Wine and Music Pairing

All Seated event

This is a first for the Club: to explore the connections between music and wine.  We are delighted that the newest Master of Wine, Dr Qian Janice Wang, will fly from Denmark to tutor the event.

Janice holds a doctorate in Experimental Psychology from Oxford, an MS in Media Arts & Sciences from MIT and a BS in Computer Science from Caltech.  She is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Food Science at the University of Copenhagen.

Last year she qualified as a Master of Wine, scooping three top awards for the best research paper, for excellence in the production and handling of wine paper and the most coveted of all, the Madame Bollinger medal for excellence in tasting.

Rorschwihr

The range of wines is stunning with two in magnums.  Janice will play appropriate music to accompany each wine, starting with Pinot Gris d’Alsace 2017 from the noted winemaker Rolly Gassmann.  The wine is estate bottled in the pretty village of Rorschwihr, which dates back to at least 742, and lies 10 miles north of Colmar.

The 1676 partnership between Marie-Thérèse Rolly and Louis Gassmann yields wines of exceptional quality; they are rich, expressive and versatile.  Pinot Gris “leaves the drinker with a memory of unforgettable purity and its discreet fruity flavour does not diminish with time,” says the distinguished critic Fritz Hallgarten in his Alsace, its Wine Gardens, Cellars and Cuisine.

Jacquart buildings

Dog Point makes arguably the finest Chardonnay in New Zealand and we have secured its newly released 2015.  The vineyard was first planted in 1979 by Ivan and Margaret Sutherland when Marlborough was a long way from being the household name of today.  The vines are planted on silty-clay loam soils with some gravel interspersed.  Cultivated organically, the grapes are hand-picked. The noted quality merchant Wine Trust says the wine is “focused with a fine core of acidity and an almost crystalline purity on the mid-palate, giving way to a nutty, spicy finish.”

Janice has selected music which evokes oak ageing flavours to accompany Dog Point.

Mozart

One of the greatest white Burgundies – Corton-Charlemagne Grand Cru – from the 1996 vintage follows, bottled by Olivier Leflaive in magnums.  “Domaine Leflaive is an icon of white Burgundy,” says Bill Nanson in his The Finest wines of Burgundy.  Claude Leflaive settled in Puligny Montrachet in 1717 and today their land is managed biodynamically and ploughed by horse wherever possible.

The Côte de-Beaune starts with an isolated egg-shaped mound, the hill of Corton.  The land designated “Charlemagne” was so prestigious that it was acquired by Charles the Great (742-814), king of the Franks, who was crowned by the Pope Emperor of the West in 800.  On limestone marl, the Chardonnay roots penetrate to a depth of 2m (7ft) and more.  The wine produced “is probably the slowest to mature of all Burgundian white wines.... With bottle-age, its great bouquet, often slightly peppery in youth, turns to grilled almonds and cinnamon,” reveals Serena Sutclffe MW in her authoritative The Wines of Burgundy.

Mozart’s flute quartet in D major will be played to accompany it whilst a selection of experimental soundtracks associated with bubbles will partner Prosecco Rosé Extra Dry 2024 made from the Glera grape by Vinicola Enoitalio Bardolino.  It secured its sparkle through the Charmat method, invented by Eugene Charmat in 1907.

For a contrasting sparkler, magnums of Taittinger, Comtes de Champagne Rosé Brut 2006 will be served to the music of Ravel (string quartet in F major) and Tchaikovsky (string quartet no 1 in D).  Tracing its origins back to 1743, Reims-based Taittinger is one of the leading Champagne houses with major land holdings in top sites in both the Montagne de Reims and Côte des Blancs.  This wine was made from 60% Pinot Noir (all Grand Cru) and 40% Chardonnay; it had no wood influence.  Its subtle salmon-coloured rosé shows real elegance.

Music by the Canadian-American cellist and composer Zoe Keating (Frozen Angels) and the French composer Claude Debussy (Syrinx) will accompany one of Italy’s finest reds: Ornellaia 2005, estate bottled – one of the acclaimed “super Tuscans”.  Located at Bolgheri, it was created by Lodovico Antinori in 1981, following the success of Sassicaia.  He planted Bordeaux varieties with the first commercial harvest in 1985. It was later acquired by Frescobaldi.

This is “a flagship of Italian premium production”, according to Michèle Shah in her Wines of Italy.  It is a full-bodied, seductive blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, which is aged 18 months in barrique.  Shah says the result is “blackberries, liquorice with Mediterranean warmth (and) depth.."

Brian Eno (Discreet Music) and Modest Mussorgsky, an innovator of Russian music in the Romanic period (Night on Bald Mountain), are Janice’s choices to accompany Emilio Moro’s Ribera del Duero 2006 from Pesquero del Duero near Valladolid.  This is arguably Spain’s leading wine region with a Continental climate and slight Atlantic influences.  The significant difference between day and night temperatures contributes to the slow ripening of the grapes, enabling excellent acidity to be achieved.  Expect good structure, power and intensity which combine with wonderful tannic dark fruits.

Ribera del Duero is mostly sandy limestone or clay.  The wine is 100% Tinta Fino, the local name for Tempranillo, which is aged one year in French and US barriques.  Emilio Moro is a family-owned bodega founded in 1989 with 35ha.  Along with Pingus and Vega Sicilia, it is regarded as one of the three top producers in the region.

Château d'Yquem

The finest Sauternes, Château d’Yquem, concludes the tasting with the stunning 2003 vintage.  The property was acquired by the Lur Saluces family in 1785.  Two years later Thomas Jefferson (then ambassador to France and later third US President) ordered the wine.  Its lusciously sweet, golden style is achieved from Sémillon and Sauvignon grapes which have shrivelled on the vine.  Each grape is hand-picked with an average five complete harvest gatherings.

The château dates from the 15^th century.  Whilst most Sauternes obtains 25hl/ha, the maximum yield is just 9hl/ha for d’Yquem!  The juice is triple pressed and barrel-matured for three years in new oak barrels.  In the famous 1855 Bordeaux classification, d’Yquem had the highest grading of Premier Cru Supérieur, above the first growths, making it the most elevated wine of all – even above Lafite and Latour.

The music to accompany this honeyed wine, one of the most complex and longest lived in the world, will be revealed on the night!

Our venue is the Swedish Hall at 6 Harcourt Street W1H 4AG, a road named after John Simon Harcourt, the local landowner and MP for Westbury in 1800-1802.  Built in 1911, the Swedish Church and Hall were designed by Herbert Wigglesworth and Axel Haig.

Doors open at 6.30pm; please do NOT arrive earlier (as the Committee needs time to set up).  If you arrive before, there are bars / coffee shops in the vicinity.  The tasting ends at 8.30pm

Dress code:  Jacket and tie for men - please advise your guests.

Seating:  Seating is available for all attendees.

For admission, please first check availability (info below) - please do not contact the Membership Secretary for avaiability.  Once confirmed and paid, either print off the numbered ticket or have it available on a mobile telephone.

EVENT SUMMARY

Date:      Tuesday 17^th February 2026

Time:      6:30pm

Venue:    Swedish Hall,  6 Harcourt St,  London,  W1H 4AG

Dress:   Jacket and tie for men

TASTING COSTS

Tasting Application

HOW TO BOOK

Essential first step: Please check availability by either

• Via the on-line form above  (preferred method)

​           or

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

Please do not reply to the Membership Secretary or pay until confirmation of a place is received.

Second stage: Once confirmation has been received, please pay online to The Red Herring Wine Club at Barclays Bank plc:

The payment reference to use is:

Enquiries can be made by telephone on 020 8947 5082 or by e-mail to tastings@redherringwineclub.co.uk  (NB: NOT please to membership@redherringwineclub.co.uk)

Your booking is secure once payment has been received at which point your numbered ticket will be issued as confirmation.

Unfortunately the Club is only able to reimburse if advised at least seven days before an event.  If you are likely to be late, please ring or text 07754 108662.

Tastings take place approximately monthly and can usually be booked the day after a tasting has taken place.  Payments outside this schedule are discouraged and do not guarantee a place.

Please remember to notify any home or email address changes by emailing details to membership@redherringwineclub.co.uk.

Diary Dates: