Frequency: Monthly: normally 2nd Thursday at 17:30 for 18:00
Venue: Hill Top Bar & Grill, Calle Móstoles, Moraira
Group Leaders: Brian and Pat Clarke
The group normally meets on the second Thursday of the month, but we need to be flexible in order to accommodate the availability of the bodegas. Tastings start at 6:00 p.m., but we ask members to arrive from 5:30 p.m. in order to register and be seated. We generally finish around 8:00.
We are very fortunate to have several sponsoring bodegas who come along to present their wines. Some of these travel considerable distances to come to us and, if they find their visits are not worthwhile, they will stop supporting us. Without the bodegas, there would be no Wine Tasting group. If you enjoy the wines you taste, we would appreciate your support by making a purchase.
We also occasionally organise a coach trip to a bodega for a tour, tasting & lunch.
Bookings for events are available only to registered members of the Wine Group. If members wish to cancel their bookings, they must do so through the Group Leaders so that places can be offered to other group members on the reserve list.
Our traditional Christmas meal will be held on Thursday, 14th December. Entertainment will be provided by Des McGillycuddy, also known as ‘Irish Des’. Further details and menu will be issued to all wine group [...]...
Wines will be presented by Marta from Bodegas Bleda in Jumilla. Please note that this tasting will start at the earlier time of 5:00 p.m. We will contact all current wine group members in February [...]...
07 Mar
17:00 - 19:00
Hill Top Bar & GrillCarrer Mósteles 33, Moraira
No event found!
Please scroll down to see reviews and galleries of photos taken from previous events.
As you can see from these, wine tasting is, and always should be, a lot of fun!
Tastings will be notified to group members by email. We normally have a group meal in June and December.
The cost of each event will be notified to members by e-mail and this includes a raffle ticket. Platters of cheese & cold meats, bread, water and glasses are provided.
Tables will be set out for no more than 8-10 people. It is free seating, so you can choose to sit with friends or take the opportunity to sit with others to make new friends. New members are made very welcome.
Our sponsoring bodegas offer wines to us at discounted prices and these are available to purchase on the night.
We will advise you by e-mail of the next meeting and, if you wish to book a place, you should e-mail us to make a reservation. We will confirm your reservation by e-mail. Should we be fully booked, then we will add you to the reserve list and let you know. If you give us a phone number it may help for last minute changes.
If you have made a firm booking and then find that you cannot join us, please let us know as soon as possible in order that we can offer your places to other members on the reserve list. Cancellations are taken up to 12 noon (Spanish time) on the Tuesday before the tastings. If you cancel after this time or do not show at the tasting, then you will be liable to pay the entrance fee.
To be totally fair to everyone we do not take early booking requests – they are taken in the order that e-mails are received from the main invitation email. If you know that you might not be able to access your emails, then it is fine for you to ask someone else to make a reservation in your name.
Group Members must be fully paid up members of the Moraira-Teulada U3A.
“I thought I’d do a Christmas Advert, like they’re doing on the telly and online.I can sell ‘Corcovo Image,’ Domingo, Franco and their wine!We were greeted by The Legend that is Franco, in his Slogan tee,He bought it for a fee, from a pop up ad on Facebook.Well I think I’m a legend also… I’ll have to take a look!Nice to see new faces and share a glass or two,I met the lovely Glenda, she’d already had a few!So… Christmas …
It was rather like the first day of term after the long summer holiday, when the Moraira-Teulada U3A wine tasting group held its first meeting of the new season. Like a bunch of naughty children, some tasters – you know who you are – just couldn’t stop talking throughout the presentation despite repeated requests for a bit of shush. Even with the din from those who should have been put in the naughty corner, it was a great start to …
64 Diners gathered in the early evening warm sunshine, in the garden at Satari’s, with the spectacular blooming Magenta Bougainvillea providing a perfect curtain backdrop for the talented JJ Jones entertaining us as Neil Diamond. Never mind the hearing aids of the mostly over 70’s, this Neil Diamond was music to your ears. In fact he was ‘more Neil’ than I remember of the real thing! He has the voice, the looks, the charisma and of course…the shirts and I …
I write this while the taste of all those lovely wines still lingers on the tongue and the nose of pineapple still lingers in the air… and before the hangover from the over indulged wine tasting kicks in… ! I know I should ‘squash’ it to the back of the palette and let it linger on the roof of my mouth but I enjoy the flavour too much … am I a wine heathen? I know for some wine is …
56 eager wine tasters were sat expectantly along with Fiona Macdonald, a virgin wine taster and not only new to our group but brand new to the area. It was good to see Barrie and Margaret Barnden after a three year hiatus. Don Antonio Bleda founded this family winery in 1915 becoming pioneers in the ‘bottling wine’ industry, using in the main the Monastrell grape which is most suited to the warm and drought conditions along this beautiful Mediterranean coastline …
On 2nd February, 50 members of the Moraira-Teulada Wine Tasting group met up for their first tasting of 2023. Hill Top Bar & Grill in Moraira was the venue and they laid on an impressive selection of cheeses and cold meats to complement five wines on offer from Bodegas Castaño, one of the most respected family run wine producers in South East Spain. The effervescent and highly knowledgeable Raquel travelled from Yecla, a small wine region north of Murcia, bringing …
As is usual for this Festive time of the year, invites to dinners, parties and drinks with nibbles, stack up like a pack of cards on the mantelpiece, with the invite to the U3A Wine Tasting Group Christmas ‘Do’ being the ACE in the pack. Unbelievably, it is 3 years since the last wine tasting Christmas get together, although many have, I expect, shared Covid and ‘growing older’ stories over the few wine tasting soirees in the meantime. That festive, …
60 members of the Wine Tasting Group gathered at the Hill Top Bar & Grill in Moraira for the last tasting of the season before Christmas. Six wines were presented by Domingo and Franco of the Corcovo bodega in Valdepeñas – two whites, one rosado and three reds which we all enjoyed with the delicious selection of cheese and cold meats provided by the restaurant. Judging by the length of the orderly queue that formed at the end of the …
Bodegas Bleda, one of the wineries in Jumilla, has enjoyed an amazing 2022, winning no less than 25 international awards and last Thursday they kindly brought some of the winners to the Moraira-Teulada U3A wine tasting group to sample. The vivacious Micaela, ably assisted by Pedro, brought five wines – a white, a rosado and three reds – to Sabores II where Lu and his team provided tasty nibbles to complement each wine. With prices ranging from just 4.25€ to …
I joined 51 U3A members for this trip to the Bodegas Castaño in Yecla, where several vineyards grow in around 500 hectares, in beautiful Spanish countryside. The Castaño family founded this Bodega in 1950, to develop and delight in the Art of the Monastrell, a unique grape variety that creates some beautiful wines with a special Mediterranean mineral character, which I learnt is derived from the dry farming process of the grape growing in the very stony limestone ground along …
Who knew? White wine and blue cheese. Perfecto! I like to learn something new each time I attend the Moraira-Teulada U3A wine tasting group and I did. It looks like I’ve been getting it wrong for well over half a century. The lesson came at the final tasting of the season, held at the Hill Top in Moraira with six Corcovo wines brought from Valdepeñas by Domingo on his 15th visit to the tasting group down the years. Domingo’s ebullient …
There was a new face present when the Moraira Teulada U3A wine tasting group met up recently for their latest exploration of the joys of the grape. Bodegas Bleda in Jumilla sent along their newest recruit, the effervescent and knowledgeable Micaela, who has been with the bodega just four weeks but has 12 years of experience in the wine industry. She brought with her two whites, one rosado – all new 2021 vintage – plus two more aged reds for the …
Sixty members of the Moraira-Teulada Wine Group enjoyed a very well attended meeting at a new venue, The Hill Top bar and restaurant in Moraira. They were welcomed by Pat & Brian Clarke, the leaders of the wine group. On this occasion, the wines were supplied by the Corcovo wine Company which was established in 1994 by Juan Antonio Megia and his family when they founded Bodega Megia e Hijos following their acquisition of one of the century old wineries …
The wine tasting group was treated to a presentation from Domingo and Franco of Bodegas Corcovo from Valdepeñas. Domingo gave us facts about grape varieties, colour, aroma and flavours, Franco extolled each wine´s virtues , bursting with enthusiasm. He so clearly loves his wines! We tasted two whites and three reds, (the Rosado had sold out unfortunately for us) and there was lively discussion around each table on preferences. It was a very enjoyable evening, held this time at Sabores …
It’s been a long, long time but finally the Moraira-Teulada U3A wine tasting group had something to celebrate last Thursday, 14th October 2021. For the first time since the pandemic hit, way back in the early spring of last year, members were able to gather for a tasting and for a change the group has gone ‘on tour’. Instead of gathering in Bar Mediterráneo in Teulada as in past years, organisers Pat and Brian Clarke chose as a first stop …
We are pleased to let you know that we will be resuming our regular wine tasting events in October. We have previously enjoyed many evenings at the Bar Mediterráneo in Teulada but, after such a long break, we thought it would be a good opportunity to try different venues. Our first evening will be on Thursday, 14th October at the BeniAsia restaurant in Benitachell and the restaurant will be providing a selection of mixed starters for every table. You must …
As we are now allowed to meet in groups of up to 10, the Moraira-Teulada U3A Wine Group Leaders, Brian and Pat Clarke, invited four couples from the group to join them for a private wine tasting at their home in Moraira on 27th May. The ladies provided some delicious ‘nibbles’ and Franco from the Corcovo bodega in Valdepeñas presented 7 wines – 3 whites, 3 reds and 1 rosado. It was the first opportunity we have had to taste …
A delightful return to wine tasting has finally been achieved by the Moraira-Teulada U3A wine group, albeit not as we have known it. Coronavirus forced the halting of the regular monthly meetings in the spring and there are no signs of the regulations being changed any time soon. But wine group favourite Franco Valori, who twice a year presents the very best of Corcovo wines from Valdepeñas, showed that where there is the will, he will find …
Eighty members of the Teulada-Moraira U3A Wine Tasting Group attended the February meeting at Bar Mediterráneo in Teulada. Group leader Brian Clarke introduced Raquel, from Bodegas Castaño, who was making her third visit to the group. The bodega is situated in Yecla, a small town in the north of the province of Murcia, which has a clear different microclimate compared with the rest of the province of Murcia, with minimum temperatures around -4/6C in normal winters and over 40C in …
The Wine Tasting group held its first meeting of 2020 on the 16th January. As there was no meeting in December, it was an excellent opportunity for members to refill depleted cellars after the Christmas and New Year festivities. Vicent Monfort, a regular contributor to the group, brought a total of 8 wines from his bodegas to taste, most from the MontSant region. His first offering was a cava, unusual in that it had no labelling on the bottle. Why? …
An amazing 78 people squeezed into Premium Plus for the wine tasting group’s Christmas celebration. There was even a small space for singer, Barry Peters, to entertain us. After a welcome glass of cava on arrival, we all found seats and the staff efficiently worked miracles getting such a large number supplied with tasters, three delicious courses, sorbet, and of course wine…….. but no spitting out on this occasion! The most popular menu choices were garlic prawns, succulent roast turkey …
