News - The Wine Guild of the United Kingdom

Mission statement: “to encourage the understanding and enjoyment of the fruit of the vine and to support the wine producers of the United Kingdom”

On behalf of the Board of Directors we wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year.

2006 finished for the Guild on a high note with a very memorable Winter Banquet at the Ritz. Our thanks are due to Roy Ackerman for his organisation and to our new Honorary Member the chef, John Williams, for creating such a magnificent menu as well as to our Wine Committee who complemented the menu with an equally splendid and well matched selection of wines. It was also a first for the Guild in as much as we accommodated over 100 members and guests but still had potential demand for half as many again. The evening was therefore tinged with regret for all those of you who were not able to be accommodated, including our Secretary who did so much to arrange the event. We will by trying in future to ensure that there is a system for allocation of places to members which will also allow the introduction of guests on a timely basis.

The Banquet was not the only highlight of the year; our trip to Champagne and Alsace proved an enlightening and thoroughly enjoyable experience. We have also enjoyed our new relationship with the Sloane Club, our London home, and, under the tutelage of Maggie McNie MW and others, we have run two courses and held several tastings, all of which have been both informative and immense fun.

During the year, Council delegated to the Board of five Council members the day to day running of the Guild's affairs and your Board meet regularly to review our progress. A full report will be made to Council and members at our AGM in March. Let us however reassure you on one point: the concept of high standards was established by our Chancellor when the Guild was formed almost twenty five years ago and remains as relevant today as it was then. The Banquet at the Ritz demonstrated our intentions in this regard and will be a tough act to follow but we are determined that appropriately high standards should be maintained at all our events.

Members Handbook

Our Membership Secretary, David Parsons, has long felt the absence of information for members on a host of subject matters as well as a concern that our list of members is long overdue an update. He has therefore produced a Members' Handbook with much useful background information. This has recently "gone to press" and will be sent to all members shortly.

Due to the requirements of the Data Protection Act we will not be able to provide contact details for members unless they have given us their consent to do so. This will mean that those who have not given their consent may well miss out on opportunities of which their friends within the Guild might otherwise have informed them. We would therefore urge you, if you have not already done so, to confirm your contact details to Jane Grey-Edwards and give your consent to their inclusion.

Website

The Guild has just launched its website. The design has initially been kept simple and is aimed at ensuring that those such as potential guests at the FICB conference or participants in our courses can find out more about the Guild. Details will be added from time to time and we hope to build up its usefulness for members, not least in the links to English and Welsh wine producers but also to our culinary and other associations. If you have any comments or suggestions please feed them in to Colin Vaughan who is due thanks for bringing the Guild into the virtual world - an event some of us feel is long overdue.

Membership and Subscription

We are delighted that during 2006 we have received 26 new members into the Guild. Six of these are Honorary Members, and ten are partners or existing members who have taken advantage of the new Joint Membership introduced during the year. If you and your partner wish to become Joint Members please contact David Parsons or our Secretary.

We are pleased to confirm that subscription rates for 2007 will remain unchanged. However, costs continue to rise, and although we seek to provide as good value as possible through much voluntary activity on the Guild's behalf, we must forewarn you that the administration associated with our increased activity means we are likely to have to increase our rates from next year. Increased active membership will of course help to keep down costs per head and will add support for our functions so please consider whether any of your friends and acquaintances might wish to be invited to join.