On 16th March a record 23 people gathered to taste fine wines costing up to £20 per bottle. With 12 bottles available the sample size was reduced, to about 35ml, just enough to form an opinion of each wine and keep us sober!

As we normally taste wines at up to £10 per bottle, one of our aims was to find out whether the extra cost resulted in an appreciably better wine. The consensus was that the fine wines were consistently better but not necessarily twice as good. The favourite white wine was a New Zealand Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, generally regarded as as one of New Zealand’s finest. With Sancerre and Chablis as runners up. The choice of favourite red had several contenders with the Chateauneuf-du-Pape (the pope’s new palace) edging out an Amarone.

An interesting and lively meeting was enjoyed by all. Photos by Janice Abrahamson.