Exploring a symphony of flavours
Cambridge & Great Eastern Regional Group Event review: Cambridge wine tasting
 ‘A Scientific
wine tasting’ with
Luke Webster took place
on 26 April 2007 following
the annual general
meeting of SCI’s
Cambridge & Great
Eastern Regional Group. Webster
displayed nine diverse
wines, and wove a fascinating
story around
them. He described
grape varieties, their
cultivation, the complex
chemistry of fermentation and
maturation, the importance of
balancing acidity and sugar, different
blending and procedures
(for example the solera system for
sherry), sensorial aspects of wine
appreciation, choosing appropriate
wine glasses and how to appreciate
a wine.
The selection covered champagne,
still white wine (Rieslings
from Germany and Alsace),
Manzanilla sherry, red wines
(Beaujolais and Australian Shiraz),
sweet white (Australian Semillion),
port (Fonseca Guimaraens 1987)
and the star of the tasting – a
vintage Madeira, made
from the nearly extinct
Terrantezgrape
(D’Oliveras 1977), which
was an extraordinarily
complex wine with a
symphony of flavours
produced by controlled
oxidation!
Luke developed his
love of wine while studying
at Magdalene College,
Cambridge. He is a former
cellarer of the
Cambridge University Wine and
Food Society and for several years
he worked at the Cambridge
Wine Merchants. He is an enthusiastic
and accomplished wine
educator.
John Wilkins,
Cambridge and Great
Eastern Regional Group
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