WINE & DINE WITH ANGELA LANSBURY

 

 The club meets regularly every month on Wednesdays and in 2026 Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday, so the club enjoyed tasting wines on the Valentine's Day theme in advance - and in time to be inspired to buy some for Valentine's Day. Angela Lansbury at the Central London Wine Society meeting. The Central London Wine Society met at a Civil Service Club meeting room for a meeting on the theme of Valentine's Day. We told the story of St Valentine, quoted Chaucer and Shakespeare on the subject. We tasted wines whose labels featured Romeo & Juliet, Champagne Jean Valentin, Sanct Valentin, and Château Valentin. Our starter wines were two sparklers, a Prosecco and then a Champagne. The Prosecco was a Prosecco Brut, but not to dry for me, 11%, maybe why it had less of a kick than the Champagne which followed which was 12.5% alcohol, and more pleasing to most of those in the room.  (I am a Prosecco drinker, easily satisfied.) Photo by Angela Lansbury. Please share links to...

  Left Trevor Sharot, member of the Wine Writers |Association. Right  Thibault  Lavergne, of  The Wine Story Club based in Little Hadham, Hertfordshire. Verulam wine tasting club meets in St Albans, Verulam is the old Roman name for St Albans. Being a member of the wine club gives you the opportunity to taste new and old wines. The cost of joining for a year is low, only £10.  Members and their guests have the opportunity to socialise with about fifty local people, enjoying a Saturday night meal tasting a small measure of half a dozen or more wines. In the picture you can see on the table the two wine measures. During the meal you are entertained by a talk about the wines. The cost of a meal with a chance to taste half a dozen or more old wines which have had time to intensify their flavours, wines at prices which some of the people attending would only pay for wines for special occasions. My husband is a wine educator and a member of the circle of wine writers....

  Food prepared to match wines at the Haberdashers Hall, near Spitalfields Market near Farringdon station in London. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. The Italian chef at Haberdashers Hall was asked to devise seven dishes to complement and compliment seven Italian wines from Zonin at their Zonin1821 event. I had to pass on the prawns as I have an allergy. However, I got feedback from my husband Trevor who has WSET level 4 diploma, and is wine educator, jointly runs a wine tasting group in central London and a fine wine lunch group meeting in London Restaurants. He is in a member of AWE, the Association of Wine Educators, and the Circle of Wine Writers. 

  Translation Of Wine Label Words into English altemura - high wall, possibly a fortified house, mansion or castle atelier - studio or workroom of an artist or designer (not attic which in Spanish is atico) Asti - placename in Italy bianco - white brut (French) - dry brut nature - naturally dry, no sugar added at the end to the dosage in the bottle Burgundy - place name in France Castello - castle Castello di Albola - the maker's name Champagne - place name in France, and the Champagne method Chianti (place name in Italy) Chianti Classico - wine from the Chianti region using  San Giovese grape variety Classico - classic del - of the di - of (Italian) Manduria - a place name Monin - family name from Italy. They still have their family wine production on north Italy, but have grown to a worldwide company, with one of their headquarters in London, managing and promoting labels and wines from Italy, France, Lebanon, Chile, South Africa, New Zealand and other countries.  ...

  Italian Zonin History I went to the Zonin1821 event. Zonin1821 is an Italian company, in the wine business, founded by the Zonin family in 1821, long before I was born. They started in the Veneto area, famous for the port of Venice, and Prosecco wine, and the Zonin bottle label is associated with this region. They set up Zonin UK in 1998. How come I had never heard of them? This event aimed to put that right and it did.  They now have wines from Europe, France, Spain and Italy, and the Lebanon,  South Africa, Chile and Argentina, and going south, from South Africa and New Zealand. At a walk around tasting, I started with my favourite, Prosecco. From Italy. I compared a couple of them. Then I went on to Asti, from Italy. A couple of sweet Moscatos, muscats, sweet, of course. Then a couple of Champagnes, from France, of course, to compare with Prosecco. Wine Tasting The walk around wine tasting of their wines had the usual arrangement of a good event, spittoons scattered ...