Report of Meeting held on 1st October 2009
WINE TASTING: Visitors from Craster and Dunstan, women and men, joined members of our Institute this month for a very lively, informative and enjoyable evening of wine tasting with Lance Strother from Fowberry Moor Farm.
The meeting opened with the traditional singing of Jerusalem in which the visitors, male and female, joined enthusiastically – with a little practice we felt we might offer our services for the 2010 ‘Last Night of the Proms’!
Correspondence from County and National W.I. was discussed. This included a Dinner at Cragside and a Christmas Carol Service in Newcastle Cathedral. We also talked about arrangements for our Annual Meeting, a Pea and Pie Supper and the Cancer Coffee Morning on 14 November. We have received an invitation from three Alnmouth businesses for a special W. I. shopping evening on Thursday, November 19.
After Christmas we hope to arrange a First Aid Course to be run by St. John’s Ambulance together with some more outings for our members.
We should like to thank the Lindisfarne Group for a very enjoyable meeting last month in Beadnell. It was the first meeting we had attended as members of their Group. Trish Flegg won first prize in their bakery competition and Heather Lee won second prize in the craft section – well done!
Rosemary Gibbs then introduced Lance Strother. The serious business of the evening could now begin. Lance showed us the technique of wine tasting – hold the glass to the light, turn it to increase the contact between the wine and the air, helping the taster to smell the wine’s bouquet and finally, taste by rolling the wine across the sides of the tongue where the taste buds are more sensitive.
He explained how the climate of each wine-producing country affects the flavour and body character of the wines. There were wines from France, Spain and Germany and from the New World, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa to sample. As the evening progressed, members and visitors were keen to share their opinions of the wines with Lance – demonstrating interesting variations in people’s preferences. Not a few of us purchased a favourite wine to take home. Thank you, again Lance for your contribution to a very different and happy evening.
Competition winners: 1 st Trish Flegg, 2 nd Elizabeth Herd and 3 rd Sybil Dawson.
Meeting Reports
