Dear members I hope that you are well on with your preparations for the Christmas and New Year holiday periods, so that all that you need to do is relax and enjoy time with family and friends, and of course enjoy several glasses of your specially chosen favourite wines. December has been a busy month for the CBWS committee, including;    – our quarterly committee meeting.    – preparation for our January Annual General Meeting and for 2025 activities.    – the successful 5 December tasting at A Bordo in Javea, enjoyed by 76 of our members, tasting wines which supported the wine growers who were badly affected by the Valencian floods. The…

Dear Members I am sending out my December newsletter very early because it contains details of our next tasting which by popular demand is at the much earlier time in the month, on Thursday 5 December.  The November Tasting, hosted by Paul and Helen Nicholls, has been sold out for some time. A report on that event will be available shortly after the event takes place on 21 November. It will be available here A quick update on member numbers: we have now reached our maximum limit of 150 members and so we have started a waiting list. Members will recently have received an email from the Wine Trip Team,…

Dear members It’s been yet another busy month for CBWS, which has included;      – our October ‘away trip’ to Yecla and Jumilla, enjoyed by 29 members. Thanks to Sandy and Tim, Shirley and John for organising a great event. (For details, click here.)      – a very productive Tasting Team meeting. We have now substantially planned our 2025 programme of tasting meetings. (For details, click here.)      – a continuation of our highly successful new member recruitment programme. We started the year with 110 members and now have 135, plus a further 8 in the process of joining. The Committee has decided to set a maximum on our number of members at…

Dear members I hope that you all had a great summer. Those of us in the Costa Blanca are enjoying the more moderate temperatures, the less busy restaurants and dodging the rain showers whilst comforting ourselves with the phrase ‘we need the rain really’. At our first Tasting after the summer we were very lucky to avoid the downpour at this outdoor event at Montesanco. 56 members and guests enjoyed a different type of event at this new and exciting project at the heart of our region in Teulada. The tour around the vineyard, the outdoor seating next to the beautifully restored winery and the excellent wines created a great…

Dear members I hope that, wherever in the world you are, you are enjoying our summer break. It already seems a long time since our highly enjoyable pre summer event at Puerto Blanco. Hopefully some of you will have seen the very positive write up in the last ever edition of the Costa Blanca News.For those of you who have remained in Spain I hope that you are coping well with the heat and busy restaurants and beaches. It won’t be long now before the temperatures and humidity start to fall and, dare I say it, we have peace and quiet and our homes back when our family/relatives/ friends return…

Dear members The May Tasting dinner attended by 46 members, including 3 new members and 8 guests, represented all change for Costa Blanca Wine Society; new presenters, new Bodega and new venue. Fergus and Joan Fitzpatrick who are new members of our Tasting Team hosted the event at Real Club Nautico Denia, a really impressive new venue which we are likely to go back to in future years. The wines were presented by Julian Bodin and Antonio Lopez from Bodegas San Isidro in Jumilla. The wines tasted (described in more detail {here}) demonstrated the flexibility of the Monastrell grape, including a crisp delicate rosado, two full flavoured, fruit-forward reds, through to…

Dear members Our April Tasting, hosted by Tim and Sandy Fawle, saw us return to Ca La Iaia restaurant in Moraira for the first time in several years. A total of 52 of us (including 3 new members and 5 guests) enjoyed a great evening. Tim and Sandy presented a really interesting selection of wines from Castilla y Leon sourced from A Catarlo Todo in Teulada. (See the Tasting Report for more details.) Our May Tasting will be hosted by Fergus and Joan Fitzpatrick at Real Club Nautico in Denia on 16 May.  This is a new venue for us, with impressive views over the Marina and located on Denia seafront…

Dear Members Our March Tasting at Los Amigos in Javea was enjoyed by over 50 members and guests. Led by Tony and Gro Salter and assisted by Tim Fawle, the three amigos each gave a plausible explanation of each of five wines, but only one of them was telling the truth. Each table group had to analyse their descriptions (guess) which was the correct wine, with prizes to the winning table. A great evening, enjoyed by attendees at what is now becoming one of our favourite venues. A full report can be found here. I am delighted to announce that Helen Granville has agreed to become our Acting Vice President.…