| Status: | Active, full but can join waiting list |
| Convenor: | |
| When: | Monthly on Thursday afternoons Meets on the 1st Thursday from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. See Wine Notes for meeting updates from the Covid era |
| Venue: | Petersfield Community Centre |
| Cost: | The cost is £3.50 per person to cover the room hire, admin and the cheese. |
The Group will soon be entering its eighth year, with most of the original Imbibers attending the meetings held on the first Thursday of the month at Petersfield Community Centre from 2 to 5 p.m. Each year, we have two parties (June and December), a trip to a Vineyard, and a professional Wine and Cheese tasting.
Contact Pamela Peacock, the Convenor, using the link above.
Recent Updates
Outing to Ashling Park vineyard - 3rd October 2024
After day after day of unrelenting rain, Thursday 3rd was dry with encouraging patches of blue sky accompanied by watery patches of sunshine. Hoorah, we were going to be OK. On arrival and after a cup of tea/coffee, we were introduced to our tour guide Albert who poured us out a very generous glass of Sparkling Rose, which was absolutely delicious.
We followed this by a leisurely walk across the manicured lawns to the Bacchus Grape vines which were being harvested. We were informed that these grapes tend to ripen slightly earlier than the other varieties. At the end of each vine was a small glass bottle of watered down honey to capture the very destructive, marauding, hungry wasps. We listened to all the problems that can attack the vines from rabbits, frost, powdery mildew, downy mildew, phylloxera which are tiny aphid-like insects, all very damaging in their various ways to both leaf and grape.
We continued the tour inside in what I can only describe as an Exhibition Room where we were shown a short film of the legendary Oz Clark, your memories may extend to seeing him on TV with co-presenter Jilly Goolden, she of the rather eccentric wine descriptions! Oz was obviously very enamoured of the vineyard and of its owners who he told us are very environmentally aware using only organic materials and no pesticides. The Estate boasts a border of 100 year old Oak Trees but this hasn’t stopped the continued planting of additional trees around the Estate.
Whist the short film was playing we tasted four further wines including an Ashling Park 2014 Rose, Ashling Park Blanc de Blancs and Ashling Park’s Classic Cuvee NV which is a traditional blend of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes. A very interesting question and answer session followed and we were all extremely impressed with the extent of Albert’s knowledge. Finally, we went upstairs to the magnificent dining room overlooking the vines where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. This was concluded with a ‘shot’ of the vineyards own distilled Gin/Vodka or Rum.
All done and dusted and back to Petersfield by 3.45pm.
Pamela (Peacock) Convenor
Wine and Cheese Event - 5/9/24
The u3a Wine Group 1's imbibers were doing what they are very good at, sampling some rather delicious wines at a Wine and Cheese Pairing Event conducted by Richard, Manager of Petersfield General Wine Company.
We had six wines to savour and five cheeses to taste, which ranged from a mild unpasteurised cheese (Rosary Goat with Ash) to quite a strong Colston Bassett Stilton.
The idea was to try all the cheeses with the different wines to see which one of our very individual palates preferred them.
The wines were varied, including a 2023 Sancerre, a classic dry Sauvignon Blanc, and a Tokaji Szamarodni 2019, a sweet wine from Hungary, which, incidentally, was one of my favourites!
We were all most appreciative of Richard’s extensive knowledge and the preparation work he had put in to make it such a varied and interesting event. We look forward to his next visit.
The Group is now looking forward to their annual trip to a Vineyard for a Tour. This involves meandering through the Vines with a glass in hand, followed by a Talk and then Lunch in their fabulous Restaurant. We have been to Ashling Park, just outside Chichester, before, and we are going back by popular demand. All that we now need is a lovely sunny day!
Cheers
Pamela, Convenor of Wine Group 1
The group is for people who enjoy wine.
The Group is in its sixth year in the same place where it held its very first official meeting. Before this, a small group of us had met around a table at the townhouse to discuss the idea of forming a wine group, as Petersfield u3a didn’t have one. I ran such a Group in Somerset before returning to the Petersfield area. Over a second cup of tea, the consensus seemed pretty favourable, and we decided to ‘give it a go’ because it would primarily be a social gathering with a glass or two of wine up for discussion.
The Group quickly expanded and included some knowledgeable ‘imbibers’ to those who enjoy a glass of wine. However, when trying different wines from all over the world, red, white or rose, we inevitably learn quite a bit about what goes into producing a good wine. We have had two trips out to vineyards; the first was to Denbies, Nr Dorking, which was a fantastic experience and last year, we went locally to Hambledon. Again, the talk and tour we had were fascinating, and we followed this with a picnic on the vine ridge in lovely sunshine. I do add that on both occasions, we had a mini-bus to take care of the drink-driving issue!
We meet to taste wines based on a theme, accompanied by cheese and biscuits, good conversation, and friendship. We bring a bottle of wine per couple relating to the theme for each meeting for everyone to taste, discuss, and score. Our first meeting featured wines from Slovenia, Hungary, or Romania.