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Tim’s Blog
October tastings at Teddington and Richmond
In October Teddington Wine Society enjoyed a tasting of wines from Sancerre and Chablis. As in our August Richmond tasting, the wines showed brilliantly the quality and complexity that the Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay varieties achieve in their 'spiritual...
Medal Winners 2023 tastings
We had a fantastic turn out for our annual medal fest. The wines we tasted had been judged top winners in the Decanter World Wine Awards, the International Wine Challenge and the Wine Merchants Top 100, competitions that are judged by expert tasters, with suppliers...
RWS and TWS taste Sancerre and Chablis
Two iconic French white wines were our focus for our August tastings. Sancerre, at the eastern end of the Loire Valley, is around a hundred kilometres from Chablis, the most northerly of the Burgundy appellations. They share a famous soil - Kimmeridgian clay,...
RWS and TWS explore Champagne
Our July tastings were of Champagne, and we took a different approach to our normal tastings. Tim explained that because Champagne has been so brilliantly marketed by the big houses (Grand Marques), our mental perceptions tend to over-rule our sensory ones, and...
Alsace
A great couple of nights at Richmond Wine Society at the beginning of the month and last night at Teddington. If anyone had any doubts about whether they liked Alsace wines at the start of the evening, nobody left with any. We kicked off each evening with some...
Burgundy vs ROW
At Teddington and Richmond Wine Societies we set ourselves the challenge of pitting Burgundy against the rest of the world. Rather than some kind of grudge match, this was a celebration of the two iconic grape varieties of this fabled region, Chardonnay and Pinot...
Fliss wins The Vintners’ Cup
Yesterday I accompanied Fliss to the award ceremony for the WSET Diploma in wine, at the Guildhall in London. Over 500 graduates from around the world received their Diplomas, either in person or virtually, and a number of of them received additional awards and...
Portugal – A New Look
Richmond Wine Society gathered over two nights to sample the delights of Portugese wines that are off the generally beaten track. Our focus was on regions that are less well known, and because it was Portugal, a bunch of grape varieties that don't turn up in most...
Swiss wine – let’s go!
Last week I was extremely lucky, when a fellow Diploma graduate Susan took me to a tasting of Swiss wines, specifically from the Valais region, at 67 Pall Mall. Led by Simon Hardy, an expert in Swiss wines, the event was brought to life by Anouck Dann, winemaker from...
McLaren Vale and Adelaide hills
Richmond Wine Society met in February to indulge me in a trip down memory lane. In November 2019 I ran wine tours to three regions of Australia, and during our South Australia tour we spent two days exploring the McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills regions. During the...
Meet Tim Syrad
