Fireworks !

This weekend the wine club will be hosted by Nick & Jacqui the choice is Bordeaux with a nod towards the Gunpowder Plot.
The brief from Jacqui ~

The story of Guy Fawkes and the plot to displace Protestant rule by blowing up The Houses of Parliament is a well known tale. In a nod towards the classic story of bonfire night and the struggle between the left and the right wings( we did Halloween early so why not do Bonfire Night late!)let us take the opportunity to  educate( can hear you all laughing now - since when did we learn much at our monthly meetings other than what fun a group of people can have with a few wrapped bottles of wine!) ourselves using the contrast between wines from the Left and the Right Banks of Bordeaux.

As a very broad generalization, Cabernet Sauvignon (Bordeaux's second-most planted grape variety) dominates the blend in red wines produced in the Médoc and the rest of the left bank of the Gironde estuary. Typical top-quality Chateaux blends are 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc & 15% Merlot. This is typically referred to as the "Bordeaux Blend."

 Merlot (Bordeaux's most-planted grape variety) and to a lesser extent Cabernet Franc (Third most planted variety) tend to predominate in Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and the other right bank appellations. These Right Bank blends from top-quality Chateaux are typically 70% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Franc & 15% Cabernet Sauvignon.

If you can't quite remember the Gunpowder Plot from your school days, ( some while ago for most of us), click the link below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_robinson_01.shtml