At the December 2024 meeting, as is now becoming a tradition, we had a Festive Supper, where
members brought in items of party food, and this was accompanied with wines appropriate to the
season. We began with a sparkling French white, a Cremant de Loire, Bouvet Saumur Brut, less
expensive than Champagne but just as nice.

This was followed by two red wines, the first being Passione Sentimento Passimento Rosso,
from the Veneto region of Italy. This wine is made using the Appassiamento method, where the
grapes are allowed to dry for a period before fermentation, thus concentrating the flavour and
sugars. This was followed by a Spanish wine, Cuna Rioja Reserva, made from mostly
Temperanillo grapes, being the predominant grape of the Rioja region.

We ended the evening with a dessert wine, Late Harvest Royal Tokaji, from Hungary, which is
made from Furmint grapes which have been affected by Botritis, or Noble Rot, Aszu in
Hungarian, which shrivels the grapes, again concentrating the flavour and sugars, allowing a
sweeter wine to be made.