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SIAS Wine Tasting
Danny is now the chair of the SIAS social sub-committee and on Tuesday 1 February the first SIAS social event of the new millennium took place at Staple Inn. About 50 people attended including a decent BW contingent and once we had taken our seats Danny introduced our educator for the evening - Richard Grenfell-Hill, of Jeroboams (formerly Laytons) wine merchants. Richard explained the proceedings - it was to be a ‘blind’ wine tasting, Old World versus New. In each round we would be given two wines, one from France and the other a New World equivalent. We then had to try and work out (or just guess) which was which.
Some of the attendees seemed to really know their stuff, but Richard would give hints to help the less educated amongst us, telling us the reasons for variations in colour, smell and taste. The 4 rounds were - Champagne/Sparkling Wine, Chardonnay, Cabernet-Sauvignon and Shiraz. When the tasting had finished the scores were totted up, and those who had correctly identified all of the wines were hurled into a tie-breaker, in which they had to name the country of origin of each of the New World wines. Despite a good effort from Susanna (well, a few lucky guesses) we couldn't seal a BW victory and the Champagne prize went to a non-SIAS guest of HSBC-Gibbs, suggesting that today’s SIAS members are more interested in a good vintage pint of Stella than a nice glass of Bordeaux. Fortunately, everyone scored some points, avoiding the slop-bucket that Danny was preparing to present them with as a booby prize.
After the competition a sizeable crowd adjourned to the pub to wash down the wine with a much needed pint.
Barnett Waddingham, March 2000.