October 2025 Meeting

This was a meeting with a different entertainment! A talk given by Jenny Deeprose, an acclaimed international cheese judge and member of the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers, for which she showed us her award. She says people tend to laugh when asked about her occupation, but it’s evidently very serious and interesting work which takes her all over the UK and France, judging at agricultural shows.

She started with some general information about cheese; how so many are created by artisans who cannot produce enough to sell nationwide via supermarkets so keep to their own regions. We do have the French cheese Epoisse from Burgundy, though it doesn’t travel well due to it’s pungency. Cheshire cheese is our oldest cheese consumed in this country. A cheese iron is the long thin device inserted into the maturing cheese to see if it is ‘ready’. We were then given five cheeses to taste, with biscuits and grapes to accompany:

Blackstick Blue made by a family business for 4 generations in rural Lancashire. Milk comes from local suppliers ensuring consistent quality. It’s a soft creamy blue cheese, orange coloured with annatto. That company also specialises in other local cheeses, hard and soft, including a goats cheese log called Kidderton Ash.

Red Fox made by a 3rd generation cheesemaker in the heart of Shropshire. It’s a Red Leicester matured for over 16 months, and has a creamy, savoury texture with a subtle crunch.

Comte made from unpasteurised milk in the Jura region of Eastern France. Cows of the Montbeliarde breed give rich milk and the large cheeses are made in the traditional way, by co-fruitieres. It has a PDO (Protective Designation of Origin) to maintain rules about high quality and consistency. Producers use the silence and darkness of caves to mature these cheese wheels.

Pie d’Angloys which literally meant ‘foot of the English’ in Medieval times and was originally made in the 14th century by Cistercian monks in the Burgundy region. It is a cows’ milk soft cheese and it’s rind is washed with wine which gives it a slightly orangey colour. When brought up to room temperature it is simply delicious!

Cornish Yarg which comes from the Lynher Dairies near Truro originally belonging to Alan Gray who found a 16th century cheese recipe in his attic – so it was called Yarg (Gray backwards as the sharp eyed readers will have noticed!), not an obscure Cornish word!

I wonder if Link readers know all these cheeses? I personally only knew two so the evening was really informative.

While munching left over pieces of the cheeses and biscuits we held our usual raffle with some good prizes. A great evening!. 

Next month’s meeting will be our AGM and games, something else to look forward to!

August & September 2025 Meeting

I said in July that our traditional August outing would not be taking place this year, but then Francis Dickinson kindly organised a visit to Godstone Winery, which 15 members attended. 

It was a beautiful day, not too hot or cold, and upon arrival we sat at tables outside under a huge vine with grapes growing, so we had shade. There is no entry fee to the vineyard but we bought our own wines of course, and they provided sharing platters for two of cold meats and cheeses with tasty chutneys, biscuits and bread rolls all for £22.50 per platter. 

Whilst enjoying this substantial snack we tasted three wines; a Bachus 2023 still white, a sparkling Seyval blanc 2021 and Godstone sparkling Rose Seyval blanc/pinot noir/Acolon 2021. Robert Deeley the owner then came out to talk to us about the wines and history of the vineyard.

After we had eaten, the more energetic members walked out in the vineyard and the rest of us sat and chatted over another glass of wine or coffee/tea. It was a most enjoyable and relaxing experience.

Our September meeting was held in Christ Church hall, our quiz evening, for which there was a good turnout of members. Before starting we held a minute’s silence for Isobel Taylor who was made an Honorary Life Member in 2021 for her services to the wine club over many years, both as publicity officer and secretary. She died recently as many of you will know.

Our grateful thanks must go to Derek Freeman and Chris Hoskins for devising such interesting questions, starting with “find the confectionary” from clues such as Dark Occult (Black Magic) or Sport of Princes (Polos), you get the picture. There was a pictorial round of female politicians past and present and a final General Knowledge round of some 30 very mixed questions. 

Our table struggled a bit with that! We had a raffle of lovely prizes as usual thanks to Mary and Derek and it was all an evening of good fun.

Next month's meeting on the 7th October we will be having a cheese tasting experience with a guest speaker, who will no doubt suggest the wines to go with the cheese!

July 2025 Meeting

Our summer party, attended by some 26 members, was held at the Cricket Club on what was the hottest night of the year at that time, though we have had a few more since. Last month I moaned about the ‘arctic’ conditions, this month we had all been suffering from the heat. 

We arrived to find a small – open-ended marquee in which a long table had been set up and others were available for the raffle prizes and food. Not everyone could be seated at the long table under cover and a few had to use the comfortable wooden chairs with cushions outside – that furniture was not in evidence last year! Everybody had contributed to the supper and what a fabulous spread it was! 

We all took our own booze, plates, cutlery and glasses. After we had eaten our fill, Val organised a quiz for members to work in groups. Each answer was to be a part of the body. Some questions were really easy such as, what is a bovine baby (calf) but others needed a modicum of thought. It was good fun anyway and rounded off an evening of bonhomie.

In the past, the August meeting would have been a minibus trip to a place of interest/vineyard. However, in 2024 we made the decision to have a Summer break due to falling numbers in the previous two years. This year there was a suggestion of a trip to a vineyard but this has not proved viable.

We look forward to meeting again in September.

June 2025 Meeting

Our June wine club evening was supposed to be our annual Tipplers’ Stroll but in the absence of a second venue being available, Graham and Janet Bailey kindly hosted the whole event, so it was all tippling rather than strolling mid way to another garden! 

The weather was absolutely freezing although the squally rain had stopped and we were able to be outside on the patio, partially under cover. The Baileys must have worked extremely hard to get everything perfect in time to host about 20 members, who all came well wrapped up against the cold wind. Of course there was wine on offer, we are a wine club after all, drinking Merlot, Shiraz or Malbec for those fancying red and Pinot Gricio or Sauvignon for white wine drinkers, but there were soft drinks plus a generous jug of Pimms which was appreciated by many. To go with the tipples a table of delicious ‘finger food’ was much enjoyed. Graham’s robotic lawn mower provided some entertainment, travelling up and down the garden while we chatted, ate and drank. As usual it was a very convivial evening and, despite the near arctic conditions, was most enjoyable.

Our 1st July meeting will be our summer get-together, at the South Nutfield Cricket Club like last year. Members will contribute to the supper and a list was passed round to establish who is going to bring what to avoid duplications.

May 2025 Meeting

A good crowd met to experience the talk and wine tasting given by Francis Dickinson. He had brought along 3 bottles in each of 3 categories of wine; sparkling whites including Champagne, rosés and reds and, having covered up each bottle, asked us to guess which were the Basic, Better and Best (like Antiques Roadshow) in each category. Unfortunately 2 of the wines in the first category, whites with bubbles, were slightly corked which gave us a bit of a challenge! After some swilling, chatter, and “blind” tasting, the results were that Jacobs Creek Brut (Australia) was voted basic, Valdo Prosecco extra dry (Italy) was better and the Piper-Heidseck Pinot based French champagne was best. At £29 a bottle from Laithwaites or Majestic Wines, this might be expected! Of all the wines tasted throughout the evening, I heard a few people vote this the best in terms of taste, with which I personally agreed.

Turning to the rosés, Tempranillo Grenache (Spain) was voted the basic (£7 from Tesco), Massamier La Mignarde to be purchased direct from the French Minervois vineyard at 12 Euros was better, and Albury Organic Silent Pool 2023 (England) at around £20 from various wine merchants was best.

The reds were all from Italy in the same Veneto area, and produced using variations on the air-dried method (Appassamento) and from different years. This method arguably intensifies the flavour. Amarone Della Valpolicella 2014 (costing around £25) was voted the best, the Negrar Appassamento 2022 was better, and Ripasso 2018 (£10) basic. One member noted that he had a slight preference for the Amarone, but not £15 better. He knew which wine he would be buying in future.

As usual Mary and Derek produced some lovely raffle prizes and all in all it was a great evening. A few people helped to wash up the many glasses afterwards!

Our next meeting will be on 3rd June and will be our Tipplers’ Stroll, where we start at one house and stroll or stagger to another, having refreshments at both, but always drinking responsibly!

April 2025 Meeting

Twenty members were treated to another pleasant and entertaining musical evening by local singer and guitarist, Paul Stanworth. Paul took us through his repertoire consisting of a medley of songs predominantly from the 1960’s to the 1980’s featuring The Beatles, Everly Brothers, John Denver, Cliff Richard, Sam Cooke, Ben E. King, van Morrison, The Dubliners and, of course, we couldn’t have a musical evening without Elvis. 

Paul was joined, once again, by Graham B. (on bass guitar) on some of the songs and the duo also became a trio with Francis also joining in on his violin. What musical talent we have in the Wine Club.

Also, well done to Debbie, for getting up and dancing!

It was a very enjoyable evening and thanks also go to Mary and Derek for another great raffle.

Our next meeting is on the 6th May and we welcome one of our own members, Francis, who will be entertaining us with a talk on wines (funnily enough!) entitled ‘Good, Better, Best’.

March 2025 Meeting

We met on Tuesday 4th March for the popular Skittles Evening with Supper, at the Royal British Legion, Limpsfield. 21 members arrived to compare their skittle skills. Names were picked randomly and 5 teams were quickly organised, namely: Pilgrim, Firebird, Dropkick, Titsey and Crumbs. Beer afficiandos will recognise the team names as local breweries. 

After 6 rounds, the eventual winner was Crumbs, comprising Janet, Mary, Pat and Francis on 140 points, and leading by 16 from Pilgrim. The winners received products from the local breweries.

The player with the highest individual cumulative score was Mary with 46, well ahead of the chasing pack. Brenda was 2nd on 36, and Janet and Francis, 3rd equal on 35. The highest score in a round was 11, achieved by Mary, Brenda and Derek L. Supper seemed to have a positive effect on performance – the average score for the 3 rounds after supper was 8% higher than before victuals.

Many thanks go to the British Legion for the welcome, venue, bar, and for a warming and plentiful supper, to Graham and Caroline who organised the scoring expertly and the prizes, and Graham B for some of the transportation.

Our next meeting is a musical evening with Paul Stanworth on 1st April. Please contact Janet Bailey (822333) for further details.