Meeting Format – Normal Meetings
Members gather at the committee room prior to 7:30 pm to set up tables and chairs and wine glasses for the meeting. A donation is requested from each attendee to provide funds to the group for charitable activities and to cover the cost of the wines presented for tasting at the meeting. The donation is at the member’s discretion but $15 per person is typically offered. The Pudding and Sticky volunteers can, if they wish, count their Pudding/Sticky offering as their donation for the meeting.
Prior to the meeting volunteers have been sought for the 4 volunteer roles for the meeting. The roles and responsibilities for participants at Cellars meeting are as follows:
Secretary/Treasurer
The Secretary/Treasurer provides an attendance sheet for all members to sign and a container for the meeting’s donations to be deposited by members.
Chairperson:
The Chairperson opens the meeting, introduces visitors or new members, provides a brief update on news of the group’s activities, and introduces the Cellarmaster for the meeting.
Cellarmaster(Volunteer role):
The Cellarmaster presents the 5 wines during the night. Prior to the meeting the Cellarmaster selects and purchases the wines. To ensure sufficient funding is available for the groups charitable activities the value of the wines presented is requested to average around $20 per bottle. The Cellarmaster also prepares the wine tasting evaluation sheet to be used at the meeting which lists the wines to be tasted in an evaluation and scoring table. The template for the wine tasting evaluation sheet can be downloaded here.
The Cellarmaster brings the wines and around 15 copies of the wine tasting evaluation sheet to the meeting. Each wine is introduced by the Cellarmaster and a tasting sample ( <30ml ) offered to each member. A short discussion of the wine takes place before the next wine is presented.
Bread and Cheese (Role returns):
With the easing of Covid restrictions the Bread & Cheese role returns.
Pudding (Volunteer role):
At the conclusion of the 5 tasting wine presentations the Pudding volunteer and assistant serve a dessert prepared for the meeting.
Sticky (Volunteer role):
While dessert is being served the Sticky volunteer briefly introduces and serve (<15ml per person) their selected dessert wines
Chairperson:
The Chairperson seeks volunteers for any unfilled positions for the next meeting, thanks presenters, volunteers and attendees and closes the meeting.
Secretary/Treasurer
The Secretary/Treasurer retains the attendance sheet and secures a copy of the wine evaluation sheet for the club records as well as reimbursing the Cellarmaster for the cost of the presentation wines.
Members
Members where possible, assist with the cleaning of glasses and plates and the removal of chairs and tables to the storage area for the restoration of the committee room to its pre-meeting state. In this post-Covid era, special care needs to be taken to ensure all surfaces are carefully cleaned with soap or other appropriate disinfecting agents.