Members
Quentin: Chair
Gareth: Treasurer
Roger: Secretary
Guy: Boffin
Philippa: Good nose
Steve: Aussie Fan
Ed: Old Geezer
Chris: Pinot Detector
Mark M: Auction Expert
Nick: The Collector
Georgina: Newest Recruit
Cath: Merchant Banker
George: Hairy Biker
Ed M: Biscuit Baker
Bill: Mr Beetroot
Missing Member?

Nick (The Collector)

Nick

Still in possession of every tasting sheet the Wine Society printed between October 1991 and June 1998, Nick was never seen to taste a wine without writing down his thoughts on something. He has since left Bath but has spread the gospel of wine tastings in the Bath style as far as Liverpool, Melbourne and lately Manchester, where the Sip n' Snort format has proved very popular.

Wine soc history..

After making a note in my Students Union Prospectus to join the Wine Soc. before I'd even done my A levels, I lost no time in joining up at club fair and only missed one tasting in my first year - when Chris Patten and Don Foster came to debate the issues facing the Bath electorate before the 1992 election. I fell in with a very bad crowd in that first year (Gary, Ed, Kerry and the dark haired one) and was amazed to beat everyone except the committee memebers in the end of year quiz - winning a bottle of Penfolds Kalimna Bin 28 1988. As there was nobody else but me who was willing to be chairman the following year, I then found myself under the illusion that I was running things the following year. It would be years before I realised that power really lay in the hands of the treasurer. Anyway, in the year of 1992/3 I had a great time and persuaded my girlfriend Liz to join up, and thankfully she turned into a very keen taster. I stayed around until the end of my PhD in 1998, and particularly enjoyed doing Fortified tastings in which I showed that the English were responsible for all the important developements in Port, Marsala and Madiera, and sparkling wine tastings in which I argued that the English were responsible for all the technological improvements in glass manufacture that allowed secondary fermentation to occur safely, and we were actually importing still wine from Champagne and making it fizzy before the French had thought of it. I have found the experience of lecturing a drunken and rowdy mob invaluable in my career as a lecturer. After my PhD I disappeared off to Canada and then Australia, both places which make a lot of nice wine. I'm now back, working at UMIST (shortly to merge with Manchester University) in the Corrosion and Protection Centre. I've been extensively redecorating (rebuilding is closer) our house and Liz and I are expecting our first child in January, so we've not been around so much this last year, but hope to get back into things next year!

 

Contact Details

Name: Nick Stevens

Homepage: http://www.drnick.plus.com/