The Club's diary of forthcoming events is here.

Forthcoming events are listed below.  For earlier events, please see the historic events page.

Saturday 20th April 2024 - .A Magical Mystery Tour of France with Guy Boursot 

Guy Boursot, who has presented to the club twice previously, lives among the vineyards of Beaune in France.  His family has been involved with wine continuously since the mid 16th century and Guy is the 14th generation in the wine business.  He is a long-standing member of the UK’s Circle of Wine Writers.  Despite his name (!), he was born and brought up in the UK.

Guy worked for Berry Bros & Rudd for 17 years before starting his own business and in 2001 he moved to France where he started the first of the proper wine shops for those Brits who wanted to buy decent wines at the very low French prices, thanks to there being almost no duty on wine. 

Boursot’s Wine Collection is situated in the centre of the historic town of Ardres, 15 minutes south of Calais.  Customers can get sensible advice on wines and of course can try them prior to purchase. Savings are a minimum of £4 a bottle, sometimes rising to as much as £13 a bottle. 

The tasting will look at various contrasting viticultural areas of France and Guy will explain what makes them different and why some of the wines taste as they do.  He will also tell us about the latest goings-on in the wine world.

Saturday 18th May 2024 - Wines for Summer with Jamie Ellis of Hedley Wright.

"Together, we (Paul & Jamie) have a combined experience in the wine industry of little over half a century. Using those years of experience & high level of expertise, we taste our way through 5000+ wines a year so you don't have to - as glamourous as it sounds, there's a lot more chaff than there is wheat!

This means that every single one of our wines is something that we can put our hand on our heart over.

After all, if we don't want a second glass, neither will you!

By the event in May, here at Hedley Wright we'd have made our way through a collection of wines somewhere between the figures of 1,500 - 2,500 in a bid to find the best wines in not only quality, but also price too.

We're very excited to showcase a selection of wines that we feel will turn the summer from a season to enjoy, to the reason for a celebration."

Jamie

Saturday 15th June 2024 - Wine of Uruguay with Carla Bertellotti

Uruguay born Carla Bertellotti has trail blazed the imports of her home country wine in the UK for nearly 15 years. She will guide us through the traditional varieties as well as the current trends emerging from an ever evolving and exciting wine industry. Discover how distinctive Uruguayan wines are, and how different from the ones produced by the better known neighbours.  

Saturday 14th September 2024 - Wines of South Africa - Preet Sahota of Edgmond Wines

After finishing university and doing his dissertation on winemaker strategies, Preet decided to take on the daunting challenge of running his own independent wine company. Through the help of great winemakers who are now also great friends, Preet has been privileged to bring in exclusive allocations of small production wines. 

For this event, Preet will be presenting some of the most highly sought after wines from South Africa.  These include wines made from unique varieties, old vines and single vineyards.

Tuesday 17th September - Sunday 22nd September 2024 - Premium Jerez Wine Tour

VWTC has run at least one wine tour every year since 2012, (except during the COVD years). Our next wine tour is a Premium Wine Tour to Jerez The trip comprises 5 nights (6 days) based at the Tio Pepe Hotel in Jerez. On one of the days we will be visiting Bodegas Barbadillo and Bodegas La Gitana in Sanlucar de Barameda. On the other days, we will walk to Bodegas and restaurants etc in Jerez which are all within a mile of Hotel Tio Pepe. The final itinerary is still being put together but the Bodegas in Jerez are likely to include, Lustau, Gonzallez Byass (Tio Pepe), Fundador and Faustino Gonzalez. Ralph & Phil

Saturday 19th October 2024 - Wines of Argentina with Mark Bradbury of Ruta40

We welcome the return of Mark for another excellent selection of Argentine Wines, but this time it is going to be an Argentinian wine ‘taste off’ where we pit wines against each other for you to rate and judge.

"There will be at least four rounds of two wines each, one will be the Battle Of Torrontes; and in another you will have two mighty Malbecs going head-to-head; plus two more rounds where you'll need to decide the winner. It will be a challenge but it will be fun."

Mark

Saturday 16th November 2024 - Will Hargrove of Corney and Barrow – Riesling – the great chameleon?

Will Hargrove is Head of Fine Wine at Corney & Barrow having been with the company for 25 years, he has a particular passion for the wines of Italy and the whites of Germany. He owns more Riesling himself than any other white grape variety.  This tasting will be a chance to explore the diversity of styles and personalities of this very noble variety.   

Corney & Barrow - In 1780, Edward Bland Corney opened his shop on London’s Old Broad Street, offering a small selection of port, sherry and Bordeaux. The business flourished, and in 1838, his son, Thomas introduced his cousin Robert Barrow to the trade. The Corney & Barrow name was born. Today, our offices have grown to the north of England, Scotland, Hong Kong, Singapore & Shanghai, and have expanded into every sector of the market. We became the first traditional wine merchant to establish a wine broking operation and our merchant business is growing every day. Still privately owned, 75% of our portfolio is exclusive to us – a testament to the dedication of our relationships. Our range has grown to include the highest quality wines, from everyday drinking to the heights of Petrus and Domaine de la Romanée-Conti.

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Saturday 14th December 2024 - French Wines from "Bordeaux and Beyond" with Tony Hill of Bordeaux and Beyond

We welcome the return of Tony Hill, owner of Bordeaux and Beyond, for our end of year celebration. Tony will take us to "Bordeaux and Beyond" with half of the wines from Bordeaux and the half from the rest of France including champagne ( plus another of their famous champagne quizzes), covering many different Appellations, some famous and some not so famous. Tony will give the story behind the wines from small independent vignerons in France, not usually available elsewhere.

Bordeaux and Beyond is a web based business and is now in its 17th year of trading, but continues to sell only wines that Bordeaux and Beyond imports, and more importantly, wines that they are happy to drink themselves . 

This could also be the occasion to launch the next VWTC wine tour - Bordeaux 2025 - start date of Saturday 14th June 2025 tbc.

Saturday 18th January 2025 - Don Porter Battered Trophy - Blind Tasting Competition

Details to follow.