Purple Foot Club

Press, 21 July 1976, Page 10

Purple Foot Club

One novel and interesting way of encouraging people to learn more about wine has been adopted by the three people who run Omar Wine Cellars Ltd, Maurice, Thirza and Phil Hunter. They have formed the Purple Foot Club which is in its fourth year of existence and has 300 members. “Purple Footers” do not exactly tread grapes, but they do have ample opportunity to sample, assess and enjoy the finished product. A feature of the club is the holding of regular wine tasting and assessment evenings.

The venue ,is the Casa Del Sol Restaurant, run by Maxine and Peter Jenkin, and usually there is a steak meal, which includes a smorgasbord salad. Members are served with three red wines in plain but numbered carafes. Each member is provided with a wine assessment sheet and during the evening he or she is asked to award points for colour, appearance and condition, bouquet, and taste and general impression. There is also room on the sheet for supplying the name of the wine and the vineyard it came from, if members have the skill

to come up with tnis information.

“The club simply provides a means of giving the average wine drinker an opportunity to sample wines withoui being influenced by the label or any other material,’- says Maurice Hunter. Membership fees are nominal and meetings are held once a month. Recently a most successful “connoisseur's evening” was held with the finest New Zealand reds and sherries available. There is of course a charge for each function. Maurice Hunter says the club has been most successful. with some mem-

bers coming from as far away as Ashburton. Although the emphasis is on red wine, in the tradition of steak and burgundv clubs, two white wine evenings have been held this year. The Hunters naturally concede the "Purple Foot Club”- is good for business, but that apart, the club does promote infor mation about New Zealand wine and greater appreciation of its quality. Members of the Purple Foot Club receive copies of the club's newsletter regularly. This advises on coming events and on New Zealand wines.