THE Wine Society tasted 12 wines from the Swan at Hanley Swan this week in the launch of their restaurant wine list tasting programme. The event was presented at Manor Park by Ian Juckes, MD from Juckes of Worcester, wine supplier to many local restaurants.

The purpose of the programme is simple; To help make an informed decision when a diner is reviewing the restaurant's wine list and selecting wines to accompany lunch or dinner.

Often the diner is wary of ordering a bottle, since it is almost a lottery when he or she has never tasted any of them. So with 12 under our collective belts members are now informed for future visits. This has encouraged their attendance at the Swan confident they can chose a wine to their taste. 70% said they

would make a first visit, the other 30% having already acquainted themselves ? attracted by the £300,000 refurb last year.

Ian’s talk covered the local wine supply scene, the logistics and industry relationships underpinning the appearance of a wine bottle on a restaurant table and touched on some non obvious factors ensuring an informed audience by evening's end.

The best value red and white by the bottle and the preferred red and white wines by the glass were;

Best Value White Bottle ? Pouilly Fume £26 ? 60% of white votes

Best Value Red Bottle ? Burlesque Zinfandel California £22 ? 80% of red votes and the wine of the

evening

Best Value White Glass ? Chenin Blanc from South Africa £5.25 250ml glass

Best Value Red Glass ? Shiraz SE Australia £5.25 250ml glass

* The Swan at Hanley Swan 4 miles from Great Malvern serving throughout the day every day.

GMWS Meet monthly on the 3rd Tuesday at Manor Park Club, Great Malvern at 7.30pm tasting a minimum of 8 wines followed by a social glass or two post tasting ? Our next tasting is the wines of California ? April 19th. Just google The Greater Malvern Wine Society.