2025 past events

Meeting 476 Friday 21 February 2025
AGM followed by Richard and Eka Cox: Wines of Georgia

Meeting 475 Sunday 19th January

Neville Hall Lunch by Mark Robertson, wines from the Branch cellar

Last year’s January Sunday lunch was so successful that all who were there insisted that it become an annual event. This year it was better than ever. Mark produced an outstanding menu, greatly enjoyed by all.
We started with fig stuffed with goat’s cheese and wrapped in Parma ham, with walnuts, lamb’s lettuce and sprinkles of honey and balsamic vinegar. The main course was venison suet pudding, with parsnip purée, tenderstem broccoli and braised red cabbage. Dessert was lemon curd & passion fruit meringue roulade. After this a variety of cheeses were available, and tea or coffee.There were 32 diners, and all agreed that it had been a very special occasion, with perhaps Mark’s best food yet.

The food was matched with wines of the highest quality. Holding our lunch at Neville Hall enabled us to bring out wines from the Branch cellar, and those we drank are listed below. We did not have a sparkling wine in the cellar, so the aperitif was purchased  from The Wine Society.All the wines were well liked, but most agreed that the Wilson Gunn was an absolute star, with great depth of fruit, lovely balance and great length. I had decanted the 2005 wines the day before, and there had been a lot of tannic sediment. Ageing had certainly removed any hint of bitterness in the remaining tannins.