WINE TASTING WITH AN AVIATION THEME

Have you ever sampled a good wine and thought – “‘travels well’, I wonder if there is an aviation connection?”

Well, probably not, but that was the task given to Club members who met together for a wine tasting on 21st November 2009.

The evening started with an explanation of the ‘rules’, which was for teams (of 1, 2 or 3 people) to examine very closely every word and picture on the label on each wine bottle and see if an aviation connection, even a very loose one, could be made. Once used, a connection could not be repeated on the other wines.

The first wine examined was called ‘TURNING LEAF’, a white wine from California, and most teams managed to find up to six reasonable connections from the label.

Things then progressed very rapidly and for ‘EAGLE CREST’ ,the F15 Eagle, Christen Eagle, the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, a British airline of the 1960’s and an American Commuter airline were identified, amongst others, as associations.

And so it went on through the following wines.

WASHINGTON HILLS: Boeing B29, National Air and Space Museum, and many associations with ‘Salmon’ for which, it was claimed on the label, the wine was a good accompaniment.

WILLOW BRIDGE DRAGONFLY produced a Sikorsky S51 helicopter and a De Havilland Biplane

OXFORD LANDING was self evident, but by this time a dozen or so other suggested associations were being made for each wine and by the time we got to

PILOT BLOCK the ideas were flowing rapidly..

Honours for each ‘round’ were well spread through the assembled members, but a tie break situation arose and the two prize bottles of wine were left unopened but closely examined by Graham and Frances and Joe and friends, each team managing to find 16 associations (we had dropped the ‘no repeats’ rule for the tie break).

Among the more obscure associations were ‘A’, as in PPL (A), ALC the code for Alicante (as in Alcohol), North and South as in compass settings, an Australian Gliding Club (Waikerie, where Oxford Landing is made) and some associations so tenuous that we really should have consulted the UKAIP.

To accompany the flying wines the cheese board continued the theme and contained Beaufort, Buffalo Blue, Oxford Blue, Black Bomber, Red Devil, Lincolnshire poacher and Devon Blue.

If you enjoy wine and cheese, and can think laterally, why not join us on the next occasion?