We're thrilled to report that our California wine tasting in London on Saturday night raised a total of £8,180 (nearly £6,000 worth of ticket sales and supplementary donations, plus the surplus from our Barbaresco Night of more than £2,000). This is all thanks to the generosity of 67 Pall Mall, the wine-minded club that donated the all-important space and Zalto glasses; Sensible Wine Services, who handled the logistics for free; and, crucially, these importers and their best California producers who so kindly donated the absolutely fascinating range of wines: Alliance Wine, Flint Wines, FMV (Fields Morris & Verdin), Four Corners Wine Company, Jackson Family Wines, Nekter Wines, Pol Roger UK, Raeburn Fine Wines, Roberson Wine, Thorman Hunt, Treasury Wine Estates, The Vineyard Group, Wine Source and The Wine Treasury (see this article for links to their websites).
JancisRobinson.com, and especially Richard Hemming MW, organised the event and provided the excellent tasting booklet and a huge number of Flour Power's cheese straws. We will top this total up to £9,000, which will be divided neatly between the three funds recommended by our California correspondents Alder Yarrow and Elaine Chukan Brown: OLE Health for vineyard workers, The Napa Valley Community Fund for the worst-hit in Napa and Redwood Credit Union Fund for Sonoma fire victims.
At 4 pm, the set up began, aided by team at 67 Pall Mall ...
... who had received a very tasteful Christmas tree the day before. Red-legged Tam and her husband admire it while Julia pores over the tasting table in front of it.
Mountains of giant cheese straws were provided; alcohol levels in some of the wines were high ...
Soon enough our guests got stuck in to the tasting ...
... and the talking, including Justin Knock MW (left) and Damien Jackman, representing Wines of California in the UK.
As soon as there was a full (but not overcrowded) house ...
Jancis addressed the assembled tasters ...
... as did Patsy McGaughy from Napa Valley Vintners, who happened to be in London for business.
Then it was back to the tasting ...
... which continued enthusiastically right up to our 9 pm curfew!
Look out for a tasting report on these wines, seen too rarely in the UK, and see this Purple Pager's report already on our Members' forum.
