It was a dark and stormy night at the Cherwell Boathouse on 22 March when Nancy took us deep into the depths of the forests … and led us out safely with a brilliant display of entertainment, erudition and fascinating wines.

The wine world, said Nancy, is perhaps just at the beginning of a third age of oenology. In the beginning (aka the 1970s) it was all about the cellars and the wineries. Wine, we thought, was made in the winery. Then in the 1990s came the vineyard revolution. Issues of leaf cover, planting density, vineyard management, soil treatment, micro-climatic effects dominated the discourse. And now we are entering the age of wood.

It’s not that the partnership of wood and wine is a new one. Wooden casks have been used to ferment, mature and store wine for millennia. What is new though is the technical advances that are adding science to the age-old art and expertise of the coopers.

‘Mountain Wines’ was the title and mountain wines we got. Eight fascinating wines from the Alto Adige, Val d’Aosta, Switzerland, the Savoy and Jura. Collectively and individually they were a perfect expression of the Club’s mission: wines you couldn’t or wouldn’t taste on your own account. Our thanks are due not just to our presenter but to the Alto Adige Consorzio which provided many of the wines for free.And we had a perfect guide to these wines. Nancy Gilchrist MW knows the area and knows the wines and presented a compelling case for the importance of the mountain vineyards of the world as climate change takes effect.