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This was a superb evening featuring worldwide bubbles.
The special food matched some of the wines and was well thought out and tasty. It is always interesting to see what change the food makes to the wine you drink.
This has left everyone with some thoughtfully selected wines to source for Christmas celebrations.
As a reminder of what to put on your shopping list, the wines we tasted were:
De Bortolli Family Selection Sparkling Brut NV – Australia
Graham Norton Prosecco D.O.C. – Italy
Perelada Brut Reserva Spanish Cava – Spain
Pongracz Sparkling Brut – South Africa
Hunter MiruMiru Marlborough Methode Traditionelle Brut – New Zealand
Aimery Grande Cuvee 1531 Cremant De Limouix Rose NV – France
The Black Chook Sparkling Shiraz NV – Australia
Pegasus Bay Encore Noble Riesling 2007 AND 2017 – New Zealand
It was an interesting and fun evening for everyone, thanks to Wayne, Murray, Terry Gayl, and everyone else who helped with the food on the evening.
Christmas Dinner is being held in the Terrace Room, The Wellington Club, 5th Floor, 88 The Terrace, Wellington, Wednesday 13th December
Please arrive at 6.30 pm for seating at 7.00 pm
The Wellington Club, 88 The Terrace, Wellington
For those unfamiliar with the establishment, the Wellington Club is similar to Bellamys, and members are asked to adopt a dress code that befits such a prestigious venue.
Getting there
And to repeat Wayne’s original instructions on getting there: If using public transport, get off the bus at the old Kirkcaldies/David Jones building and walk up Woodward Street.
Go through the tunnel under the Terrace and immediately on your right, you will find steps which will take you to the entrance of 88 The Terrace.
The lifts will be unlocked from 6.15 pm to allow you access to the Level 5 Terrace Room where our dinner will take place.
First time for some
Given that some members may attend the dinner for the first time, it is perhaps an opportune time to mention how our dinners operate.
You are asked to arrive as close to 6.30 pm as practical
When you arrive, you will be greeted with a complementary glass of bubbles
The meal is BYO wine, and your prepaid cost includes corkage. During the evening, it is customary to share the bottle of wine you have brought with your neighbours
We are expecting to finish sometime between 9.00pm and 9.30pm, but this is a guideline only, in case you are arranging transport home. Please try and stay as flexible as possible
Please contact Wayne if you wish to attend this event and have not already contacted him. Cost is $80 per person and must be paid on or before the 1st December, which is the close-off date for this event.
Detergent is the enemy of effervescence, so always rinse your sparkling glasses in warm water to remove any residue. Photo / Getty Images
From weekend brunches to housewarming parties to casual happy hours at home, popping a bottle of bubbles generally promises a good time. This tasting has been put together with assistance from our friends at Eurovintage and presents many affordable wines from around the world that may well surprise you with their wide range of styles and tastes.
And if you then go out and seek one or more of these wines after the tasting, we will be well pleased. Wines to be tasted will include:
De Bortolli Family Selection Sparkling Brut NV – Australia – Our welcome wine
Graham Norton Prosecco D.O.C – Italy
Perelada Brut Reserva Spanish Cava NV – Spain
Pongracz Sparkling Brut – South Africa
Hunter MiruMiru Marlborough Method Traditionalle Brut – New Zealand
Aimery Grande Cuvee 1531 Cremant De Limouix Rose NV – France
The Black Chook Sparkling Shiraz NV – Australia
Pegasus Bay Encore Noble Riesling – New Zealand
The club will supply you with a flute to taste the wines, but bring your flutes or tasting glasses if you prefer.
As there are eight wines for the evening, members are encouraged to have a good meal before attending the evening.
There will be extra small food supplied for some of the above wines to enhance the experience and make the evening extra special.
It was great to have everyone help with the tables and chairs at previous meetings and take them down at the end. Also, take the spittoons/water jugs/cracker plates back to the kitchen.
Could we please continue this new routine?
PLEASE NOTE: We can’t arrive to do the setting up activities any earlier than 7:30 pm as we interrupt the cleaner(s) schedule. The cleaners are in the hall until 7:30 pm.
Looking ahead
November – Bubbles Evening, tbc
December – Christmas Dinner, tbc
January – TBC
Tasting Glasses
This is a friendly reminder that all members are expected to bring their own tasting glasses to our meetings unless otherwise advised.
This said, your club does provide glasses on the night for guests, presenters and for a member who does forget [it does happen].
The Club does have glasses for sale at $18 for 6 if you would like to buy some. Please order from Wayne Kennedy. Or, you can purchase your own from the likes of Moore Wilson’s who stock ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶2̶1̶5̶m̶l̶ ̶X̶L̶ (out of stock) tasting glasses used by most of us. But the choice of glass and glass shape etc is yours.
The SGM Resolutions were tabled at the committee meeting and will now be included in an updated rules document forwarded to the Incorporated Societies for registration.
Thanks to Richard for his expert knowledge to facilitate these much-needed changes to the Club’s Constitution.
Supporting the committee
It was great to have everyone help with the tables and chairs at previous meetings and take them down at the end. Also, take the spittoons/water jugs/cracker plates back to the kitchen. Could we please continue this new routine?
Note: We can’t arrive to do the setting up activities any earlier than 7:30 pm as we interrupt the cleaner(s) schedule, the cleaners are in the hall until 7:30 pm.
The evening was a success, as usual, with 36 happy diners.
On arrival, complimentary petite onion tarts were handed out with Club’s bubbles, followed by miniature croque-monsieur, before we sat down to start our meal.
The tables were set up for lots of mingling, wine-sharing and chatting.
As a reminder, our menu for the evening was:
Entrée 3 mini entrees served to each person (Quiche Lorraine, petite French onion soup, mini goat cheese salad)
Mains Beef Bourguignon Monkfish with Saffron Sauce Chicken Provencal
Dessert 3 mini desserts in the style of petite fours
Sadly, local fish supplies could not provide the monkfish, so Chef Vero replaced that with Blue Warehou, which was equally enjoyable.
The evening finished with a nice surprise when Chef Vero served us 5 petite fours to finish the night, all entirely delicious!
Where you will be greeted with a glass of Club bubbles
This is a b.y.o. event, so please bring along your best French wine, or two, from your cellars, plus to enhance the atmosphere for the evening, dress with a little je ne sais quoi in red, white and blue!
Below is a reminder of the menu for the evening, noting that you have previously selected your Main course and sent this to Wayne [he will be emailing all attendees to make sure he has recorded your choice correctly and to advise you of your seating number] :
Entrée
3 mini entrees served to each person (Quiche Lorraine, one soup, mini goat cheese salad)
Mains
Beef Bourguignon Monkfish with Saffron Sauce Chicken Provencal
Dessert
3 mini desserts in the style of petite fours
Public transport
If you would like to catch public transport for the evening, please note:
Nearby is the motorway overpass and just south of that is bus stop 5492 which is used by bus routes 1, 19e, 24, 25, 26, 52, 56, 57, 58, 60e and 83.
When it comes to going home, you can use bus stop 5024 just north of the motorway overpass. So again, just a short distance away.
There was a good turnout for the evening, although numbers were down due to illness, and in one case, nearly the whole table was absent due to Covid. We hope everyone is feeling much better at this stage.
Wayne had organised this evening on his own and had a bit of a shortbread competition with his wife – not mentioning who won!
The first half of the evening was simply tasting some of the wines and discussing the different grapes and countries these came from.
The second half of the evening was a taste and tipple scenario. We had shortbread, strawberries, cheese & crackers, and Christmas cake to sample after we had had our first taste of each wine. This was to see if our taste buds registered any meaningful changes to the taste and texture of the wines.
The wines we sampled were:
First half
Lindauer Free ‘non-alcohol’ Brut was our surprise starter. It was made from Chardonnay and Pinot noir grapes and was poured blind. Whist some thought it was closer to a cider in taste and style, nobody guessed what this was correctly!
Tosti Prosecco DOC form the Piedmont region in Italy
Perelada Brut Reserva Carva NV –Spain
Morton Estate Premium Brut – NZ
Second half
Grant Burge Petite Bubbles Dry Sparkling – Australian
Louis Bouillot Perle De Vigne Cremant De Bourgogne – French
Two more mysteries to go with the Christmas Cake to finish off – these were also both poured blind:
Wednesday 14th December is your Cellar Club’s Christmas dinner Being held at Istana Malaysia Restaurant Arrival at 7 pm for seating at 7.30 pm 1-5 Allen Street, Wellington – Directions
Thank you to everyone who let Wayne know whether they would be attending or not. It certainly makes the organising easier, and it is exciting to see that 43 people will attend our final event of the year. This year, as we have shared dishes, there are no meal choices to decide upon. But so there is no confusion on the night, we will still be allocating people to set tables and letting you know your table number before the dinner.
Given there are some members attending the dinner for the first time, it is perhaps an opportune time to mention how our dinners operate.
You are asked to arrive as close to 7 pm as practical. Please don’t turn up early, as it can cause confusion at the venue.
When you arrive, you will be greeted with a complimentary glass of bubbles.
The meal is BYO wine, and your prepaid cost includes corkage. During the evening, it is customary to share the bottle of wine you have brought with your neighbours.
We expect to finish sometime between 9.30 pm and 10 pm, but this is a guideline only, in case you arrange transport home. Please try and stay as flexible as possible.
This is the 30th year of operation for Istana Malaysia, with Danny, the owner/chef, still on board. Everything is prepared fresh in the kitchen daily, guaranteeing quality and enjoyment.
If some members are a little weary about the spiciness of the food, please be assured that everything will be catered to milder tastes for the dishes with extra chillies and tofu on the table for people who want to add it to their plate.
A Reminder: We have planned no dessert for the evening, but please bring your favourite dessert wine, as this will complement both the food and finish the evening off nicely.
This will be an evening to remember: Club bubbles on arrival, shared meal dishes – some new/some old favourites, b.y.o. wines to share – perhaps try and match your bottle with Malaysian food – Gertz, Riesling, a Rose’, Pinot Noir or a Cabernet Sauvignon.
This is the 30th year of operation for Istana Malaysia, with Danny, the owner/chef, still on board. Everything is prepared fresh in the kitchen daily, guaranteeing quality and enjoyment.
We have planned no dessert for the evening, but please bring your favourite dessert wine, as this will complement both the food and finish the evening off nicely.
PLEASE NOTE: This will be on our usual Wednesday night, 14th December -not on a Saturday, arriving at 7 pm for a 7:30 pm start. The cost is $50 per head incl. GST and corkage.
January – The Club BBQ
A great way to kick the 2023 tasting year off. Details to follow.
From weekend brunches to housewarming parties to casual happy hours at home, popping a bottle of bubbles generally promises a good time. However, knowing what you’re drinking and which bubbles to seek out is key.
This month the club intends to present a number of different wine styles of quite a diverse quality in the hope that we can make your Christmas buying a little easier and more informed.
And our plan is to do so in a number of different ways, some of which will be with nibbles, whilst others may require a little deduction on your part to decide what is in your glass.
The wines are currently being sourced, but our plan is to include wines from around the world that will reflect the varying degrees of dryness/sweetness that is typical of the areas being tasted. These are likely to include Prosecco, a Cava, Champagne and several Méthode Traditionnelle wines from elsewhere.
We don’t want to say much more for fear of spoiling the surprise, But the slightly higher door price reflects some of the quality you will taste and some of the additional costs of bringing this tasting to you.
We look forward to you joining us for this fun evening with bubbles.
This promises to be a great evening at a very good restaurant. As of last weekend, we had reached our maximum of 48 people, which is very pleasing to the committee who view this as a huge reward for all the effort that goes into planning such events.
Wayne currently has a waitlist in operation in case COVID or some other sudden reason prevents someone from attending. If you find yourself in this situation, can you please let him know ASAP either by text to 027 452 3802 or email?
Next week you can expect to receive an email from Wayne giving you your seat number and the confirmation of what you have ordered. If that information is correct, you do not need to do anything apart from seeking out a bottle of wine to match your food. But if you need to change something or Wayne has misrecorded your choices, please get back to him urgently. That email will also include another copy of the menu.
If you intend to use public transport to get to the dinner, then simply get off the bus at Courtenay Place, walk down Allen St, turn left onto Wakefield Street and you will find the restaurant on your left approx. 30 metres.
As is usual, please try to arrive close to 7 pm as possible, as arriving too early can cause issues. Thanks in advance for your co-operation with this.
Menu
Entrees
Mushroom soup, Madeira cream Smoked trevally soufflé, leek and chive sauce Duck, prune and green peppercorn rillettes, toasted brioche, chutney
