The Marlow Wine Society

Tuesday 28th February 2023
 

A welcome return to the society by Ben Franks of Novel Wines, the Bath based merchant who specialise in wines from passionate small producers and community co-operatives, often from regions that aren’t even known for their wines (but should be).

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The tasting provided a fascinating  set of wine, with a range of indigenous grape from Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine.

Tuesday 24th January 2023

An interesting exploration of the everyday and more premium wines from the UK's major discount supermarkets 

Tuesday 22nd November 2022

A great evening with five teams having to identify, for eight wines, which of three tasting notes provided were the actual ones for each wine - and to answer some quick-fire bonus questions too. 

Tuesday 25th October 2022

Cheese and wine is a popular combination but getting the right wine to complement a cheese is not as straightforward as it might seem. Port is the classic pairing for blue cheese, but some say that a white dessert wine goes better?

Members Jack Kennelly and Natalie Shelley presented a fascinating evening which broadened horizons about how to make the perfect pairing, in particular showing how well white wine can work.
 

Tuesday 27th September 2022

Joie de Vin is an independent, online merchant run by owners Tim and Jill North. Their range of French Wines all come from vineyards where they have a personal relationship with the winemaker, cultivated during Tim's 18 years working in the industry in France. They presented a interesting selection of eight hand-picked wines

Tuesday 30th August 2022

Majestic's High Wycombe store provided an interesting evening , showing eight wines from the New Zealand range - and not a Sauvignon Blanc in sight! As well as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines were presented made from Gruner Veltliner, Pinot Gris, Gewurtztraminer, Syrah and an Old World style blend.

Tuesday 26th July 2022

Members the Galvin family presented a comparison across four local wine merchants of their best value red and white wines at £15 a bottle, with interesting results

Tuesday 28th June 2022

Regular presenter Paul Stratford from Odd Butchers Wine Cellar (and Wine Bistro) presented an interesting set of eight wines made in Australia of Old World grapes

Tuesday 26TH MAY 2022

Online merchant Petersham Cellar presented seven Italian fine wines, provided members with the opportunity to try wines outside of most people's normal price range

Tuesday 26th APRIL 2022

Member and regular visitor to Portugal Hedley White  gave a presentation of some of his favourite Portuguese wines.  The wines tasted included an introduction to just a few of the 300+ native grape varieties which make Portugal such an interesting - and sometimes challenging - wine producer

Sam and Lucy of Marlow's own Grape Expectations made a first visit to the Pugin Rooms with an interesting selection from their South African shelves. Tasting the wines blind added to the interest of the evening which showcased the widening range of grapes and techniques used in South Africa and the high quality wines that they produce.
 

Ben Franks of Novel Wines made a third visit to the society and presented a very interesting range of wines made from the mostly unfamiliar native grapes of Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon and North Macedonia
 

TUESDAY 25TH JANUARY 2022

The annual meeting was followed by two wines presented by each of the four members of the society's tasting committee - who shape the tasting programme for the year
 

This was an opportunity to sample wines from Marlow's newest independent wine retailer (and delicatessen). Proprietor Benoit's selection offered a popular range of premium wines from across France
 

The society sampled eight wines that had been recommended over the previous month by Will Lyons of the The Sunday Times - and gave their own verdicts on the paper's chiices.
 

Every year the buyers from The Wine Society blind taste over 1,000 wines and declare the best of these to be their "Champions". We tried a very interesting selection of eight wines from last year's Champions.
 

The May edition of Decanter Magazine included a feature on their Top 30 Hungarian Wines available in the UK Member Bob Perrin provided a great selection of wines from the 30 for the society to try.
 

The Little Fine Wine Company specialise in half bottles - we sampled three red wines and a dessert wine from their range
 

This tasting was an introduction to Grape Expectations, Marlow's new independent wine merchant, hosted by their then manager Ollie. We we will be tried four Australian wines from their excellent selection, including a white, light red and two fuller bodied reds.

The society sampled four half bottles from The Wine Society's range
 

A first "visit" to MWS by the renouned Tanners of Shrewbury for a tasting of four half bottles from their exceptional range in this smaller format.

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Whites from Burgandy and Alsace, plus a red from Bordeaux and a sweet red from Languedoc Roussilion were presented providing something for every palate.

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The MWS had two virtual visits from the Canned Wine Company in 2020.
 

The first in April introduced us to the idea of premium wines in 25cl cans, where we sampled their introductory offerings - aGruner Veltliner and Touriga Nacional.
 

They returned in September to reveal how the concept had developed and presented a re-vamped range including a new Gruner Veltliner, a Grenache Rose and Old Vine Garnacha

WEDNESDAY 24 JUNE 2020  

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A three bottle tasting, via Zoom, with members joining in with their pre-ordered wines.

Our presenter was winemaker Thomas Holt, who in partnership with his wife Emma grow grapes and make their range of wines in Somontano in the central Pyrenees of northern Spain. Here they achieved their ambition of bringing together old world traditions and modern techniques to make their own wines, in their own style.

WEDNESDAY 26 FEBRUARY 2020

A return visit from Ben Franks of Novel Wines, an importer and retailer that specalises in wines from central and eastern Europe and other less well-known regions from around the world. Ben and his business partner Gyorgy source their wines from family winemakers and community co-ops that are all truly passionate about the wines that they make.

WEDNESDAY 29 Jan 2020

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The Annual General Meeting plus a number of members' favourite wines

WEDNESDAY 11 Dec 2019

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Need we say more.....

WEDNESDAY 20 NOV 2019

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Presented by Paul Stratford, Old Butchers Wine Cellar, Cookham

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Local wine merchant Paul Stratford will present a range of eight wines especially recommended for the festive season.

WEDNESDAY 30 OCT 2019

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Presented by member Soma Jennings 

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Soma Jennings, member and WSET Wines & Spirits certified, will be educating us on different techniques used in wine making and how they affect the wine produced.

WEDNESDAY 25 SEP 2019

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Presented by members Karen Jansen and Becca Miles

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Two of our members present wines from their favourite countries (Karen - USA, Becca - France) in an interesting theme comparing wines made with the same grape but from the two different countries.

WEDNESDAY 28 AUG 2019

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Presented by member Bob Perrin

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Now in its 16th year, the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA) is the world's largest and most influential wine competition. Judged by the top wine experts from around the globe, the DWWA is trusted internationally for its rigorous judging process. Member Bob Perrin has selected eight of the best from this year's award winners to sample and to see if they get the Marlow Wine Society's vote too.

WEDNESDAY 31 JUL 2019

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Presented by David Green, wine specialist

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Seven wines accompanied by a range of delicious tapas.

WEDNESDAY 26 JUN 2019

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Presented by Go Brazil - Importers of Brazilian fine wines to the UK

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Go Brazil, importers and online retailers of Brazilian fine wines in the UK will be introducing members to a selection of wines from their stock of Brazilian wines.

WEDNESDAY 29 MAY 2019

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Presented by member Keith Phillips

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Keith, one of our most longest standing members, and well respected among members for his vast knowledge of wines, will be educating members on how the wine making techniques can get dry and sweet wines from the same grapes.

WEDNESDAY 1 MAY 2019

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Presented by member Katja Weyrauth 

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Katja is a member of The Marlow Wine Society and originally hails from Germany. Tonight she will share with the rest of the members an insight into her interest in the wines from this country with a selection of her favourites as starting points for discussion.

WEDNESDAY 27 MARCH 2019
 

Presented by Martin Chapman of Watlington Fine Wines,  Watlington

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Martin is the owner of Watlington Fine Wines in Oxfordshire which imports selected wines, retails wine to the public and also wholesales wines across the UK via a second arm of the business - Peter Osborne Fine Wines.

Although Watlington Fine Wines stocks bottles from wine-makers around the world, the theme of this month’s tasting is French wines and Martin will bring with him an excellent selection of eight from across different regions of France.

WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2019

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Presented by Ben Franks, Novel Wines, Bath

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Ben founded Novel Wines two years ago with this Hungarian business partner. They boast a selection of 274 delicious wines from Eastern Europe to Asia - wines that you won’t necessarily be familiar with. This tasting will give you the opportunity to try eight unusual but interesting wines that Ben has specially selected from Novel's cellars.

WEDNESDAY 30 JANUARY 2019

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​The society holds its AGM followed by members presenting wines that they found outstanding during the course of last year.