Hope Valley Wine Circle

Welcome to

Hope Valley Wine Appreciation Circle

History

Hope Valley Wine circle was formed in about 1973 by a group of Hope Valley wine enthusiasts. Membership numbers of between 20 and 30 have been maintained over the years. Meetings are held on the third Monday of the month at the Moore Memorial Hall in Bamford and usually start at 8:00pm.

Aims and objectives

To foster good fellowship amongst wine lovers and wine makers.

To keep alive the traditions of wine making and brewing.

To exchange ideas for the mutual improvement of home made wines and beers.

To study the showing and judging of wines and beers and to introduce members to these skills.

Evening meetings

Meetings usually include some entertainment from for example a guest speaker. The evening is rounded off with a supper provided by the members.

Annual Competition

The Wine Festival is held on a Saturday usually in November each year. This was introduced in 2000 in memory of Derek and Brenda Jones. The ten classes are:

Social for the Ken Shuttleworth Trophy
Dry White for the Rev and Mrs C M Roberts Trophy
Dry Red for the Brian Fearn Trophy
Dessert for the Jack Wilson Trophy
Country Wine for the Marina and Eric Lee Trophy
Sweet White for the Robert Peel Trophy
Sweet Red for the Andrew Loughlin Trophy
Rosé for the Emma Cup
Beer for the Eric Bloxham Trophy
Fortified Wine for the Sheffield Cup

Members may enter up to TWO bottles in each class. The fee is currently 25p per bottle.

Bottles should usually be handed in at the Moore Memorial Hall between 10.00 am and 11.45 am on the day of the Wine Festival, together with fees payable. Members can hand in their own entries, or ask a fellow member to do so.

Members are asked to return any trophies on the morning of the Wine Festival.

The judges and stewards are usually announced prior to the Wine Festival.

Judging commences at 2.00 pm and usually the judging is completed by about 5.00 pm.

Rules for Competitions

The following rules apply to mini and annual competitions.
1 Wines
1.1 All wines should be made by the process of fermentation. The fortification of wine by the addition of extra alcohol is not permissible except for the Fortified Wine class (see 8.3 below).
1.2 Wine should be presented in clear glass punted bottles with high, rounded shoulders (Bordeaux type) of approx 750mL (26 fl oz) capacity.
1.3 Plastic topped cork stoppers should be used. All plastic stoppers may not be used. Capsules should not be fitted.
1.4 The bottles should be filled so that when the cork is pushed fully home, the air space below the cork is between 13 and 25mm (0.5 to 1 inch) in depth.
1.5 Wines should be labelled according to their class (Dry Red, Sweet White, etc). Only country wine should refer to ingredients.
1.6 The label should be plain white, approximately 40mm (1.5") in depth and 90mm (3.5") in width. The bottom of the label should be 50mm (2.0") from the bottom of the bottle and be placed midway between the seams.
1.7 For our purposes, a Country Wine is a wine made from fresh fruit, vegetables or roots. No concentrates, including grape juice, should be used, but raisins can be used as a substitute. The wine may be of any colour and may be dry medium or sweet. The label should state the main ingredient(s) and the sweetness.
1.8 A Dessert Wine may be white, golden, tawny or red. It should be rich in bouquet and flavour, medium to sweet, full bodied and with high alcohol content.
1.9 A Rosé Wine should have a true pink colour, with no trace of brown, delicate in flavour, light in texture and alcohol, and dry to medium.
1.10 A Social Wine may be red, white or rosé and should state on the label if it is dry, medium or sweet. It should be a pleasant wine suitable for drinking throughout a social occasion.
2 Beer
2.1 Beers should be presented in clear or brown glass bottles of approx. 0.5l (one pint) capacity. Metal or plastic tops or crown closures can be used.
2.2 The air space between the top of the beer and the bottom of the closure shall be between 13 and 25mm (0.5 to 1 inch).

2.3 The label and its position shall be as for wine.

3 Fortified Wines

These are made by the normal process of fermentation whose alcoholic strength is further increased by the addition of ethyl alcohol. The latter should be in the form of an unflavoured spirit such as Polish Spirit or Vodka, so that the original flavour of the wine is not masked by the flavour of the sprit. In winemaking, fortification is most often used in the simulation of vermouths and other herb aperitifs, sherries and ports. The principles and procedures involved in judging fortified wines are the same as those for unfortified wines. Particular care must be taken while assessing the flavour of a fortified wine to note whether the alcoholic strength is in balance. Two common faults with homemade fortified wines are (a) an unpleasant burning harshness in the mouth and (b) the predominance of the flavour of the fortifying spirit.

4 General

It is expected that the prize winners (1st, 2nd and 3rd) will be sampled by members during the Wine Festival.

5 Some Comments on the Presentation and Judging of Wines

The wine which will score the most points is one which is stable, well-balanced in all aspects, brilliantly clear, with a good colour (in the case of a red wine) and with a suitable bouquet and flavour. On a standard marking sheet, the maximum of 50 marks is divided up as follows.

Presentation = 2 Deduct 1 mark for a dirty cork or a dirty bottle.

Clarity = 4 Deduct 1 or 2 marks for ‘floaters’ or a precipitate or sediment. Award up to 3 points for a well cleared wine. Award 4 points for a really brilliant wine.

Colour = 4

Bouquet = 10 This should be vinous or fruity, or a mixture of both. It should not be too powerful.

Taste = 30 Marks should be deducted for acetification, metallic flavour, excessive sulphite, infection, mustiness of lack of vinousity.

Programme 2010/11

Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are held in the Moore Memorial Hall and start at 8:00pm.

19^th April Beekeeping and Mead

17^th May                Commercial tasting of English wines

21^st June                  A summer wander with Gordon Danks
                               A different meeting time and venue may apply

19^th July                  Barbeque - different venue - not at Moore Hall

16^th August Open Evening with garden games

20^th September Commercial Tasting of South African Wines

18^th October 'Sheep may safely graze' a talk by Kath Birkinshaw - Shepherdess

13^th November Saturday : Wine Festival meet at 7.00 for 7.30 pm start

13^th December Christmas Dinner - different meeting time and venue

17^th January 2011 Burn's Night

21^st February 2011 Annual General Meeting.