Newsletter February 2024
Happy New Year to all of our members. I am delighted to be issuing my first newsletter as your new President. I am grateful to have been elected at the AGM on 18 January and I am looking forward with great enthusiasm to my new role.
In this newsletter I will summarise the AGM, cover in brief the Tasting Dinner which followed and give you a preview of the next two tastings.
The AGM was held at the Nou Roma hotel in Denia, a great venue for this meeting and the following dinner. The main business covered at the AGM was as follows;
Tim Fawle in his last duty as retiring President gave a comprehensive review of our activities during 2023. He summarised that the Society is in good shape, has demonstrated its ability to innovate and that he is proud to have led the Society for the last four years, his third term as President.
After being elected as your President, I thanked the retiring Committee members (Netty Sayers, Penny Floodgate, Sandy Fawle and Tim Fawle) for their excellent contributions to the Society over many years. I presented them with gifts as a token of our appreciation and read out a number of glowing tributes to Tim from some of our favourite wineries. All of the retirees will now be able to relax and enjoy future Tastings as members, without the additional Committee responsibilities.
I am very much looking forward to working with your new Committee going forwards, comprising; Mike Granville (treasurer), Paul Smithard (secretary), John Sloggie (webmaster), Helen Granville (membership) and Sue Blewett (menus and venues)
The context for the future is that we are in a good position, we have the opportunity to innovate further and we have proven that we are very successful at attracting new members. However after several years of using spare cash built up during the covid times, we now have to break even. Inflation for restaurant and wine costs has been high in recent years and in 2023 the Committee decided it was time to take out liability insurance. The Committee’s response to this has been to increase the membership fee by €5 per member, to take a flexible approach to Tasting pricing (if a venue is more expensive we will increase event pricing) and to increase guest cost by €5 per event.
In 2024 and beyond we will seek to increase the membership base by increasing awareness of our Society and increasing the diversity of age, nationality and geographic location of our members.
The members present unanimously approved the budget for 2024 and the increase in membership fee. Please note that the membership fee of €30 per person is due to be paid by 29th February.
The minute of the AGM can be found here
At the excellent dinner which followed, we were delighted to welcome three new members and eight guests amongst the 48 attendees. The wine theme of the evening was ‘our favourite wines of 2023’ and took us on a diverse tour of wine regions, grapes and prices enjoyed during the year, evoking memories of the variety of venues visited by the Society. A full report on the evening and the wines tasted is set out on the Tastings section of the website and can be accessed here.
Our next meeting will be at Javea Golf Club on 15 February. Wines from Vinyes del Terrer in Catalunya will be presented by winery owner Eduard Morrel, an excellent presenter. This winery is well known to CBWS and presents a combination of very good wines at very reasonable prices available only to CBWS members. You will be able to order wines after the event so a great opportunity to stock up after Christmas and the New Year.
Dress code as always is smart casual with jackets and optional ties for men.
The Menu for the Tasting is as follows:
ENTRANTES
Welcome Tapa
Beef Carpaccio with Parmesan Cheese
Crunchy Goat Cheese with salad and candied onions
Main Course to Choose
Roasted Lamb at Low Temperature with Sauce Potatoes OR
Grilled Cod with Vegetables
POSTRE
Pineapple with coconut cream
Please note that bookings, as always, will close at 12.00 noon on the Friday before the event which is Friday February 9. After that time the booking system will not accept further bookings. If you experience any issues please contact Helen Granville at membership@cbws.eu
Please note the new price of : €42 members €52 guests
Bookings are now open on our online booking system. Please click on the link here or below.
Once you have completed the booking you will see a confirmation page requesting you to make your payment and an email with confirmation of your booking and payment instructions.
The March Tasting will be hosted by Tony and Gro Salter at Los Amigos restaurant in Javea. The theme will be ‘Pour my Bluff’ – can you identify the real from the false descriptions? This promises to be a really entertaining evening and might also extend our knowledge.
Wishing you all a great month and I look forward to seeing as many of you (plus guests) at the February and March Tastings.
Regards
Neville