Salut/Hi Steve Flanagan,
le/on 13 Apr 2005 04:56:57 -0700, tu disais/you said:-
>Ian Hoare > wrote in message >. ..
>> Salut/Hi Steve Flanagan,
>>
>> le/on 12 Apr 2005 03:16:52 -0700, tu disais/you said:-
>>
>> >The small sports club I am treasurer of are looking at the possibility
>> >of introducing a wine list for the more formal gatherings of the
>> >members (Ladies nights, Annual dinner, etc).
>>
>> By that, do you mean you're looking to buy some wines to keep in stock so
>> that you can offer a small choice to members at these occasions?
>
>Yes Ian we are. Unfortunately, none of us are anywhere near being
>reasonably experienced when it comes to things like this, hence, my
>original posting.
Thanks very much for coming back. That's a great help, as is the expanded
information on the sort of food to be expected.
>I suppose what we are looking for is a nice range of wines to have on
>stock at the gatherings I mentioned.
>The catering is provided for by a group of ladies from the local
>church who do a very nice meal which is usually along the lines of:
>
>Starter - usually soup which changes all the time
>Main - Roast dinner seems to be the favourite with a mixture of beef
>and lamb, although they have done a very nice roast gammon in the past
>as well.
>Dessert - Lemon Meringue and Fruit Salad seem to be the main choices -
>although sometimes a trifle is added as well.
>Following dessert there is a cheese board (including French cheeses,
>Edam, Stilton and then a white and red cheese) - although personally I
>prefer to have a port with mine.
GREAT. That's just the sort of information that we can get our teeth into.
Soups. Most wines don't go very well, though with a clear soup, like a
consommé or a french onion soup (I know, but it counts!) at a pinch a dry
madeira goes pretty well. I'd not bother to get one just for that. Have a
bottle of sherry - not in large quantities - and offer it by the glass as a
pre-prandial which will not come to much harm when served with the soup!
For other starters, a moderate weight white will do fine, as Steve (I think)
suggested, places like Oddbins or (shock horror) Tesco's will have a pretty
good choice. If you want to get as much as a case (12) of wine at a time,
ask about case discounts, you might just as well take an extra 10% or so if
it's going. As to what... I live in France, so my choice will be fairly
irrelevant to yours. Read "Good Food" and see what they recommend. There's a
TON of good suggestions there. Otherwise, the specific suggestions are
excellent. I like the idea of a choice of 3-4, and the types suggested are
fine. You may like to look to Hungary for good vfm Sauvignon Blanc and
Chardonnay whites, by the way. An interesting white from there if you can
find it, is Tokaji Furmint.
Red meats. I'm with Mark and Emery on this. You could do a lot worse than to
get a lightish red for gammon (here I drink a good quality Bergerac Pink
served chilled). The gamay grape makes quite a lot, but there's plenty of
other from all over.
Desserts.
Forget wine. No that's not quite true - I adore sweet wines, with dessert
and cheese, but it's hard to get good ones and extremely hard to get a good
match. I'll get shouted at, but Bera make a wonderful sparkling Moscato
d'Asti, I don't know if it's available in the UK. If not, ask around, these
wines are perfect dessert wines, though bad ones are frightful. Another type
of wine to look at is a sweet sherry/Malmsey madeira. They really don't go
badly with trifle and they keep opened, so sell by the glass very well.
Taylors LBV port is splendid for the Stilton!
Hope that helps.
And consider the BBC Good Food Mag, they usually have plenty of good
suggestions.
--
All the Best
Ian Hoare
http://www.souvigne.com
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