Dear SPWC Members
A belated Happy Easter to you all from everyone on the committee. I hope you had a peaceful and healthy Easter break and indulged yourselves with heaps of chocolate, washed down with copious amounts of lovely wine. Isn’t it great to have the lighter evenings back with us? All we need now is for some proper, decent spring-like weather to lift the spirits further, instead of all this tedious wet stuff.
Last Month’s Meeting
Marein Overbeeke, from Laithwaites, certainly gave us some food for thought in last month’s presentation in which he described what Laithwaites are doing to try to reduce their carbon footprint and produce “greener” wines. The wines that Marein brought with him were, as usual, most enjoyable and provided an excellent evening for another very good turnout.
This Month’s Meeting
I was going to inform members of a first appearance from Maltby and Greek this month. They are leading importers to the UK of Greek wines and produce, but, unfortunately, they have let us down only this week. Instead, we are lucky to have a presentation from Tracy and Kevin who have kindly stepped in, very much at the last minute, to save the day. We are extremely grateful to them for agreeing to fill the breach. No doubt we will be in for a very enjoyable evening.
Wine of the Month – Alaina Rose, Languedoc, France, 12.5% ABV.
Wine of the Month – Alaina Rose, Languedoc, France, 12.5% ABV.
This month’s chosen wine is a deliciously fruity rose from Laurent Miquel based in the Languedoc region of southern France. The vineyards and estates at Laurent Miquel are family owned and run and this particular wine is named after the owner’s young daughter, Alaina. A blend of syrah, grenache and cinsault, this rose has a crisp acidity with a lively, lemony grapefruit finish. An elegant wine, it can be paired with most kinds of food or just enjoyed on its own. It’s available from Waitrose at £12.99 per bottle or, if you buy six, you can save 25%.
Paper Wine Bottles
Following on from Marein’s presentation about “greener” wines, Kevin found an article describing how Aldi is to be the first supermarket in the country to sell wine in paper bottles. The budget supermarket chain introduced Cambalala South African Shiraz and Cambalala South African Sauvignon Blanc across its stores from March 18 to coincide with global recycling day. According to Aldi, by replacing glass bottles with paper, the firm has generated a carbon footprint reduction that is the “equivalent to driving around the planet 5.8 times”.
Restaurant of The Month – Etna Italian, 60 High Street, Bromley BR1 1EG
The premises at 60 High Street, Bromley have long been home to Italian restaurants. The latest incarnation is Etna which prides itself on delicious fresh pasta, through to traditional pizzas, or scrumptious seafood and meat dishes, all homemade on site. Etna uses only the freshest, best quality ingredients and source them as locally as possible. Where they can’t find the right ingredient locally, they bring over a select few staple ingredients from Italy. They have a substantial list of fresh pasta dishes, pizzas as well as meat and fish available, all at very reasonable prices. The vast majority of wines available are, not surprisingly, Italian with house white or red costing £24.95. The service is first class with friendly, helpful staff making for a most enjoyable experience.
Social Calendar
We now have several dates for your diaries. Firstly, the trip to Chartwell which had to be postponed from last autumn has now been re-arranged for Saturday, May 4th (Star Wars Day) so if you are intending to come, please let Mike know at our meeting next week.
As mentioned previously, the trip to Lingfield Races will take place on Saturday, June 1st. It’s an early evening card followed by some live soul music so should be good fun. We intend travelling by train from East Croydon. So far, 11 people are signed up for this – if we get a few more then we can get a discount on entry tickets by booking as a group. So, if you intend to join us, please let Heather know or add your name to the list which will be available by the notice board at our next meeting.
Our annual walk will take place on Saturday, July 20th and will feature a stroll along the Regent’s Canal from Camden Lock to Paddington Basin. The walk is around four miles and is on level paths. Should members decide that four miles is too much, then you can do a shorter walk from Little Venice to Paddington Basin, which is just over a mile. We will be stopping for refreshments along the way and then in time honoured fashion we will end our walk with a few glasses and a meal at a venue yet to be decided in the Paddington Basin area. Committee members are currently researching and sampling possible locations for this. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it! More info soon.
Finally, our garden party will be on Sunday, August 4th and this year our hosts will once again be Sue and Dennis Gigney so a big thank you to them for opening up their lovely garden for us all to enjoy.
I look forward to seeing you next week on Thursday 11th.