The Club is delighted that one of the most recently qualified Masters of Wine, Ray O'Connor, will tutor six wines from newly discovered winemakers.  Ray is the Wine Director at Naked Wines, and travels the world to find exciting new producers and give them technical advice.  He won the George O'Malley Trophy for the highet scoring tasting paper in Ireland for the Diploma (pre MW) exams.  He moved to London as a sommelier for Gordon Ramsey and was Commercial Manager for the International Wine Challenge competition for six years.

Naked Wines was founded in 2008 to source and fund independent winemakers up front.  It gives substantial discounts to supporters which it calls "angels".  Ray O'Connor has arranged that Red Herrings wil gain this discount for their Zoom order, paying £74.99 instead of £90.94 with no carriage charge.  Please register now with the Club for the tasting and order details will follow on the six wines (three white and three red):-

• Ramon do Casar Treixadura Riberio 2019 from the Riberio DO (appellation) in Galicia.  The district spans the valleys of the Minho river and its tributaries.  Its wines were shipped to England and Italy as long ago as the 16^th century.  Ramon do Casar makes a wonderful soft and fruity white with bags of delicious peach, apricot and pear flavours using the Treixadura vine which flourishes in the damp maritime climate of north-west Spain.

• Simpsons of Barham Court  Chardonnay Reserve 2019 made by Charles and Ruth Simpson who used to have a vineyard in Languedoc.  The Simpsons first planted on the chalk slopes of Elham Valley, just south of Canterbury at the village of Barham, in 2014 and now have 30ha.  The 2019 harvest was an exceptional year for English winemaking.

• Troupis Route Gris Moschofilero 2019 made by Yiannis Troupis in Arcadia in the Peloponnese.  The late-ripening indigenous Moschofilero vine is Greece’s answer to Pinot Gris and Traminer.  This comes from a small, family-run vineyard, 700m above sea level in the heart of the Mantinia appellation.  This is an orange wine, a reference to the length of skin contact; the tropical fruit profile is achieved by fermenting some in stainless steel for freshness and the balance in acacia barrels and cement for texture and added complexity.

• Boschkloof Cabernet Sauvignon-Merlot 2019 from Stellenbosch in South Africa.  Established in 1996 by the Borman family, 19ha have been planted with father Jacques in the vineyard and son Reenen in the winery; Reenen completed his studies with a harvest in the Rhone.  Stellenbosch is the second oldest town in southern Africa, named in 1679 by the Commander of Cape Colony, and today noted for its rich Cabernet Sauvignon.

• Montant Franck Massard Vinya Cucut 2017 made from old Carignan vines with an average age of 50 years plus a dash of Grenache.  In France, Carignan is actually the most planted variety.  Franck Massard trained with the great and late Gerald Basset MW MS OBE.  In 2004, he turned from being a sommelier to buy a parcel of land in Priorato in Catalonia in north-east Spain, a temperate and dry district with stony soils and slate substrata.  The wine had three week skin contact, followed by one year oak maturation.

• North Macedonia Tikves Saga 2019 made by Marco Stojakovic, who previously made wine at Chateau Palmer in Margaux and at Vieux-Telegraphe in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  This dark powerful wine shows blackberry and plum fruit flavours from Vranac and Shiraz grapes.  It is certainly an amazing find.

You don’t need to buy the wines to join the Zoom tutorial but the Club needs to know who would like to join the event for which there is a modest £12 charge.  Please email and pay – online payment is requested if at all possible – in the usual way (details below).

Details on how to order the wines and gain the discount will be emailed.

Procedure

If you are interested, please apply via the form below or e-mail tastings@redherringwineclub.co.uk giving an e-mail address for the Zoom link.

A payment of £12 is required for each e-address which can be paid by either of the following methods:

• Bank transfer to the following account:   Barclays Bank plc:     Sort Code:  20-17-35     Account Number:  23429539

• Cheque (made payable to The Red Herring Wine Club) posted to:  The Red Herring Wine Club, 30 Trewint Street, London, SW18 4HB

Please record your name, making clear you are paying for the Zoom Tasting.   (Please also remember to provide guest e-addresses, as applicable, when applying).

All applications will be acknowledged;  if the Zoom details have not been received by 4pm on the preceding day (Wednesday 3^rd March) please telephone 01249 720842.

Date:       Thursday  4^th  March

Time:      6:30 pm 

Venue:    On-Line via Zoom 

Tasting Costs

HOW TO BOOK

Options:

• E-mail tasting request to tastings@redherringwineclub.co.uk 

• Via the on-line form below

HOW TO PAY

Options:

• By cheque (made payable to The Red Herring Wine Club) to:  THE RED HERRING WINE CLUB,  30 TREWINT STREET,  LONDON,  SW18 4HB

• By on-line banking (details below) 

Your reference should be as follows:

Bookings will only be allocated when funds have been received.

Enquiries can be made via e-mail to tastings@redherringwineclub.co.uk  or on 020 8947 5082 but bookings will only be allocated when funds have been received.

If using this method to pay your membership subscription(s), please advise membership@redherringwineclub.co.uk.

PLEASE NOTE THE ADDRESS FOR PAPER APPLICATIONS / CHEQUES:-

30 TREWINT STREET,  LONDON,  SW18 4HB

Please remember to advise the club of any home or e-mail address changes

Tasting Application

Diary Dates: (due to Covid19 restrictions, events are subject to postponement and dates are subject to change)