The Club

Club History

The Eastwood Wine Circle was formed forty years ago, this year, by a group of wine makers who liked to make their own wine from easily found ingredients.
At first they used to meet at each other’s houses to swap ideas and recipes as well as taste the latest brew.

At this time commercial wine was quite expensive and the selection very limited so as more people became interested or wanted to find out how to make their own wine the ‘club’ was put on a more formal basis with regular meetings at a local hall.
At that time the evenings were almost exclusively about making, blending and showing wine, plus of course a good deal of drinking the home brew as well.
This format progressed over the years to take in visits to various wine centres both at home and abroad. There is many a good tale still told of the escapades that took place during these sorties after ‘tasting’ the contents of a few bottles to determine which variety of grape was at its best.

The one common factor that has continued over years is that the club evenings are simple, entertaining and inexpensive. The theme of enjoying and tasting your favourite tipple and/or letting your taste buds explore a new wine in a friendly and social atmosphere still remains.

The Club Now 2008 – 2009

With the advent of commercial wine into our Super Markets and specialised wine outlets at easily affordable prices the need to make homemade wine has diminished accordingly, although it is still a very pleasurable and rewarding experience.
Wine clubs have seen their membership drop and in some cases several clubs have ceased to exist. Although the membership of the Eastwood Wine Circle has gone down over last year or so it has remained a thriving club due to the varied programme of events each year. In fact Eastwood is one of the few clubs in Essex that can still boast an annual Wine Show from its own members.

As an example of this the following is an extract from the Chairman’s report at the 2009 AGM reflecting on events of the previous year.

“Our competitors who entered the EWF (Essex Wine Federation) show had a good crop of results, so well done to you all for your efforts with that.

Then our club show was another rewarding evening best summed up by the judge’s comments afterwards when he said, “Eastwood is the only club in Essex that can put on a show like this”.

We had a number of club nights associated with wine, both home made and commercial including our ‘Chuck in a Bucket’ recipe and a number of very nice wines came out of that, which just goes to show that wine making can be a very simple affair needing only a bucket, demijohn with some easily obtainable ingredients to make a very acceptable table wine.

We also had our social evenings which are not only great fun, shared with non members and friends but help to raise much needed funds to keep our club subscriptions to just eight pounds per year. That has just got to be good value.

I can remember that our ‘Race Night’ went very well thanks in no small part to our ‘Technicians’ and those that put bums on seats.

Our Master of ‘A Great Day Out’ Keith came up with a winner when we took the bus to Hampton Court for the Grand Tour and picnic, keeping a wary eye on the geese who wanted to join in.

The year came to a close with the revised ‘Christmas Cheer’ with Upminster coming to visit. As well as the bumper food table and splendid raffle and also the ‘Wine Man’s Bluff’ game so thanks to my partners in crime Ian and Keith.

Then no year would be complete without the Club Christmas party. This year was a little different as we had a hot sit down dinner at our Eastwood Hall and once again what a knockout evening it was to make all the hard work well worthwhile.

Our Charity this year was Fair Haven’s Hospice and I am pleased to say that in our charity tin we had the grand sum of £166.08, which has now been paid in and for which we have the acknowledgement, so very well done to you all.”

The above were only highlights, from last year’s events so give an idea of what our club is like. We have another packed programme again this year based on some events that we always enjoy plus some new ideas that we hope will be popular.

For 2009 there are a number of events already organised so click on the programme page above to see what is planned. If you would like to come along then why not click on: info@eastwoodwinecircle.co.uk to confirm the event and so we can greet you. There is nothing worse than going into a hall where you do not know anyone.

We are a small but friendly club who do not take themselves too seriously, so if you think this might be for you or just want to come along to see who we are then please contact us by clicking here.

When & Where

We meet at the Eastwood Community Hall, (opposite end of the car park to Morrisons) Western Approaches, Eastwood, Essex.
Our meetings are the last Monday of each month unless it is a Bank Holiday.
Please see our Programme for details.