Wine Circle

Convenor: Naveen Gupta | Article by: Joanna Ossinger with “Rags” Raghavan & Laura Goddard

The Wine Circle organized a Barbeque evening on 30 July at the STUMPS Terrace which was a lot of fun and experienced good participation. During the evening, one of the Wine Circle members – Rajeev Malhotra was gifted a bottle of wine for referring five new members under the Member-get-member referral programme run by the Circle. He is the secnd winner of the award. (photo on right) In this issue, we’re highlighting winery visits by a couple of Section Members: “Rags” Raghavan and Laura Goddard. Rags celebrated the reopening of travel by visiting the Napa and Sonoma wine regions in California. At Robert Craig Winery in the Russian River Valley, the hosts were most gracious and poured liberal quantities of wine. At The Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars (not to be confused with Stag’s Leap Winery) Rags experienced an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon. Another interesting discovery of his visit was the Pride Mountain Vineyards, on the border between Napa and Sonoma, which must sell wine under two different appellations and even keep two different sets of books! Laura made a surprise visit to see her mum in the UK who in turn ended up turning the tables and surprising her back with a visit to a winery in Yorkshire. “I have been a big fan of English sparkling wine for years, but even I wasn’t expecting still wines from the north of English to show so much potential,” Laura said. Champagne’s famous limestone soils are part of a “chalk seam” that stretches as far north as Yorkshire. In a tiny hamlet near Driffield, Laura visited Laurel Vines, a vineyard that’s growing classics like Chardonnay and Pinot Nero as well as diseaseresistant crossbreeds like Solaris.

A red blend of Pinot and Rondo reminded her of a mountain wine or even a youthful Bardolino or Valpolicella. As climate change comes to Europe, the evolution of UK wines has been interesting indeed.