Wednesday, 25th March 2026
Members: £53
Guests: £58
*Members of the Cambridge Society of London may invite one guest – if you are not currently a member and would like to become one, please enrol via this link.
Blind Wine Tasting
Most people feel trepidation when blind tasting is mentioned. You imagine yourself sitting, glass in hand, surrounded by silent, staring wine nerds, all waiting to snigger at your stuttering and wrong assessment of the wine. I know this feeling all too well and assure this will not happen at a CamSocLon meeting!
Blind tasting is simply tasting a wine without knowing what it is in order to evaluate its quality (and whether you like it) without knowledge of the vintage, producer, price and reputation influencing your judgement. This is used in competitions and often by people learning about wine and should allow you to discover your preferred styles of wine. In the business world of wine, it is sometimes called double blind to be distinguished from single blind. Double blind is when you know nothing about the wine. Single blind is when you know some things – for example they’re all whites from the 2024 vintage of Burgundy – but not the producer or price, so you can compare the similar styles. But single blind can also refer to a tasting when all the wines to be tasted are known, but not the order in which they will be tasted; and it is this format we will use in our tasting on Wednesday 25th March.
Blind tasting is particularly helpful in that it forces you to concentrate on the various components of a wine in order to assess its quality and to differentiate it from another wine. Of course, in order to recognise the differences, one needs to know how and what to look for. We’ll look at the WSET (the Wine Spirit & Education Trust) tasting grid which is used around the world and hopefully we’ll all understand our own palates and preferences a little better as a result. The wines we will taste aim to provide clear examples of fruit, acidity, alcohol, body, tannins, age, different climate and terroir using classic styles whilst also being, and we should never forget this, a pleasure to drink. In no particular order:
- Dom Taupenot-Merme St Romain 2020 Burgundy 13% in magnum
- Au Bon Climate Chardonnay 2023 California 13.5% USA
- Hugel Grosse Laue Gewurztraminer 2011 Alsace 14.5% France
- Clos Henri Otira Sauvignon Blanc 2023 14% New Zealand
- A A Badenhorst Grensloos Chenin Blanc 2024 13.5% South Africa
- Akitu A1 Pinot Noir 2020 14% New Zealand
- Ch Feytit-Clinet 2006 Pomerol Bordeaux 13% France
- Domaine Font de Michelle Chateauneuf du Pape Etienne Gonnet 2016 Rhone 14.5% France
- Pio Cesare Barbaresco 2013 Piemont 14% Italy
There will be appropriately matching cheese and charcuterie, of ourselves. I hope you can join us on Wednesday 25th March. As usual the venue will be revealed to those who have purchased a ticket. But as many of you know it is very close to Green Park.
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About your host
Richard Pearey DipWSET has been passionate about wine from an embarrassingly early age. He began creating a cellar in 1984 and despite (or perhaps because of) a long career in advertising, film and sports marketing, then men’s luxury shirts, has been drinking steadily ever since. His addiction to the grape has led many of his friends to hand over their wine cellars to his care. He has organised and hosted wine evenings as corporate or staff entertainment for city firms, marketing agencies and private clients, from 8 to 200 people. He has run a wine course for friends, his own wine club – Who Nose – since 1985 and his old school dining society, the oldest in the world, for 23 years. He co-founded a wine event company, We Don’t Spit, in 2013 and learned to spit, at which point he began his official wine qualifications. He completed his Diploma in lockdown and now works at Hedonism Wine in Mayfair, probably the best wine shop on the planet, whilst pursuing his dream of becoming a Master of Wine. An important part of this involves blind tasting wines from anywhere in the world. So he is hoping tasting with Society Members will help!
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Cambridge Society of London Transfer and Refund Policy
i) At least 14 calendar days before the event: We will provide full refunds (minus any booking/transaction fees, which are nonrefundable). Alternatively, if you have found a suitable replacement, we can change the name on the ticket on the understanding that you will reclaim the ticket price from them separately.
ii) Between 4 and 14 calendar days before the event: Our arrangements with our hosts are always finalised 4 calendar days before each event. With more than 4 calendar days’ notice we can still change the name to someone named by you on the understanding that you will reclaim the ticket price from them separately. Alternatively, we MIGHT be able to sell it to someone else; there is no guarantee of that but we will do our best and then refund you if successful.
iii) Less than 4 calendar days: We regret that we cannot offer refunds if given less than 4 calendar days’ notice