From FENG member David Burton

As seasonal festivities will soon need diary scheduling, all members and their significant others are invited to a virtual* Christmas Drinks Party. Whether you decide to imbibe or not – we hope you will join us. Please allow me to explain.

Q: Shampers is open – so if you are in the area, please support them. However, due to social distancing, we will not be holding our usual large annual event gathering there. So how can FENG UK members assemble for an end-of year social event which is fun, safe and socially distant where facemasks aren’t needed?
A: Zoom!

Q: Yes, but I’ve attended many Zoom meetings this year, what makes this any different?
A: Wine and fun! This will be the very opposite of a dry Zoom presentation.

Q: But we have wine at Shampers and I can buy wine from anywhere, what’s the difference?
A: Professional educator Tim Syrad will guide us through a flight of Rioja wines.

The FENG UK is proposing to host a virtual* Christmas drinks party at 18:30 on Tuesday the 8th of December, where the presenter will be Tim Syrad of Syrad Wines presenting wines from Rioja. In addition, Paul Goodman of Goodman Masson has kindly agreed to continue their ongoing sponsorship of this event which will bring the price down for attendees.

Q: OK, sounds good David, so how does it work?
A: It’s a 5-stage process

1. Register:
a. To receive the Zoom instructions: You will need to register on The FENG website. The Zoom instructions will be sent late afternoon, December 7th.
- Members: www.thefeng.org. If you and your significant other will be sitting at two computers, you will need to register them as a guest. If not, registering once is fine.
- Guests: www.thefeng.org/chapters/rsvp.php?tid=12641

b. To purchase wine:
- If you reside in the EU and wish to have it delivered to your door, you will need to register by 1st December 2020: [email protected]
- If you reside outside the EU, you are welcome to join, but will need to purchase similar Rioja wines on your own.

2. To purchase the wine and have it delivered: You will need to provide the following information when writing to [email protected]. If you are not purchasing wine because you reside outside the EU or will not be drinking, then you can skip this step.
- Name and contact number, and which email address you’ll use to participate
- Delivery address including post code
- Indicate: Full, or half bottle format (see below for details)
- Make on-line payment to my (Barclays) company account Confidence Resources Ltd.
o Sort Code 20-03-84
o Account 33281256

3. Wines will be delivered to the nominated delivery address by 4th December
4. Self-cater the recommended food pairings
5. Get your social bubble onto the Zoom link and enjoy the wine, food and company.

Q: So, what are these ‘Bottle formats’ then?
A: We’ll be tasting four different Rioja wines, but your social bubble may differ in size from others, or you may not drink alcohol at all. Half-bottles should be sufficient for a couple.

(A) Format: (B) Price: (C) What you get: (D) Comment
1. (A) No bottles, (B) £0, (C) Participation in the FENG party
2. (A) Half bottles, (B) £25**, (C) Zoom plus 4 half-bottles (D) Default format
3. (A) Full bottles (mostly) (B) £40**, (C) Zoom plus 3 full & one-half bottles

** Note: Price includes VAT, Goodman Masson sponsorship and delivery to your UK door. If this is outside mainland UK, additional shipping charges will apply for members of the EU.

Q. What are the self-cater recommended food pairings?
A. Tim has recommended the following wine, food and/or cheese pairings for self-catering. Please note although these are optional, good food always makes a more enjoyable tasting.

1. Rioja Blanco: Food – grilled fish and shellfish, garlic prawns, gazpacho Cheese – Mahon, Garrotxa, Cabra de Tietar

2. Rioja Rosado: Food – smoked salmon, grilled sea bass or sea bream, baby squid Cheese – Mahon, Garrotxa Luna Roja

3. Rioja Crianza: Food – Iberico jamon, lamb cutlets, chorizo and similar cold meat platter, black pudding Cheese – Manchego, Villarejo

4. Rioja Reserva: Food – roast lamb, meatballs in tomato sauce, pork or chicken tagine, moussaka Cheese – Manchego or Idiazabal, Villarejo

Cheers, David Burton

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Tim Syrad’s Bio:

Having rejected a career in insurance to pursue his lifetime passion for wine in 1991, Tim Syrad has built a business based on celebrating the enjoyment, excitement and even emotion or enlightenment that wine elicits.

He runs wine societies in Richmond and Teddington that meet monthly and gives people the chance to discover new wines and new wine regions in a relaxed, convivial setting. Since 2001 he has taken over 100 groups of people on wine tours to over 25 wine regions in Europe and the New World.

He was awarded ‘Specialist Tour Guide of the Year’ in the 2019 Wanderlust World Guide Awards, thanks to the nominations and recommendations of dozens of his clients. He also runs fine wine tastings and dinners, cheese and wine courses and speaks at other wine groups. He has a corporate wine event business called Taste of the Grape.