In
addition to sponsorship I am always dreaming up new and exciting ways to
fundraise and my latest brainwave was a wine-tasting soiree coupled with some
fine cheeses, music and entertainment. Due to the popularity of the Edinburgh
festival however it proved difficult to find a venue to accommodate me, with
this in mind I decided to host the event in my flat but the downside to this
was that I couldn't really advertise. We have all heard the facebook horror
stories of homes being gate-crashed by reckless teenagers! Plus realistically I
didn't think my living room could hold more than about 20 people, comfortably
anyway!
Due to my
diary for September already filling up and acknowledging the fact that I had
yesterday off work to prepare I decided to host my event last night. The
general response to my invitations was that it was a great idea and wine and cheese
seemed to be up everyone's alley! Unfortunately quite a few couldn't make the
date due to family commitments and/or festival plans but those who did come made
it a fabulous night and I would do it all again in a heartbeat! Particular
thanks go to Michelle and Ali for helping me serve my guests and to my partners
Raeburn Fine Wines, Henderson Wines and Henri's of Edinburgh for donating their
fabulous produce!
From the offset I knew that to
maximise the amount of money I could raise I needed to reduce my costs and so I
wrote to a few of my favourite wine merchants in the city. I was in luck, two
kind companies were sympathetic to my request and surprised me by the extent of
their generosity. Mr Mohammad of Raeburn Fine Wines very kindly donated 6
bottles of Red wine and 6 bottles of white as did Mr David Henderson of
Henderson Wines.
Both gentlemen were incredibly
helpful and knowledgeable about wine and are major importers of wines from some
of the greatest wine estates in the world. To me drinking wine should be an
experience, a pleasure, a privilege - to drink and to share. The wines these
merchants donated were exactly that.
If you are anything like me you won’t
be able to resist a nice piece of cheese to go with your glass of wine. It is
impossible for me to consider hosting a wine soiree without offering a
selection of wonderful cheeses and so I approached my favourite French
Delicatessen, Henri of Edinburgh. With weekly deliveries from the markets of
Paris to their two Edinburgh shops, Henri’s stocks the widest range of
artisanal French cheese in Scotland. I was so excited to share some of their
delicious cheeses with my friends last night and if you haven’t been before
strongly recommend you pay Henri of Edinburgh a visit either in Stockbridge or
Morningside. You won’t be disappointed! My french friend Veronique can vouch for the quality of the cheese as she tucked in earnestly to the cheese of her homeland!Just to whet your appetites here
are some tasting notes from the fabulous cheeses we devoured last night:
Brie de
Melun: Smaller
than the famous earthy Brie de Meaux, but much stronger and saltier.
Selles
Sur Cher:
Fantastic Loire goats cheese. Dense and creamy paste when young, matures to a
cracking complex and firm cheese.
Bleu des
Causses: Cows
milk blue from the Languedoc, sometimes known as "Poor Mans
Roquefort". This is rich and fruity, without the sharp ewe's milk edge
that Roquefort has.
Abbaye de
Belloc: Creamy
and subtle, firm ewes milk cheese from the Pyrenees. Made by Monks!
Perail
des Cabasses: Also
from the Languedoc, Individual ewes milk cheese with is creamy and sweet but
intensifies the more mature it gets.
Abondance: Firm, nutty and sweet Alpine
cows milk from the Savoie.
Membrillo: Spanish quince paste, great with
the blue and ewes milk cheeses.
These were all served with an
assortment of oatcakes, wafers, crackers and freshly baked bread and went down
a treat! The Membrillo quince was a fantastic accompaniment, going well with
all the cheeses and will soon be flying off the shelves at Henri's, I am sure!
Teaming up with these wonderful
partners my “Last of the Summer Wine” soiree was a fantastic evening! The
format was fairly casual with a cocktail party style but to give some structure
I started the evening with a short film about WaterAid and then gave a brief
seminar on how to appreciate wine along with instructions on how to taste and
rate the wine. To kick the taste-buds into action guests were first asked to
taste pepsi and diet pepsi, tonic and slimline tonic, tap water and bottled water
and to guess which was which in each category. We then moved onto the wine,
with taste trials involving Chardonnay versus Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz versus
Pinot Noir amongst others. Things got even more exciting with the blindfold
test when everyone had the opportunity to taste a white wine and a rose
blindfolded and guess which was which. Easier said than done! lol A the end of
the taste trials everyone added up their scores and the winner of the most discerning
palate was Linda, who won a lovely bottle of wine (what else! ;-)) We then had
wee raffle with a few Body Shop and wine gifts on offer including the star
prize of a bottle of bubbly, courtesy of my favourite local - Victoria on Leith
walk. Thanks so much to Hannah for the donation, sure it won't be long till I
am back in for a pint!
I think it's fair to say everyone
really enjoyed their evening and by turning our wine into water there was never
a greater reason to indulge! With a few extra donations included from friends
who bought tickets but couldn't make the event I raised £98 last night and this
will go towards supplying safe drinking water to those in need! Thank you so,
so much to all who donated produce and to all who came, I couldn't have done it
without you and thanks to your support I have now surpassed my £3000 milestone,
raising £3015 in total and hitting 75% of my target! www.justgiving.com/trekforwater2013.
To buy any of the wine or cheese we sampled last night or to try something new just click on the links below. All 3 have fantastic reputations in the city and are well worth a visit, I for one will be back! www.henderson-wines.co.uk
| MORNINGSIDE | ROSEBURN | |||
| 109 Comiston Road Morningside, Edinburgh |
23 Roseburn
Terrace Edinburgh |
www.raeburnfinewines.com
| COMELY BANK | LEITH (Cellars & Tasting) | |||
| 21/23 Comely Bank Road Edinburgh EH4 1DS | The Vaults, 4 Giles Street, Edinburgh EH6 6DJ |
| MORNINGSIDE | STOCKBRIDGE | |||
| 376 Morningside Road Edinburgh Scotland EH10 5HX |
48 Raeburn
Place Edinburgh Scotland EH4 1HL |
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