{"id":46944,"date":"2026-03-21T07:46:34","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/?p=46944"},"modified":"2026-03-21T11:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T10:53:08","slug":"wednesday-wine-appreciation-group-march-18th-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wednesday-wine-appreciation-group-march-18th-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Wine Appreciation Group \u2013 March 18th, 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Spain in Four Glasses<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

March\u2019s WAG meeting had an unusual last-minute twist. Butch Parry<\/strong>, who had
selected the wines for the afternoon, was unfortunately poorly and unable to attend
\u2014 leaving Mac and Roger with the task of preparing and presenting the entire
afternoon at short notice. They rose to the occasion with characteristic good humour,
and delivered an afternoon that, by general agreement, rather exceeded
expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The room was a full one. Ray and Chris Dibble<\/strong> made a very welcome return \u2014
familiar faces from earlier WAG days and genuinely missed in their absence. Joining
us for the very first time were Anne and Jon Atkinson, Vivienne Olver, Clive
Hatherill,<\/strong> and Ashley Price<\/strong>. Five new faces, and by the end of the afternoon, five
people who appeared in no great hurry to leave \u2014 which is, at WAG, the highest
form of compliment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A warm mention, too, for Joan Parry<\/strong>, whose birthday fell on the 12th of March. Both
Joan and Butch were absent on the day, but Joan was toasted warmly in absentia \u2014
as is only right and proper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wines<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four wines, four regions, four stopping points on a journey mapped by Butch and
delivered, at short notice, by Mac and Roger. The route ran from the Atlantic coast of
Galicia all the way to the elevated plains of the southeast \u2014 a distance of roughly
1,200 kilometres and, as it turned out, a very well-chosen itinerary. Mac took wines
one and three; Roger took two and four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mac opened with the Rectoral Do Mar Albar\u00ed\u00f1o 2024<\/strong> from R\u00edas Baixas in Galicia \u2014
a wine that smelled of lemon, white peach, and the Atlantic, and tasted precisely as
promised. At \u20ac5.79, it set an excellent standard and a deceptively low price for what
was to follow. Roger followed with the Excellens Ros\u00e9 2024<\/strong> from Rioja \u2014 a
Marqu\u00e9s de C\u00e1ceres production that was pale, elegant, and all rose petals and
summer fruit. Young, vibrant, and entirely unapologetic about it. The room approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mac then presented the third wine \u2014 and took considerable theatrical pleasure in
pausing before announcing the price. The EORA Tempranillo 2024<\/strong> \u2014 a Vino de
Espa\u00f1a at \u20ac2.89 \u2014 divided the room along entirely predictable lines. A number of
members were visibly sceptical. Others, approaching it without prejudice, found a
soft, perfectly drinkable Tempranillo with no business costing less than a coffee. By
the end of the glass, even some of the sceptics had quietly revised their position and
reached for the bottle again. Butch\u2019s judgment, as usual, held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chocolate, a Toast & the Road Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roger closed the tasting with the Laya 2024<\/strong> from DO Almansa \u2014 a deep, inky blend
of Garnacha Tintorera and Monastrell from the high plains of the southeast. Full-bodied, dark-fruited, and \u2014 in a touch that was entirely Roger\u2019s own \u2014 accompanied
by dark chocolate distributed to every table. The science, as Roger explained, is
straightforward: the polyphenols in the chocolate mirror those in the Monastrell, the
fat softens the tannins, and the bitterness amplifies the fruit. The room accepted this
explanation with great willingness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the final glass, a quiet toast was raised to Butch Parry \u2014 in recognition of the
wines he had chosen and the afternoon he had, in absentia, helped to create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sally <\/strong>drew the raffle \u2014 four tickets, four bottles of wine, four pleased faces \u2014 and
the afternoon wound down as WAG afternoons should: slowly, convivially, and with
no great urgency on anyone\u2019s part to be elsewhere. Next meeting: Wednesday 15
April<\/strong>. The expectation, widely shared, is that a certain Butch Parry will be back in his
seat where he belongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact Mac and Roger at wine.appreciation@u3ajavea.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spain in Four Glasses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14881,"featured_media":46976,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[503,108,360],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-group-wine-appreciation-tuesday","category-news","category-newsletter-weekly"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-18 14:28:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14881"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46944"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47015,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46944\/revisions\/47015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/u3ajavea.com\/info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}