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The next tasting will be Monday 21st May 2012
Italy's answer to Champagne presented by Jean Harris
Ask people in Britain about sparklers from Italy and most people will mention Prosecco, a few will mention Asti and some with hazy geography will talk about Cava. Far less known are the thoroughbred bollicine (little bubbles) wines. These are produced with the same major grapes as champagne and using the same fermentation method. The result is an elegant, generally lighter set of wines which are drunk throughout Italy on special occasions. As the Italians drink 90% of their production themselves, they are not widely available elsewhere. This tasting will focus on the lower end of the price range - where these wines compare very favourably against champagnes of similar price levels.
We will be tasting wines from Franciacorta, Trento and Oltrepo Pavese as well as one similar English sparkling wine - to see how they measure up to the competition.
Jean Harris discovered these wines while doing a Masters in Fine Food and Beverage at Bocconi university in Milan and was so impressed with them that she started importing them when she returned to London last year. There will be an opportunity at the end of the tasting to order the wines sampled (in minimum cases of 6).
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Charlemagne Wine Club was founded in 1974 by a Mr Rogers who ran a wine business in Pitshanger Lane and had a particular interest in
Burgundian wines. Charlemagne the Great was King of Burgundy - hence the Club's name. Please read John Ducker's historical appreciation of our club.
for the whole story.
Charlemagne members share a common interest in learning about and tasting fine wines. All levels of knowledge and experience are represented. It helps if you can tell the difference between chardonnay and cabernet franc - but if you don't, you will learn!
Our professionally tutored programme includes both the popular and 'classic' regions of the wine world. Our tastings present an opportunity to try wines which you might not normally imbibe (lesser known wines not to be found in the average supermarket, or because they are too pricey for ordinary drinking, and so on).
Meetings are normally held on the third Monday of the month (except August) and typically cost £20.
Bookings and Cancellations
We try to organise bookings for Charlemagne so that everyone has a fair chance to attend.
Dates of meetings are publicised up to a year in advance, in newsletters and on the website. We accept bookings only after the monthly newsletter
has been sent out. Paper copies of the newsletter are mailed out two to three weeks ahead of the meeting, and email notification four days later
(keeping things fair, to allow for "snailmail" delays). Spaces are allocated on a first come, first served basis. Email bookings will be
confirmed by email, but we don't send out any tickets.
Once a meeting is fully booked, we run a waiting list. If you book but then will be unable to come, please do contact us. If you let us know by
Thursday of the week before the meeting, you won't be charged. After that, unless we can reassign your booking to a wait-list member, you should
expect to pay. Again, all email cancellations will be acknowledged.
You can attempt last minute bookings and cancellations by telephone to the number in the newsletter - please do not rely on e-mail for these unless you receive a confirmation email.
Remember, Charlemagne is a purely voluntary organisation, so we need to organise things simply for the committee's sake!
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