The Wine Society - Buyer's Favourites

We've been members of The wine Society for just over a year, during which time we've visited the shop at Montreuil in France but not managed to take part in a UK event. That changed last night when Hubby and I took the train to Leicester for a wine tasting evening based on The Wine Society's Buyers' Favourites.

The venue, The Ballroom, City Rooms, was in the older part of the city centre. A lovely, if a little tired, building with huge chandeliers in the foyer and a double aspect stairway leading into The Ballroom.

City Rooms, Leicester

Emma Briffett and Joe Granger, members of the Events Team greeted us at the door, explaining the layout of the room along with a booklet detailing all the wines. The venue was a large spacious room with four tables for the wine along the longest walls and a cheese and biscuits table at each end of the room; it was very easy to move around and sample the various wines.

Tasting booklet 

Wine selectors - The Buying Team

The Buyers were asked to chose their favourite wine in four categories: Alfresco, Party Faithful, Food & Wine and New Discoveries. From their choices 20 wines were selected for this tasting.

We began with the two sparkling wines on offer: Cava Conde de Haro Brut 2012 and Crémant de Limoux Cuvée Saint-Laurent Antech 2013. Both fine examples of sparkling wine made in the traditional method, the first having larger bubbles.

The nose of the Cava reminded me of my Dad bringing in a large red glass bowl of gooseberries picked from the garden, it's amazing how wine can evoke such memories.

Of the two sparkling wines I preferred the Cremant with it's fine bubbles and delicate fresh flavour.

We decided to try the white wines first, something we cannot always do at other tastings as the rooms are often busier and it's harder to move around. The Wine Society had perfectly spaced the wines so all were accessible and so our first white was Tabali Reserva Especial Espinal Limari Chardonnay 2015 followed by The Society's Vin d'Alsace 2014.

The Vin d'Alsace had a mainly riesling taste with a hint of gewurztraminer. As Mark (buyer) suggested it would make a 'refreshing aperitif'.


Changing tables our next white was The Society's Vinho Verde 2015, a lovely refreshing wine with a light fizz. I would happily serve this instead of a sparkling wine as a pre-dinner drink when friends come round.

Wine number 8 was Stoneburn Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015, bringing a smile already as sauvignon blanc is my favourite grape.

Although from New Zealand it was a light wine with a good nose and a mid finish. It was chosen by Sarah Knowles and I really liked its crisp citrus flavours.

Picpoul de Pinet has been a favourite of mine for a few years, where previously it was a wine to bring home from our holidays in southern France it is now becoming popular and easily available here in the UK. It is the best wine with shellfish, I have yet to find a better match and the Domaine Félines-Jourdan 2015 on offer was no exception.



Moving tables again and to the other side of the room our next white was a bit of a surprise. Brauneberger Juffer Sonnenuhr Riesling Spatlese, von Kesselstratt 2008. A riesling from the Mosel I was very surprised how sweet it was, full of apricots but very sugary, not at all to my expectation.

The Society's Gruner Veltliner 2015 was our penultimate white, an Austrian white with a white pepper nose ans a dry crisp long finish. I seem to be on the same taste level as Sarah as it was another one of her choices and one of my favourites from the evening.


Our final white was from Gloucestershire's Three Choirs vineyard, Payford Bridge 2014. Another crisp white with a dry finish - it was nice to see English wine being included.

That was our first tour round the room so time for a pause, cheese and biscuits, glass of water and a little comparing of notes. Hubby and I have similar but not exactly the same tastes and it's always interesting to see what each of us discovered.

Time for the reds, this time we worked back down the tables so started with wine number 20, Ventoux, Martinelle 2013. My overall favourite, so rich and fruity with a hint of spice and conjured up instant memories of holidaying in France. I did go back at the end of the evening for another tasting, just to check!

Moldova is not a wine country we know very much about but have seen more wines starting to appear in the UK. This red was plentiful in dark cherries and for me had a slight liquorice flavour. not the sweet type but root liquorice. I quite liked Individo Feteasca Chateau Vartely 2014.



Chile was the source of our next red, Koyle Cerro Basalto Alto Colchague 2013. The most expensive wine at the tasting and one of the most popular. A great blend of mourvedre, grenache, syrah and carignan with a musky nose, dark fruit and a lengthy finish.


Pinot Noir is not a grape I am drawn to but the Pedroncelli Russian River Valley Pinot Noir 2014 was a light example with red currant flavours and as suggested would go very well with pizza although it was 14%


We recently tried and enjoyed Sicilian wine for the first time, another opportunity with The Society's Sicilian Reserve Red 2012 being the next red for us to taste. This was slightly tannic with a kick of peppery spice amongst the dark fruits.

Back to France for another of my evening's favourites, Corbieres Rouge, Domaine du Trillol 2011. From the southern region of Languedoc this red was full of cherries and plums and  instantly transported me back to many sunny holidays.It was a lovely full bodied red at 14.5% which would be amazing served with a juicy steak dinner.


Our final two reds were from opposite sides of the globe; Te Mata Estate Hawke's Bay Syrah 2013 from New Zealand and The Society's Beaujolais-Villages 2014 from France. Opposite tastes too with the Te Mata being full of sour cherries, blackberries and a spicy finish, and the Beaujolais being lighter with dry red fruits. Both good examples of their given varieties but given the choice I would chose the Syrah.



Our first Wine Society wine tasting evening came to an end all too son, having had a great time tasting and comparing wines as well as chatting to Emma, Joe and Robin McMillan (CEO).

Thank you to everyone involved for an educational, enjoyable wine journey.

Near, a little further and a glass of wine

Favourite pubs/restaurants come and go, change hands, become familiar, lose their specialness, and so new pubs/restaurants are found and enjoyed - the cycle of many patrons, us included.

This is the case for us with Miller's - a country pub/restaurant/hotel just 6 miles away in Sibson that we have visited many times in the past but sporadically - meals before having the children with parents and grandparents, special occasion meals, treats with the children, tribute nights with work colleagues, always a good time. However in recent years we just haven't been ....

.... until a few weeks ago when I discovered them on Twitter (and again since which shows in itself how impressed we were). I booked online through Twitter DM and our table was ready, reserved in style rather than a plastic triangular notice.

Reserved in style

The bar area has been decorated and feels so relaxed. The fireplace, with it's logs, leather armchairs and barrel tables add to the pubs ambiance with the gentle sound of the waterwheel turning actually in the pub adding to the atmosphere.

Fantastic fireplace

Turning waterwheel inside the bar 

Miller's has a variety of menu's including their 'value menu' with prices starting from £4.99 and their 'Golden Years' menu for over 60s; 2 courses for £5.99

Over our two visits we've enjoyed a sharing platter, fish and chips, lamb shank, sizzling fajitas, and salad nicoise - all delicious, nicely cooked and served in good time. We'll certainly be visiting again.

Our 'little further' visit was to Melton Mowbray, no reason other than a Saturday drive and a place we had not visited before. Just under an hour away it was a mixed journey starting with motorway driving and ending with a country A road over rolling hills.

As it was lunch time when we arrived we decided to pop into Mrs B's Deli - to be honest it looked almost closed from the outside as the windows were low and the interior appeared dark. All became apparent upon entering as you go down a few steps so the shop/cafe is lower than the road. Such a lovely shop filled with homemade deli specialties including a variety of scotch eggs. There's a small cafe at the rear but we decided to eat at the table in the deli area so we could look around at the many delights.

A lovely array of homemade goodies

Coffee time  

Our lunch platter with stilton cheese and pork pie

 Lunch was really good, we both chose a mixed platter so we had stilton cheese and pork pie, both delicious. The variety of scotch eggs was amazing and we decided to bring home a Stilton one, they are huge so one is plenty. I also spotted my absolute favourite crisps - Brown Bag Crisps - so they had to come home too !

Stilton Scotch Egg

My favourite !

 After lunch we had a stroll round the small town that's full of history. The Corn Cross in the middle of the town is where farmers used to lay out their corn samples on market day. It was market day when we visited but I didn't see any corn samples - lots of pie stalls though

The Corn Cross

Just across the way is Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, a lovely black and white building standing along the row of shops in Nottingham Street, next to The Corn Exchange. Inside there's quite a lot of information about the origin of the pork pie and how it's made. The shop was built in the early 1600s and pork pies have been made here since 1851.

Melton Mowbray is famous for its pork pies

'how they are made' display inside the shop

Our stroll took us down Burton Street along the rear of St Mary's Church. On the left was a beautiful old building named Bede Houses and was actually almshouses founded in 1641, and on the right a building that is now a pub but in the 1300s was a Chantry Priests' House. The house was given by Henry VIII to Thomas Cromwell (Lord Chancellor of England) until his fall from favour when it was given to Anne of Cleves as part of her divorce settlement.

Bede Houses

Founded in 1641

Anne of Cleves house

History of the building

Thomas Cromwell fell out of favour with Henry VIII

Beautiful plaque on the building wall  

St Mary's Church was in a very old lane with small cottages opposite, picture postcard setting, very quaint. There has been a church on this site for centuries, some of the oldest stonework dates to 1100. It's a Norman church with beautiful stained glass windows.

St Mary's altar

The window above the altar

Intricate patterning 

We had a really lovely day in Melton Mowbray, sometimes impromptu visits are the best. Of course we could not come home without bringing the traditional pie - delicious it was too !

Melton Mowbray Pork Pie 

And so to the third element of my blog title ... wine! This actually relates back to my previous post Cuvée Reserves Wine Weekend and my mystery bottle, Gran Montana Malbec from Dave.

Gran Montana Malbec decanted 

I decanted the wine about an hour before drinking. The colour was an inviting rich red with flashes of scarlet as it flowed into the decanter. Once poured the nose was full of dark fruit with a background hint of spice. A lightly oaked palate revealed more fruit with the hint lingering on the finish.

Malbec is one of my favourite wines being fruity with spice but without heavy tannins and this was a Malbec I really enjoyed, thank you Dave.

Cocktail time

Last year I was chosen by Aldi to be on their Taste Panel to review their wines; it was a real privilege to be asked to review Chardonnay Pays d'Oc, Prosecco Superiore and two lovely Pinot Noirs.

Chardonay IGP Languedoc

Prosecco Spumante Superiore

Estevez Chilean Pinot Noir
Exquisite New Zealand Pinot Noir

I have applied again to be on Aldi's Taste Panel but in the meantime they asked me to make and review some of their Cocktails. Our son works in the bar trade and cocktails are his speciality so I was very keen to make and try some.

A very large box arrived and to my surprised contained three bottles of spirits; whisky, gin and amaretto.

Oliver Cromwell London Gin
Highland Black Scotch Whisky 
Bellucci Amaretto

Aldi have a lovely range of cocktail recipes - have a look here for some great ideas.

I had a look through and chose three cocktails - one for each spirit.  Although a had a few of the ingredients in our cupboards I had a quick trip to Aldi to buy the fresh ingredients, replacing peaches with nectarines.

The few ingredients I needed to buy 

My cocktail equipment

And so the fun begins (apologies for the yellow photos, electric light is not camera friendly) - the first cocktail I decided to try was The Bellucci Job as this did not need as much preparation as the others. The only change I made was to use a branded vodka as we already had one. I didn't check the freezer and could have done with a little more ice - I made sure it was well stocked for my other two cocktails.

The Bellucci Job ingredients

Muddling the strawberries and sugar

Shake shake shake 

A really easy drink to make, lovely with the sweet strawberries and sharpness from the cranberry. I think this will be a popular summer patio drink in our house. 

Delicious Bellucci Job 

The other two cocktails needed a little pre-preparation; blackberries in sugar syrup and puree nectarines (peaches). I made both of these ready to use the following day for my next two cocktails Grilled Peach Julep and Blackberry Smash 

I'm not a whisky fan but I do like peach which is why I chose the Grilled Peach Julep - and I'm very glad I did. It was delicious with  background kick from the whisky, the fruitiness from the nectarines and the added touch of mint made this a really delicious drink. I did strain it into the glass as I'm not keen on fruit bits. 

Grilled Peach Julep ingredients

Muddling the Highland Black Whisky and mint

Sophisticated Peach Julep with heart ice cubes  

The final cocktail was my favourite and one that I will be making again, and again, and again. It was easy to make the blackberry sugar syrup; it made quite a large quantity so it's in the fridge and will probably be used tonight  to make another Blackberry Smash (I don't think it would keep for more than a few days)

Blackberry Smash ingredients

The fruitiness and sugary syrup were delicious with the citrus kick from the lemon and the subtle mint. Gin was a great spirit to use in this cocktail with it's sharp kick and crispness. 

My favourite cocktail - Blackberry Smash 

Aldi have 15 cocktail recipes which all look easy to make, great for the summer. Thank you Aldi for asking me to try such lovely cocktails - I'll definitely be trying the Cramaretto Pine Sour, Gin Lime & Cucumber Sour, and Mac Daddy - roll on summer.

Cuvée Reserve's Wine Weekend

Cuvée Reserve is the wine forum I host where members share wine discoveries, ideas and tasting notes. Next month sees CR's second anniversary as I started the forum just after meeting with fellow Tesco Wine Community members for the first time in April 2014 (you can read about our antics on this previous post).

For a while the forum ran alongside TWC with members posting on both forums but after Tesco closed its community site Cuvée Reserve became the wine chat home for many.

Cuvée Reserve's Monthly tastings

Every month one of our members chooses a wine under £10 for us all to buy and review; although no-one posts their review until after the 20th to give everyone a chance of an unbiased tasting.


There are so many lovely wines, so many wine outlets and so many different tastes that Cuvée Reserve's collection of reviews is now quite intensive:

338 to date !

It seemed only logical to meet for a weekend to share some of our favourite wines in person; a few members had met before at various events but for some it was the first time - you'd never know as everyone chatted away like long standing friends.

Using the holiday site  Home and Away I booked a lovely house in Stratford-upon-avon for our meet up weekend. It was an ideal location as no-one had too far to travel and Stratford is a lovely town to visit. The house had plenty of bedrooms, all en-suite, kitchen, large lounge and great conservatory dining room with a table big enough to seat us all, perfect for our weekend plans.

Friday night we had a buffet, everyone brought something to add to the meal as well as a bottle of wine or two. We tasted a number of wines as we munched away - a few whites but the evening was predominantly Spanish riojas; not my favourite but such fun trying !!

Our Friday Night buffet with wine !!        (Steph's photo) 

Bubbly - the perfect way to start an evening

Lots of Spanish wine including a magnum of Carinena 

Picpoul Sauvignon and Morgon were two of my favourites

I've added a page to the top of my blog which lists the wines we tasted - thanks to Darren for compiling the list. Here's the link.

Homemade Elderflower

I really enjoyed the Club de Sommeliers Morgon which is 100% Gamay and the Chateau Hervé Laroque, both reds; whilst my favourite whites of the evening were the Symboise La Grande Olivette Picpoul Sauvignon and the Alvi's Drift Chenin Blanc.


I had made a chocolate Guinness cake and to accompany it I took along a bottle of my homemade Elderflower wine, its sweet and syrupiness was a perfect match to the chocolaty dessert.



Saturday dawned, not too early, breakfast followed by a stroll into the town centre. Our first stop was a visit to Holy Trinity Church, Shakespeare's burial place. Although Hubby and I have been to Stratford many times it was the first time we'd visited his grave.

Holy Trinity Church

William Shakespeare's Grave

A 'miss the puddles' walk along the River Avon past the RSC theatre brought us into the shopping area of the town. Lots of window shopping, coffee stop and a look at Shakespeare's Birthplace filled our morning before we popped along to Majestic - yes for wine!!

We were greeted with a lovely glass of bubbly and the tasting table had some lovely wines to try. It was good to browse the shop together to talk about all the wines saying which we'd tried and spotting good buys. You can buy single bottles at Majestic but there's a huge discount if you buy six or more so we all bought one or two to make up the six - as if we really needed more !

Saturday afternoon was chill and relax time before popping open a bottle of Louis Delauney champagne to start the evening off in style. I cooked dinner Saturday night as not knowing a town makes it difficult to ensure a good takeaway. I had prepared most of the food at home so really it was just the cooking to do.

Saturday night bubbly 

We enjoyed more white wine this evening; Karl Pfaffmann Weissburgunder, Karl Pfaffmann Riesling and Randersackerer Ewig Leben all brought over from Germany;   Luis Felipe Edwards Gran Reserva Chardonnay to go with our chicken and a lovely crisp Calvet Reserve Pinot Blanc.

Wine from Germany

A few of our whites ... 

.... and a few more 

The reds flowed too; decanted heavy reds Mayu Syrah Reserva and Ermita de San Lorenzo; Southern France Laurent Miguel L'Artisan Faugéres and my overall favourite red of the weekend Stobi Petit Verdot Barrique. 

Our Saturday night reds

Dessert for Saturday was a ginger biscuit pud - so easy so delicious - and a walnut lemon pavlova. Many of the white wines suited the puddings as although creamy neither were particularly sweet.

Good food and good wine enjoyed with great friends     (Darren's photo)

Before the weekend I asked everyone to buy a wine within the budget of £4.50 - £6.50. Each bottle needed a label on saying who from and where bought and was wrapped up like a gift so the bottle could not be identified. Using raffle tickets we all chose a bottle not knowing who each one was from.

It was like a mini Christmas as everyone opened their 'gift' which was taken home to be tried later and reviewed on Cuvée Reserve.

Hubby received a white Catarratto Terre Siciliane from Steve and my bottle was a Gran Montana Malbec from Dave.

Our mystery bottles unwrapped

The evening extended on into the early hours with music, cheese, biscuits, coffee, wine and laughter - an absolutely amazing evening.

CHEERS !!    (photo - Dave)

Sunday involved packing up, a quick clean round and the difficult game of 'quietly placing a significant number of empties in the recycling bin' !

Cuvée Reserve is a members only forum but membership is open to all - if you'd like to join please follow this link, you'll need a Yuku account first but it is free and please make sure you include an email address in your membership request.

It's an important rugby Saturday for me so it will be Guinness not wine, although there's always Sunday - maybe a good time to review my Malbec prize !

Thank you - what a super weekend - so lovely to spend time together. 

Cuvée Reserve tasting weekend will certainly not be a one off event - keep watching the calendar, I'm sure there have been thoughts of  'next time' wine already !!