Members enjoying a pre dinner drink
President Tim Fawle welcomed 55 people to the La Senia restaurant in Denia for the Christmas tasting. This restaurant has a nice cosy atmosphere and serves excellent food, setting the scene for members to enjoy the festive evening.
This tasting did not involve a lot of soul searching on scoring the wines because they were traditionally chosen by the President. However each table was asked to list the area the wine came from and the grape variety, with answers being arrived at by a consensus for that table.
The winning table of Carey, Ferenczy, Gates and Pacey received, and drank, a nice rosado cava to finish off the evening
President Tim Fawle welcoming members
Wines
The first wine was Edetària 2011 tasted in September and costing 21.99€. This wine was selected by Jose Peñin with a rating of 95 points and CBWS 86 and was produced in DO Terra Alta, Tarragona, Catalunya. It had been aged for 8 months in oak barrels. The grape was Garnacha Blanca with a touch of Macabeo.
The second white wine was Abad Dom Bueno 2014 costing 6.90€, a wine which had not been tasted by the Society this year but Tim felt it would make a change to compare two oak matured whites in the cooler temperatures of December. Peñin rating was 88 points and the grape was Godello from the DO Bierzo.
The first red wine Borsao Tres Picos 2013 and cost 12.83€ was tasted in May at Ca la Iaia a tasting hosted by Vice President John Sloggie and we were entertained by the Bodega who presented these wines. Peñin awarded this wine 93 points in 2012 CBWS 90 points for the 2013. This wine was produced in the DO Campo de Borja and the grape was Garnacha.
The second red Vivir sin Dormir (4.97€) was tasted in April at Punta Negra, Les Rotes during a presentation by Bodegas Arraez who are producing some excellent innovative wines from the DO Jumilla. Peñin scored this wine 88 points CBWS 87 points. The grape was Monastrell.
El Sequé costing 21.02€ was presented at the Wine Taster of the year presentation in June and scored 94 points from Peñin and CBWS 91. It was produced in the DO Alicante and is a Monastrell grape variety.
Prize Winners with Tim Fawle
Wine Taster of the Year Winner and runners up
This year’s Wine Taster of the Year was shared by joint winners, Gaby Ferenczy and Andrew Johnson who both scored 91% and the runner up was Renate Pluis with 89%. Congratulations to these members who once again have demonstrated their wine tasting skills. Each winner was presented with an excellent bottle of wine.
Special presentations
Special presentations were made by Tim to the following members: Penny Floodgate who is responsible for Bookings, Place Names and Wine Scores has done this for many years and has agreed to continue again next year. She received a little gift as appreciation for her hard work; and Gaby & Margaret Ferenczy who have retired from the Wine Trip Team and have done a wonderful job since 2008. They were presented with some wine related gifts for them to enjoy with their wine drinking.
Tim Fawle thanked everyone for their attendance and wished all members a very Happy Christmas and great wine drinking over the festive season. Gaby Ferenczy proposed a vote of thanks to Tim and Sandy Fawle for arranging such a splendid evening.
Next Tasting
The next tasting is on Thursday January 21st at Punta Negra, MR Hotel, Les Rotes with the popular theme of Whose Wine is it anyway? This has proven a fun event based on the TV series Call my Bluff, so for sure we will have a good attendance at Les Rotes.
Members at dinner and enjoying the excellent wines
Text by Tim Fawle and photos by Gaby Ferenczy 11 December 2015
Everyone had a good time at the Christmas Tasting