December: Christmas Meal
15 members attended a Christmas meal at Chadwell Springs.

December: Ware Christmas Festival
We set up our usual stall at the Ware Dickensian evening in record time and were up and running just before 6p.m. on Friday December 2nd. The price of our hot mulled wine was £2 per cup. We remained the cheapest in town, and were sold soon after 8pm. Peter R. took control of the boiler, Kevin poured the wine, with Eddie keeping him supplied with cups and Peter B keeping him supplied with the mulled wine. Elaine took her usual place at the “till”, giving out change and accepting card payments!. The evening was again a success and the club managed to raise over £1000 providing a profit of circa £900. Fifty percent of the profit has been donated to the Trussell Trust Food Bank.

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13 members attended a Cider and cheese evening, presented by Kevin.
Peter R made a cider from apple juice, which had a light taste.
Kevin had made three ciders; first was just apple juice, slightly stronger taste than Peter's; second one had been made with the addition of mango juice and the third was with the addition of strawberry syrup. Both of these tasted like non-alcoholic cocktails.
Peter B then produced a cider bought in Spain 25 years ago(!), which was dry and acetic.
Chris had made a cider from apple juice which had a very slight head, was very clear and very refreshing.
Peter R brought along a cider he had bought in France - Bolée D'Amorique which was a Breton cider; this was a deeper colour than the other ciders, with a good apple bouquet and taste.
Lastly, Kevin had bought a Herefordshire Vintage cider from Lidl; this was light in colour and taste, a bit thin and dry.
The cheeses were - Gorgonzola Dop Picante, Vintage Gouda, Maasdam slices, Reserve Gruyere, Comte Pdo, Manchego, mature Cheddar slices, and French Camembert accompanied by various biscuits (provided by Carol). The cheese all came from Lidl.
Theoretically, we were supposed to match the cider with the cheese; as there were only small portions of cheese, this proved difficult. So we enjoyed them anyway!
At the end of the evening, Eddie thanked the committee for providing the cider and cheese.

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October: Oktober Fest food competition
The postponed trophy presentation started the evening.
12 members attended the meeting, with 6 savoury and 3 sweet entries from 8 members.
The results were as follows:
Savoury - 1st Mushroom strudel Richard;
other dishes were - vegan hotdogs, sausage stew, onion pie, potato salad, cheese dip.
Sweet - 1st Sue K Donauwellen Kuchen;
Other dishes were - German plum cake, Lebkuchen.
Kevin thanked everyone for entering, and presented the Rolling Pin trophies to the winners.
An enjoyable evening.

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September: Wines made from the same kit
15 members attended the meeting. The presentation of the trophies certificates from the recent club show had to be postponed to October as the Chairman forgot to bring the trophies that he had won the previous year!
Several months ago Kevin had brought several Young's Wine buddy Chardonnay kits along to a club meeting for members to all make the same wine and to see how the results varied. 8 members duly made the wines which were tasted at the meeting, without the members knowing who made each wine. The resulting wines were mostly similar, some better than others.
The members decided which of the wines were their top 3, and Chris tallied the results, which were as follows - 1st Peter R, 2nd Elaine, 3rd Chris, 4th Kevin. Peter R had also made a ½ gallon of wine from a full gallon kit. This had a much better flavour than the other wines. Kevin had also made a more expensive Chardonnay kit wine - Wine Expert - which had a deeper colour; unfortunately it also had a 'mouse'!
The meeting concluded with a tasting of a commercial Chardonnay - Blason de Bourgogne Macon Villages - which had good length and a light buttery taste.
Eddie thanked Kevin for presenting the wines and the members for making them.

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July: 41st Annual Show
The club held its 41st Annual Show at Ware Arts Centre.
After a slightly delayed start - the hall was not open on arrival and a phone call had to be made to the centre's key holder - entries and judges all arrived promptly allowing the show to commence on time. 11 competitors entered 122 bottles in eight wine classes and four beer classes. The Judges were Daphne Grant, Colin Hotham, Geoff Fryer, and Richard Baldwin. After the judging, the judges and assisting stewards and show organisers enjoyed a salad lunch.
Thanks to all who entered and well done to all the winners who will be announced at the September meeting and presented with their trophies.

Click here for results and trophy winners.

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July: Annual Computerised Wine Drive, run by Elaine and Peter R
This month's meeting was the club's popular computerised Wine Drive. 11 members attended the meeting.
Elaine presented the wine drive with assistance from Peter R. 9 members formed 'teams' of 1 (with one team of two) to judge the paired combinations of 7 home made wines and 1 commercial wine. The results of the drive were as follows together with Founders Trophy points awarded.
Joint 1st - Peter and Robert with 15 points (3.5 points); 3rd - Kevin 14 points (2 points); 4th - John 13 points; Joint 5th - David, Elaine and Graham with 11 points; Joint 8th - Chris and commercial with 9 points. The commercial wine was Grove Manor Fruity Rose 5.5% £2.99 from Aldi!
Kevin reminded everyone that the club's annual show was this coming Saturday, and that the August meeting was cancelled. The September meeting will be a tasting of the Chardonnay kit wines that Kevin distributed to the majority of the members earlier this year.

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June - Rosé wine tasting by Kevin
13 members enjoyed a Rosé wine tasting presented by Kevin. The wines all came from Tesco, except for no 5 which came from Laithwaites. The price in brackets is the price paid after discount.

The wines were as follows:
Jam Shed Rosé, SE Australia, Grenache/Syrah blend 11% 2022 £7.00 (£5.25)
Trivento Reserve Malbec, Argentina 12% 2022 £8.00 (£4.88)
Coteaux D'Aix en Provence, Caves des Roches, France, Grenache/Syrah/Cinsault 12.5% 2021 £7.50 (£5.63)
Gerard Bertrand Cotes des Roses, Languedoc, France, Grenache/Syrah/Cinsault 13% 2022 £11.00 (£8.25)
La Rose de La Clariere, France, Merlot/Cabernet Franc 13% 2022 £10.00
Finest Sancerre Rosé, France,  Pinot Noir 13% 2021 £13.00 (£9.75)

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June Wales & West 57th Annual Festival
The Wales & West 2023 Festival was held on 12th - 15th June at Weston-super-Mare with four members of Ware attending, namely Elaine, Peter, Chris and Carol.
Elaine, Peter, and Chris judged various classes with Carol stewarding for Chris. Elaine, Peter, Chris and Carol entered the show.
Ware Wine & Beer Circle retained the Leytonian Cup awarded to the non-affiliated circle with most points across all open classes and regained the South Gloucestershire Trophy for the club with most points across all beer classes. Peter was Master Brewer, with Chris in second place. Carol won the decorated bottle class with a tribute to the coronation, gained a third place for her jam, a sixth place for her lemon drizzle cake and a third place for her photograph. Peter won the fruit cake class, as well as two wine classes and three beer classes; Chris won three beer classes; Elaine won two wine classes, as well as other places for us.
The festival included tastings of gin and rum, wines and beers. There were discussions upon the merits of individual’s wine and beer entries over dinner. Once again, the Wales & West was enjoyed by all attendees.
Next year's show will take place in the second week in June at Weston-super-Mare.

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May: Quiz Nite with Dave and Sue
12 members participated in the meeting, plus the quizmasters.
There were 4 teams of 3 members, with husbands and wives not allowed to be in the same team. There was on on-going round of guessing the names of towns and cities in the UK, and 7 actual rounds of multiple choice questions.
The winners were Peter B, Peter R and Graham with 78 points; second were Margaret, Emma and Robert with 65 points; third place were Kevin, Chris and Richard with 55 points ; fourth were Carol, Elaine and Eddie with 54 points. Eddie thanked Dave and Sue for putting the quiz together.
Members were reminded that the next meeting will be a Rosé wine tasting, and of the Annual show on July 22nd.
Annual Show page.

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April: AGM followed by the Second Round of the Supermarket Wine Challenge
13 members attended the meeting. The minutes of the 2022 AGM were accepted.
Peter R. presented the Treasurer’s report stating that the club had returned to it pre-Covid financial level, more or less. The club had a healthy balance of circa £1261. Peter stated that the club’s annual subscriptions remain at £10 per person.
The committee were re-elected en bloc, with the exception of Social Secretary, which is now vacant.

Chris announced the results of the Founders Trophy - 3rd Peter R, 2nd Kevin, 1st Elaine. Eddie presented the trophy to Elaine.

The supermarkets for the Wine Challenge were Waitrose and Aldi. Peter R sourced the wines, matching like-for-like on grape, alcohol and price where possible. Each wine was described by Peter R and at the end of the tasting the members voted on which wine they preferred. The wines were as follows:
Chenin Blanc South Africa 13% £6.99 Waitrose
Chardonnay Chile Central Valley 13% £4.29 Aldi
Malbec France 12.5% £4.69 Aldi
Malbec Argentina 13.5% £6.99 Waitrose
Shiraz South Africa 13% £4.29 Aldi
Shiraz South Australia 14% £6.99 Waitrose

The red wines tied at 6 each on preference, whereas the Waitrose white wine was preferred by 10:2; so the winner was Waitrose.

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April: National Show at Britannia Royal Court Hotel, Coventry
Peter and Elaine R, Kevin, Robert and Susan, and Chris and Carol went to the 63rd National show at Coventry. See the NAWB website for details.
Ware Wine & Beer Circle and its members were among the 47 individual entrants at the National Association of Wine & Beer Makers (Amateur) Annual Show in Coventry on Saturday 15th April 2023. A total of 863 bottles and 6 photos were entered across the show’s 65 classes, the show having been reduced in classes during the preceding year.
Ware Circle and its members gained 20 first and 130 other places and as a result retained their position at the top of the National Club Points League Table and the Amateur Winemakers Shield, for the sixth year in succession. In addition, Ware Circle won the Sweet ‘N’ Dry Cup. Ware Circle and its members won a total of 26 trophies.
The Show was a weekend event and included a presentation of home brew beers and wines. The highlight of the weekend was Saturday evening’s formal dinner followed by the presentation of major trophies and musical entertainment.

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March: Apple Wine & Frozen Red Fruit Wine competitions
15 members attended the meeting. Kevin distributed some 'Wine Buddy' kits that he had purchased to members for a competition in September.
The Apple wines (4 entries) were made just from apple juice; the frozen red fruit wines (5 entries) were made using frozen red fruits from different supermarkets.
The winners were as follows:
Apple wine - 1st Elaine, 2nd Chris, 3rd Kevin, 4th Peter R
Frozen red fruit - 1st Chris, 2nd Elaine, 3rd Peter R, 4th Kevin, 5th Richard
It was interesting to see how different the frozen fruit wines tasted, probably due to the differences in the fruit in each purchase from the different supermarkets.

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February: Mead and food
12 members attended the meeting in the South Cowl room upstairs at the Arts Centre.
Peter R started the evening by announcing that John Grindell - a past member and long-time friend of the club - passed away on the previous Friday. Peter said that he had been to John's house a couple of weeks ago at the request of John's daughter as there were a number of demi-johns containing some old wines. Peter had taken a number away with him; some were undrinkable, but he brught along a rice and raisin wine, made in 2003, which was drinkable. It was passed round for members to taste and we raised a toast to John.
Kevin read out some information on mead - the different types, history etc. Five different meads were tasted, along with some food, as follows:
Orange melomel with salad (Elaine)
Dry mead, no additions, with quiche (Chris)
Sweet mead made with the addition of peaches and grapes, with cold meats (Kevin)
Metheglin spiced mead, with fruit salad (Kevin)
Sweet mead made with French honey, with goat's cheese (Peter R)
Peter R also brought along a blackberry and rose petal mead
An interesting evening.

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January: Sherry and Port tasting by Peter R
13 members met for the first meeting of the year for a Sherry and Port tasting by Peter R. The wines tasted were as follows:
Tesco Finest Fino Sherry (Gonzalez Byas) 37.5cl 15% £6.50 Tesco
Alegria Manzanilla Superior (Williams & Humbert) 37.5cl 15% £5.49 Waitrose
Quinta Santa Eufemia Fine White Port 50cl 19.5% £6.00 Porto
Malamada fortified Malbec Mendoza Argentina 50cl 18% £9.00 Waitrose
Quinta Santa Eufemia Tawny Port 50cl 19.5% £6.00 Porto
Tesco Finest PX Sherry (Gonzalez Byas) 37.5cl 15% £6.50 Tesco

A vote was taken on the favourite sherry/port, with the tawny port coming first and the white port second.

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