The Cambarn Dining Club

I have been in the wine trade for 20 years. My passion for wine started early, helping my Grandfather in the family vineyard just outside Bath (yes English wine) in the 1970s. The wine was mediocre at best but it appealed very much as a lifestyle. Visiting vineyards in France from my late teens onwards meant that I ‘discovered’ food as well – and I love my food. It is a source of great distress to most of my family that I am tall and as thin as a string bean and yet I can (and do) eat like a horse without turning into a 225 litre oak barrique. I have been very fortunate over many years to enjoy great wine with great food. It’s what life is all about (and maybe a couple of other minor things…).

Richard Household, June 2014

A quest & missing ingredients

So the Club was born to continue my quest to find the best wines to accompany the best food. The missing ingredient? Friends. Yes, corny and clichéd I know but what makes a great evening is the company you share it with. No networking, no cliques, no pretentiousness (apart from me), no complaining, no singing. Just like-minded high calibre people who want to enjoy themselves with absolutely no agenda.

The only structure to the dinners is that wines will be tasted blind. They can be discussed or not but they will have been perfectly matched with the wonderful food we will eat. Knowing the label in advance can prejudice our views and these evenings should be pure and unadulterated enjoyment of the good things in life.

What's in a name?

Cambarn was the name of the vineyard my Grandparents planted in Somerset. It is somewhere I have very fond memories – from growing up as a child to the fabulous parties we had there. The label was designed by my Grandmother paying homage to the great Chateau Mouton Rothschild and playing on the family name of Roughton.