Tastings by Paul Mapplebeck
Paul runs a tasting of top quality wines most months at the Civil Service Club, 15 Great Scotland Yard in Westminster. Coming soon are:
9th September: "Top South Australian Shiraz, 2005 to 1980" (including '97 and '80 Penfold Grange)
14th October: "St Julien" includes 5 wines with at least 90 Parker points.
11th November: "Graves (Pessac-Léognan)"

For details, please contact Paul Mapplebeck, 65 Grange Gardens, Pinner HA5 5QD. tel 0208 899 9314

The French harvest began early this year.
The first grapes of the 2008 harvest in France were picked early on 13th August in the southern French Roussillon region. The grapes, destined for white wine production, were harvested in Rivesaltes, 2km north of Perpignan.

The Wine Show 2008
Enjoy fine wining and dining? Got friends who'd relish the chance to taste and explore wine with you and world-leading experts? Then make your date with The Wine Show 2008 at London's Business Design Centre from 23-26th October.

Old News

Bristol Wine Fair - 11th-13th July
On the 11-13 July this year, we will bring the Wine fair back to Bristol.
The city had a very famous wine fair that ran for 14 years from 78-92 and we are bringing back this much loved event with some modern improvements.
As this is our first year we are happy to offer all wine clubs and societies discounts to attend our event, we can offer 10% off all ticket sales, no booking fees and tasting reservations.
Our website is www.bristolwineandfoodfair.co.uk if you require some more information/

iVintners Romanian tasting
If you were interested in the wines presented by Martin Bates in our March tasting, you may be interested in a free tasting of Romanian wines from the Stirbey vineyards that iVintners are organising at 6pm on 20th May.
In association with Baron and Baroness Kripp, this will be in central London at the Romanian Cultural Centre. Booking is essential - if interested please contact iVintners
on 020 8948 0010 or
service@ivintners.co.uk, mentioning Charlemagne Wine Club.

BANK HOLIDAY CHAMPAGNE WEEKEND 3rd - 5th May 2008
Organized and escorted by Christos Ioannou.
Champagne is the most famous and best sparkling wine producing area in the world. Fortunately it's also the closest wine region to the UK! The main towns of Reims and Epernay are home to some of the oldest names in the business like Veuve Cliquot, Tattinger and Pol Roger, who have been around for centuries. There are also hundreds of smaller growers who offer great value.
If you have ever wanted to visit this fascinating area, discover the secret of the bubble, and find out what makes champagne the celebratory drink par excellence, then this is the weekend for you. So come and join us on what promises to be a fabulous, fun-filled trip. Christos will be on hand to accompany you and answer all your questions.
We will leave from Victoria, London early on Saturday morning in a spacious, luxury coach arriving in Reims late afternoon, when we will visit one of the major champagne houses. After checking into our hotel, we will have dinner in a local restaurant. Next morning after breakfast we will head towards Epernay and the Montagne de Reims, and during the day will visit two other producers. You will have free time at lunch to explore, and we will head back to our hotel late afternoon, and have dinner in another local restaurant.
On Monday morning after breakfast we will visit our final champagne house, and then head back to the UK arriving late evening. There will be plenty of opportunity to buy champagne at attractive prices, and lots of room in the coach to bring it home!
The cost is only £315 per head. A minimum of 25 people are required to allow the tour to run, but places will be limited to 32, so please let Christos know as soon as possible whether you are interested in coming along (numbers must be finalized by the beginning of March as the hotel requires a definite booking by then).
Call or e-mail Christos on 020-8993-2006 and cai82@hotmail.com with your contact details.

Wine tasting the 21st century way
Virtual Wine, has a monthly wine tasting event that is broadcast live over the internet. A panel of experts and enthusiasts taste and discuss the wine in the studio, while wine lovers at home watch the wine tasting show for free, and taste along with the panel with a 6-pack of wine they have purchased from our website in advance. The best part about the show is that you and the rest of your wine club can watch it in the comfort of your own homes, whilst interacting with other wine enthusiasts from your wine club, and from around the country in real time. The theme for the next show is ‘The World Cup of Wines’ and is broadcast in conjunction with the award-winning Noel Young Wines of Cambridge. Noel Young will also be a guest on our panel that evening. We are challenging wine clubs to get their members to participate, and will give them a 10% discount off the case price of £49.50. If you are interested in getting yourself and your members involved, I can give you a voucher code to use for 10% off. We encourage participants to have a few people around to share the wines, nibbles and interact with the panel. To purchase a taster pack for the event, go to: www.virtualwine.co.uk.

Three bottles for the price of two. Two for the price of one. Forty per cent off this. Five pounds off that. The supermarkets and off-licences offer a dazzling confusion of 'bargains' and 'special offers'. But are they for real?
Read an expose of commercial marketing of wine and the role of the major vendors which keeps the avarage price of a bottle of wine down to £4.08 - and is it really worth that much?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2050339,00.html