On a very warm evening in June, approximately 30 Liverymen and guests sat down in the smart surroundings of the Don Restaurant in the City for an event organised by the consort, Michael Bridgeland, entitled Tour de Vin.
On a very warm evening in June, approximately 30 Liverymen and guests sat down in the smart surroundings of the Don Restaurant in the City for an event organised by the consort, Michael Bridgeland, entitled 'Tour de Vin'.
Although the event had been billed as an evening of talk about cycling with wine tasting, it quickly became apparent that it was an evening of wine tasting themed around the wine regions through which the Tour de France 2017 was due to pass. This seemed acceptable to the attendees, who set about their educational task with gusto. We did wonder whether the event qualified for professionalism CPD.
Our wine expert for the evening was Sebastien Benne, who guided us through the six stages of the tour. Starting in North Germany with a fine Riesling, we moved through several regions of France with a further white wine and three red wines, finishing with a glass of champagne. We were asked at each stage to guess the retail prices of the wines and were surprised to learn that these varied from £11 to £65 a bottle. We learnt about different types of yeast and the merits of wines from smaller producers rather than large brand names. We also learnt about different grapes, and certainly Mourvèdre was a new one to many of us.
The evening concluded with a raffle in aid of the Company of Actuaries Charitable Trust. This was the last WCA event in Master Sally Bridgeland's year, and we all thought it had been a very enjoyable way to end a remarkable year.