Events

We will be holding the Branch AGM and post-AGM Dinner at the Doubletree (formerly the Hesperia) again this year.  All members are entitled to attend the AGM and we hope that you will take this opportunity to find out more about how the Branch is run and to help us make plans for the future. A welcoming glass of something fizzy will greet you on arrival!

As always, we are looking for more members to help run the Branch. We are anticipating some wide-ranging changes in the way things are organised in 2014, so whether you feel able to organise an event (with help from Committee Members if you wish) or help with Branch administration or publicity (including Social Media), we'd love to hear from you.  For more details please email Stephanie Shepherd as soon as possible, preferably before 5th September. 

Post-AGM Dinner: is a perfect social opportunity for new members to come along and introduce themselves, and meet the Committee and other members. We have received many favourable comments on this location in previous years. Its proximity to Victoria Station makes it very convenient for most of us. The food is very good and the dinner has proved to be a great social occasion, enjoyed by all.

We expect to eat in the ground floor restaurant, but may be moved to a private room if we have a very large party and the restaurant is very busy. Rest assured that all will be clear on the night. The dinner will be a 3-course seasonal menu with house wine and coffee. There will not be a choice of menu, but special dietary requirements can be accommodated. Please let  Stephanie know not later than 21st September if there is anything that you cannot eat.

You would be very welcome to join us just for the AGM, but we very much hope that you will also come to the dinner and help us turn this very necessary formal occasion into an enjoyable social evening.

So that we are aware of numbers for the AGM, please indicate on the Booking Form whether you will be attending, even if you are not booking for the social event afterwards.  We look forward to welcoming  members old and new to both the AGM and the Dinner afterwards. 

Notice is hereby given that the thirty-first Annual General Meeting of the London Branch of the International Wine and Food Society shall be held at The Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, 2 Bridge Place, Victoria, SW1V 1QA at 6.45 for 7.00pm for the following business:

1.         Apologies for Absence

2.         Minutes of the Last Meeting

3.         Matters Arising

4.         Chairman’s Report

5.         To receive and consider the audited accounts for the period 1st July 2012 to 30th June 2013.

6.         To elect Branch Officers and Committee Members*

7.         Membership Matters

8.         Open Discussion and Any Other Business

Copies of the relevant papers will be available before the Meeting.

*           In accordance with Para. 5.1 of The Branch Constitution, all nominations for the Committee must be submitted in writing to The Meeting Secretary** at least thirty days in advance of the Meeting. The candidate should be nominated by two London Branch members and must signify in writing her/his willingness to stand.

**         Please send any nominations or items for discussion to Stephanie Shepherd

In our October-December Programme of Events for 1980 where we celebrated our 47^th Anniversary with a Grand Dinner, there was a Special Note:

 “80 years ago on 17^th October 1900, a young man named André Simon married a young lady named Edith”.

 By a strange quirk of fate we have chosen our founder’s wedding day 113 years ago to hold this very special event to celebrate the 80th birthday of the IWFS – and particularly that of The London Branch where it started back in 1933. We think André would have approved of us using his wedding photo for publicising this extra-special event! 

We have called this very special wine tasting event The Ultimate Tasting and you will understand why when you see the fabulous line-up of wines we have, including a pre-phylloxeraMadeira.

 The wines tonight have been chosen by our Chairman, Jeffrey Benson, and come from his own cellar. To enable this tasting to take place without requiring you to take out a 2^ndmortgage, Jeffrey has magnanimously supplied these wines at a very advantageous historic cost. The wines are as follows:

In our October-December Programme of Events for 1980 where we celebrated our 47^th Anniversary with a Grand Dinner, there was a Special Note:

 “80 years ago on 17^th October 1900, a young man named André Simon married a young lady named Edith”.

 By a strange quirk of fate we have chosen our founder’s wedding day 113 years ago to hold this very special event to celebrate the 80th birthday of the IWFS – and particularly that of The London Branch where it started back in 1933. We think André would have approved of us using his wedding photo for publicising this extra-special event!

We have called this very special wine tasting event The Ultimate Tasting and you will understand why when you see the fabulous line-up of wines we have, including a pre-phylloxeraMadeira.

The wines tonight have been chosen by our Chairman, Jeffrey Benson, and come from his own cellar. To enable this tasting to take place without requiring you to take out a 2^nd mortgage, Jeffrey has magnanimously supplied these wines at a very advantageous historic cost. The wines are as follows:

White Burgundy
1982 Le Montrachet Grand Cru, Bouchard Père
 Red Bordeaux
1961 Château Lynch-Moussas, 5ème cru Pauillac, Berry Bros

Red Burgundy
1959 Gevrey-Chambertin, Doudet-Naudin
1959 Chambertin Grand Cru, Galand-Londot
1949 Nuits-Saint-Georges, Patriarch Père et Fils

Rhône
1947 Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Coron Père et Fils

Germany
1976 Armsheimer Adelberg Trockenbeerenauslese
 

White Bordeaux
1943 Château Caillou ‘Tête de Cuvée’ 2ème Sauternes

Madeira
1795 Terrantez Madeira

The tasting will be accompanied by a selection of cold meats, cheese, salad and French bread. Please advise Jeffrey if there is anything you are unable to eat.

In fairness to members, the event will be limited to Members/Joint Members. If any places remain after allocations, guests will be accommodated

And now for something completely different.

          Your organiser recently had a delicious lunch cooked by Cyrus Todiwala OBE of TV fame. We have now been invited to join him and fellow enthusiasts at one of his Friday night Khaadraas Club Dinners.

Convivial and informal, Parsees and non-Parsees alike have enjoyed the very best of Parsee Heritage cuisine made from recipes handed down to Cyrus and his brother Pervin by their mother, grandmothers and aunts in Bombay and Poona. This is a monthly occasion and each time Cyrus cooks different dishes.  He is a true artiste and you will not be disappointed as he was the winner of the 2013 Asian Business Awards Best Asian Restaurant of the Year. Do look at his excellent website http://cafespice.co.uk.

We will enjoy a 3-course set menu featuring sophisticated and fragrant dishes prepared only the way a true Parsee can. It’s a ‘club’ in name only — the only criteria for joining is a good appetite!

On arrival you will be greeted with a glass of Rosé Prosecco before the meal. Given that some people prefer to drink lager and others prefer wine, no wine has been included with the dinner.  Wine is available by the glass from £6.50, a bottle of wine is from £22.50 and of course there will be beer and soft drinks. It will be up to you what you choose to drink and you will settle your own account after the dinner.

If you have any dietary requirements please notify Beverley direct in advance.

                        Chardonnay – love it or hate it!  The yuppy ladies’ ‘vino collapso’ in wine bars gave the grape variety a really bad name in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s but Chardonnay is nonetheless the grape of the finest, most superb and sublime white Burgundies.

 However there ARE other white grape varieties that produce excellent wines. These include such unusual varieties as assyrtico, obaideh, merwah, bacchus and reichensteiner. Tonight the organiser has set out to bring you some of the most interesting and the best of their class - we have the greatest wine made from the Viognier grape - Château Grillet - in a very elegant vintage for the wine and difficult to obtain now, a very rare aged Pinot Gris by Trimbach, a stunning Château Riussec Sauternes and the rare dry white wine of Château d’Yquem.

Most of our wines are unashamedly French but some others have crept in – the Wickham wine is also the house wine of the House of Commons and the organiser selected it for a British Embassy dinner in Estoniain 2010 at which it showed very well indeed.  Hatzidakis Santorini is one of the best Greek white wines and Chateau Musar white needs no introduction.  Tierhoek is a superb and unusual sweet wine made from chenin blanc grapes dried in the sun on straw mats.

Our very interesting selection of 10 wines tonight is as follows: 

2011 Wickham Special Release Fumé

2009 Santorini Assyrtico de Mylos Vieilles Vignes, Hatzidakis

 2004 La Terasse du Château, Nuits-Saint-Georges Blanc Lupé-Cholet

2004 Y Grec de Château d’Yquem

2004 Château Grillet

1998 Chateau Musar White - or possibly earlier

1996 Pinot Gris Hommage à Georgette Trimbach, Alsace

2006 Tierhoek Straw Wine, South Africa

1989 Château Rieussec

Our 10^th wine is the brand new white wine from Château Haut-Brion – 2007 Clarendelle Blanc.

Prince Robert of Luxembourg(Clarence Dillon’s great-grandson) who now runs Château Haut-Brion, launched this wine in March 2013. His aim was to produce an excellent and affordable wine from this great estate that is ready to drink now. The organiser has especially included this wine tonight so be one of the first to try it here.

If you love good white wines you’ll LOVE these. And not a Chardonnay in sight!!!

Due to the diversity of these wines and the difficulty in finding an appropriate match of food, no food will accompany the tasting.