware Circle and its members gained 19 first and 117 other places and as a result retained their position at the top of the National Club Points League Table and the Amateur Winemakers Shield, for the seventh year in succession. In addition, Ware Circle won the Sweet ‘N’ Dry Cup. Ware Circle and its members won a total of 22 trophies. The Show was a weekend event and included a presentation of home brew beers and wines. The highlight of the weekend was Saturday evening’s formal dinner followed by the presentation of major trophies and musical entertainment. April: AGM followed by the Third Round of the Supermarket Wine Challenge 16 members (the total membership!) attended the meeting. The minutes of the 2023 AGM were accepted. Kevin read the Chairman's report - a synopsis of the previous year's events. Peter R. presented the Treasurer’s report stating that the club was still viable and had only made a small loss over the year. As the club has already paid for the Art's Centre meetings until June, this had been included in the accounts, so actually the club had made a small profit. He thanked Richard for auditing the accounts. Peter stated that the club’s annual subscriptions remain at £10 per person. All members paid their subs during the evening! The committee were re-elected en bloc. Chris announced the results of the Founders Trophy - 3rd Elaine, 2nd Peter R, 1st Kevin (who won by 1 point). Eddie presented the trophy to Kevin. The supermarkets for the Wine Challenge were Sainsburys and Morrisons. Peter R sourced the wines, matching like-for-like on grape, alcohol and price where possible. Each wine was described by Peter R and at the end of the tasting the members voted on which wine they preferred. The wines were as follows: Cabernet Prestige Sauvignon Blanc Bordeaux 2022 12% £7.50 Morrisons Cotes du Rhone 2022 12.5% £7.50 Sainsburys Barbera D'Asti Italy 2020 14.5% £7.25 Sainsburys Barbera D'Asti Italy 2020 14.5% £7.50 Morrsons Pinotage South Africa 2022 13% £5.50 Morrisons Pinotage South Africa 2022 14% £7.25 Sainsburys The Barbera D'Asti wines tied at 8 each on preference; the Sainsburys South African Pinotage was preferred 11 to 5; the Morrisons white wine was preferred by 10:6; so the winner was Sainsburys by 2 points. March: Wine tasting of Unusual Grapes by Peter R 10 members attended the meeting. Peter presented a tasting of 8 wines made from unusual grapes. the wines were as follows: Seyval Blanc sparkling from grapes on his allotment at Mill Hill; the wine was only lightly sparkling but had a good taste and length. Members raised a glass to Glen Brown and MC Black, both of whom passed away recently. Siegerrebe, also from Mill Hill; good bouquet, taste and length Ortega, from a friend who has a vine in her garden; rather acidic although taste was good Phoenix, from Bishops Waltham in Hampshire; aromatic, some acidity, fruity, good length Pecorino from Chieti, Italy bought at Sainsburys £6.75 Ciliegiolo, made from imported grapes from Italy in 2009; fruity (cherries), light colour, reasonable length Regent, from a neighbour who has a vine in their garden; light bouquet and colour, fruity taste, good length Nero D'Avola from Sicily, bought in Sainsburys, £6.50 Kevin thanked Peter for putting on the tasting. He reminded members that the next meeting in April - the AGM - would be a week earlier than usual. February: Beer and Chocolate 10 members attended the meeting at the Arts Centre. Kevin passed round plates of five different chocolates - white, basic dark, JD Gross milk 40%, JD Gross dark 70%, JD Gross dark 80%. All were bought at Lidl. The beers were as follows: Belgian Golden ale (Kevin) Belgian Wheat beer, with the addition of coriander 5.3% (Peter) Saison 8.3% (Chris) Belgian Dubbel (Chris) Belgian Golden Strong 9.9% (Peter) Sweet Cherry Stout with cherry purée 7% (Kevin) Belgian Dark Strong with coriander and orange peel 6.9% (Peter) Belgian Dark Strong ale 11% (Kevin) An interesting evening. Eddie thanked the brewers for the beers and Kevin for providing the chocolate. January: Portuguese Food and Wine Tasting 8 Members attended the meeting. Kevin introduced the evening stating that we had three courses enjoy i.e. starter, main meal and a sweet combined with a selection of Portuguese wines purchased from Aldi. The starter, prepared by Margaret, was a tuna paté and a sardine paté served with biscuits and olives. Cabriz DOC Dão Colheita Selecionada Rosé (12.5% £8.49) was enjoyed as an opener to the meeting and accompanied the starter. The main course, prepared by Kevin, was Portuguese sausage and bean casserole served with “Portuguese” Tiger French sticks and butter (provided by Carol). Two red wines accompanied the main course, 1) Azinhaga de Ouro Tinto Reserva (13.5% £6.49) and 2) Torre De Ferro DOC Vinho Tinto 2020 (13% £6.99). Kevin also provided the sweet course which was a toffee roulade and a lemon roulade along with a bonus sweet wine. Kevin read the tasting notes of the sampled wines and preferences regarding the reds were discussed resulting in a win for red wine 2. Eddie thanked Kevin for arranging the event and those who prepared the food. All attendees agreed the food was delicious. |
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Last updated:
21/01/25 |
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Copyright: 2001 WWBC |