Hall Barn Tasting

To celebrate ten years successful trading I felt we should hold the annual tasting on a much grander scale. The Hon Jenefer Farncombe has kindly offered us the opportunity to hold this e tasting at her beautiful home, which is conveniently situated in Windsor End.

Firstly we can show more wines but secondly we can fit many more people into this beautiful setting. Instead of the usual four tables, which we have in the shop, for this event we will have SIX tables with loads of space. So there will be even more choice than ever - including Gin from the Hebrides (and its organic!)

This is the third event we will have held at Hall Barn this year. The first being the Annual Christmas Fayre, in aid of Action Medical Research in which, disconcertingly I was the only male in the room for six hours. The second was our regular WINE AND DINE evening. This year was Château Beaucastel and the Family Perrin in the southern Rhone. Anthony Lacey, our guest speaker, gave a fascinating insight into the development of the family at Château Beaucastel, and their different wines. The food was quite delicious and went well with the wines, though I say it myself. The piece de resistance was a tasting of 1989 Château Beaucastel. The evening was a great success and very much enjoyed by all who attended. There will another WINE AND DINE next year. If you would like to be on our list for this event please contact us.

It is unusual to offer Rhone wines “en Primeur“ but we have a small allocation of Château Beaucastel 2007 (£440 per case of 12). This is predicted to be the Rhone vintage of the decade. It is a marvellous investment!

Although the credit crunch has affected us all I am pleased to say that there are many of you who are drowning their sorrows in some our fine wines. Recently we discovered Zohar a “Torrentes” from Argentina (£8.20). The word Zohar means –

Splendour- and this fruity floral wine that tastes of peaches, apricots and elderflower is “Splendid”. It is ideal with Thai and Indian food.

With Christmas in mind we have purchased another selection of fine Ports including some Warre’s 1977 (£77.50). That year, as many of you will remember was the Queens Silver Jubilee and thirty years later this is a perfect wine to celebrate the festive time. We do also have an excellent range of ports of a more modest price.

CHRISTMAS & HAMPERS
We are very proud of our reputation for stocking fine wine, which is not overpriced. Many customers are buying these wines as gifts not only at Christmas but also during the year. We have Clarets from 1983 and Burgundies and Rhone’s from the later 1990’s.

It is coming up to that time of year when we start to think about hampers and Christmas presents. We found it particularly successful last year making up hampers but also giving the customer the opportunity to choose the contents of each hamper according to budget and taste. An example is our “champagne cocktail set” which contains – two crystal glasses, Angostura Bitters, Hennessey Cognac and Brown Sugar, we then leave you to select the appropriate bottle of “bubbly”. The box is an elegant dark blue lined in satin priced at £32.50. It is a great gift for a loved one or boss.

Please call us to discuss your requirements. We can arrange cooperate gifts, which can be despatched.

We have regularly in stock very attractive cartons for one, two, three, four, six and twelve bottles and one-bottle magnum. In wood we stock one, two, three and six bottle boxes as well as a single magnum box.

Many of you have taken our surplus wooden wine boxes and made very generous donations to our charity boxes. These have just been emptied. We have raised £50 for NSPCC and £63 for “Talking books for the Blind”. Needless to say the charities are extremely delighted with your generosity.

Neil Bingham