The Wine Society Dining Club
Newsletter.
Annual General Meeting Dinner
Tuesday, 9th June 2026. 19:00 for 19:30 hrs. Carriages at 22:15
Haberdashers Hall, 18, West Smithfield, London EC1A 9HX
The Club AGM precedes this dinner at 6.00 pm
This 2026 AGM Dinner is back at Haberdashers’ Hall, home to the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers which we visited in November 2024. The Company is nearly 700 years old and is best known for its educational work distributing more than £4.5m to financially support their purpose of empowering young people through the Haberdashers’ Schools and communities.
Our guest speaker is a Master of Wine and burgundy expert, Sara Muirhead. She first visited us in March 2025 for our black tie dinner. She started her wine career as French Programme Manager for Arblaster & Clarke Wine Tours. In 2005 Sara set up Wineprose, a freelance consultancy to wine importers, which specialises in PR, marketing and event organisation for the UK wine trade. Sara was made an MW in 2008, having written her dissertation on the (then nascent) subject of English Sparkling wines.
We will start with The Wine Society’s Champagne Brut NV by Alfred Gratien. A glass will
be served during the AGM in the Court Room on the second floor with a top up offered prior to dinner.
This Champagne also needs little introduction, it is extraordinarily fine, poised Champagne, made from 45% chardonnay and equal parts pinot noir and pinot meunier. Fermentation in small oak casks and additional bottle-age give the wine great depth of flavour and a long, luxurious finish.
Those of us attending the dinner will then progress to the reception area also on the second floor where the wine theme will be slightly mixed with a white burgundy, three reds from Bordeaux and a port.
For our first course, we will be served Chalk Stream trout, wrapped in fine herbs, horseradish buttermilk dressing, heritage radish, torched asparagus and crispy skin. The vegetarian option (which must be booked in advance) Isle of Wight heirloom tomato caprese salad, buffalo mozzarella, capers, picked red onion, and basil oil Our white wine will be Fabien Coche, Meursault Premier Cru Charmes 2020 Charmes by name, charming by nature. This is a welcoming extrovert wine. It has a natural concentration derived from the old vines (approximately 80 years old) and combines richness and grip in equal measure.
For our main course, Cumin scented cannon of lamb, lamb shoulder samosa, spired carrot puree, chargrilled baby courgettes and madeira jus. The vegetarian option booked in advance is wild mushroom pie, pink fir potatoes, mushroom puree, sauteed kale, tarragon cream sauce, both with the first red Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2005. François Xavier Borie makes wines for wine-drinkers not investment, which is why they are so hugely popular. Redolent of pure, sweet crushed fruit with full, beautifully delineated flavour.
Then we have Château Langoa-Barton, Saint-Julien 2005 A lovely deep red with carmine rim. Very fine, robustly fruity nose with elegance and class, impressive ripeness in a restrained style,
Next Château Pontet Canet, Pauillac 2008. Rich, full-bodied, deep, intense and loaded to the brim with crème de cassis, tobacco, smoke, wet forest floor and cherry pipe tobacco elements, the wine is mouth-filling, tannic, long, deep and complex. Everything about this is just great.
For dessert, Pink lady apple tart, clotted cream ice cream, prune and Armagnac with Fonseca 1994. Strong ruby garnet with a deep core and purple reflections. A multifaceted bouquet of delicious cherry jam alongside a subtle savouriness and tobacco notes. Substantial on the palate - hints of pickled peaches and elderberries, as well as blackberries. Highly elegant, firmly structured, yet without corners and edges, and a pleasantly savoury finish. Long lasting and already perfect to drink.
All of the wines for this event have been taken from our reserves at the Wine Society.
Tickets for this event will be £240 for members, £260 for guests.
Colin Middlemiss
Hon.Secretary
Dress Code: Lounge Suit and Tie
Dates for the diary:
22nd -26 June North Italian Wine Tour
30th September Tutored Tasting at the Army and Navy Club
11th November Rhone Dinner at the Farmers and Fletchers
10th December Christmas Tasting and Raffle at the Army & Navy Club
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