Expressions of Interest - Melbourne Burgundy Social Club

[Benchmark]

We will find place for you Jamie..... haha

[swirler]

Chris, sounds good!

[swirler]

Not everyone has replied so can I assume Monday 25th January is good for most of us ?

I'll liaise with Swirler on a venue as Benchmark suggested.

Chris, sounds good!

[toofastdriving]

25th is looking good. Like the idea of throwing in a single Aussie pinot, happy to grab a Burg though if that's the preference.

[Chris H]

That is the preference

[Diddy]

True.

We will cap it at nine if we get that high.

Maybe a few 'reserves' should people pull out.

Lets toss around a few potential dates and frequency.

I am happy to go with the majority but for me, quarterly works best.

This sounds like an exciting initiative! Myself and another less active forumite (Blesso) would love to jump on the reserve list if possible.

Will keep an eye on this thread to see how the numbers pan out.

Thanks for organising!

[Benchmark]

Added to the list Diddy and Blesso.

[Chris H]

Swirler, emailed and PM'd you a couple of days ago to liaise on venue but not sure you have accessed them. PM me when you can.

[swirler]

Sorry. I'll check now.

[Chris H]

Okay, details for the first outing of the Melbourne Burgundy Social club are :

Date : Monday 25th January

Time : 7pm

Venue : Shark Fin Inn, 50 Lt Bourke St Melbourne

Mainly duck dishes to match the Burgundies.

BYO Pinot glass as their glasses are pretty much the old pub style glasses.

[Benchmark]

Great work gentlemen.

Anyone who is on the opening post that is yet to confirm they are coming please do so. We have several enthusiastic reserves.

Did we all agree that the format will be blind tasting?

Finally, one point of clarification, red burgundy, white burgundy or both?

I am looking forward to meeting everyone at the inaugural Melbourne Burgundy Social Club tasting.

[Boganrouge]

Yep. I'm still in. Red burgundy of course! See you all on the 25th.

BR

[Ozzie W]

Looking very forward to this offline and meeting everyone. Thanks for organising Benchmark and Chris H.

[toofastdriving]

Sounds good to me - great job organising!

[Hacker]

I'm still in for the 25th but Mrs Hacker isn't sure. Will let you know in a few days.

[conformistpete]

can you please put me on the ever growing reserve list?

cheers

[Waiters Friend]

Will you allow occasional guests? I reckon I will be in Melbourne at least twice this year, and if the dates coincide .......?

[swirler]

It's first in best dressed at this stage not sure how things will develop. I don't think there are any rules, yet! We'll see how things develop (or not.)

In terms of WHAT will happen, hopefully, eventually, there'll be a regular core of serious Burgundy drinkers and there will be a specific theme for each night. Comparisons of vintages (2009 v 2010, cool years vs warm years, young vs aged, etc.,), producers (traditional vs modern), terroirs (CdNuits vs CdBeaune, Gevrey vs Vosne, Volnay vs Chambolle, Chambertin vs Clos de Beze, etc.,), verticals, horizontals, etc.,

Before you start laughing, I know we won't cover most of those topic (last time I checked I didn't have every vintage of every lieu dit of every producer to enable such a combination, but let's see what we can achieve.

If we just compare random bottles there'll be no real learning going on which would become boring after a while. Pleasurable, but rather aimless.

Any chance of a distributor sending us samples to look at? We promise to give good write ups and 99/100.

[Benchmark]

Waiters Friend, agree with what swirler has already stated.

That said, similar to the dates we have sorted for this tasting, should interstate visitors be interested, I am sure we can arrange dates to suit their visit where possible.

If we can work it out, we would love to have you.

[alexc92]

Oh no! Completely missed this thread..Great idea, would love to be put on the reserve reserve list!

[Benchmark]

Of course Alex.

[conformistpete]

can you please put me on the ever growing reserve list?

cheers

Just in case you missed the above... any chance to get on the reserve list per my previous post?

[felixp]

just discovered I will be in Aus on the 25th!!!
Please put me down on the reserve list, would love to finally meet you guys.

[Benchmark]

My sincere apologies conformistpete, I missed your post.

felixp, I have added you to the list.

[Diddy]

The reserve list is almost getting big enough for a second group!

[Sean]

deleted

[Benchmark]

Thanks for the link Sean.

[conformistpete]

At 3am local I may be in bed dreaming of burgundy rather than drinking it.

PS. Thanks for adding me to the list.

[Hacker]

The reserve list is almost getting big enough for a second group!

I think this a good idea, we have done two tables at a number of our Sydney offlines and it works well. More often there is a lot of bottle swapping between tables and most get to try all of them. Also, everyone gets to meet, and this is half the reason we do offlines

[Chris H]

Let's see how numbers go closer to the date. Usually some withdrawals occur and it can get messy trying to organise two tables when this happens.

In any case, I take on Swirler's comments about trying to set up a Burgundy group for the longer term rather than a "hit and giggle" one-off dinner with lots of people and lots of wines, so this is not really an Offline in the usual sense. More about the inaugural function to see if a group can be formed, albeit with some welcome interstate guests for this one.

Some of the groups I have been involved in actually have a larger mailing list of members than can be accomodated at the table for any one function, and it becomes a case of first in until the limit is reached, with a reserve list to cover dropouts.