Granby Grapevine

Annual report 2011-2012 presented to the Annual Parish Meeting on May 10th 2012 by Michael Headland:

The group is coming up to the end of it’s second year and I am pleased to report that it is continuing to flourish. The current membership is 28 a net increase over the last 12 months of 7 with all members coming from either Granby or Sutton.

The majority of the monthly meetings have been in the Village Hall but in Sept 2011 we visited Eglatine Vineyard at Costock, the largest Vineyard in Nottinghamshire, and were shown round by the owner Tony Skuriat. We visited La Gitaine restaurant in Nottingham for a wine tasting in May and Majestic premises in March 2012.

We entertained Ann et Vin from Newark in August, Majestic in Nov and Catchpole and Frogitt in Feb all of whom gave us interesting talks together with a taste of their current wine offerings.

The remainder of the monthly meetings were presented by members themselves with a BBQ in July, a presentation on Wines of the Loire and a Christmas presentation on Port and Madeira together with a sampling of Sloe Gin. We also had a tasting of dessert wines in Jan and the members each produced a desert to compliment the wines. It was a memorable evening even if we all will be at the gym until June to work off the excesses.

—————-

The subscription was maintained at the same level for 2011 as the previous year and the Group remains financially sound. We are organising a cake competition as part of the Village Jubilee celebrations. We have a full programme going forward up to the end of 2012.

The Group was formed in May 2010 with an initial twelve members. The membership has increased over the year to a current twenty one drawn from both Granby and Sutton

We were given a talk at the first meeting in June by Gareth from Majestic on New World wines followed by a trip to Ann Et Vin in Newark for a talk on Torres wines from Spain. We enjoyed a “bring your favourite wine “evening in September and Edin Gondzic, restaurateur, talked to us in October on French wines. November was Majestic again who did a presentation on Champagne and Sparkling wine to get us into the Christmas spirit.

The Christmas theme continued for December with an interesting talk by Andrew and Sandra Barge on Port Wine together with a tasting of the members current year’s Sloe Gin. We started the New Year with members introducing us all to their favourite Italian and in February Andy and Anna Betts talked on New Zealand wines following their holiday in that country.

In March Simon Jackson from Sutton talked to us on his thirty years in the wine trade and David Harrison gave an interesting talk in April entitled “Wines for Summer Drinking”.

As we start the second year we have planned for the next few months a visit to a vine yard, a BBQ and a “Rose” evening. The annual subscription is £10 and if any new people want to join contact Michael Headland on 01949 850940 or michael.headland@btinternet.com