A Tasting of 100 AWEsome Wines – Association of Wine Educators

Earlier this month I ran a tasting, using examples of the 2024 edition of 100 AWEsome Wines.

I had a good budget from a Wine Club which enabled me to source interesting styles. The Wine Club requested a Sparkling Wine, 3 Whites and 3 Reds.

I chose:

Furleigh Estate Dorset Special Reserve English Brut NV, Dorset, England

Morande One to One Gewurztraminer 2023, Casablanca Valley, Chile

CUNE Barrel Fermented Rioja Blanco, 2021, Rioja, Spain

Santa Tresa Frappato, 2022, Vittoria, Sicily, Italy

Albert Road Pinot Noir 2022, Western Cape, South Africa

Porta 6 2022, Lisbon, Portugal

Domaines Schlumberger ‘Spiegel’ Pinot Gris Gr. Cru 2021, Alsace, France

These wines are available from Waitrose and Majestic, so it is easy for the members of the Wine Club to purchase the wines, should they wish.

I found that the participants were very receptive to trying styles and varietals that were unknown to them, and they were pleasantly surprised that they did enjoy new tastes. People expressed their pleasure by scoring the wines at the end of the tasting and overall felt confident to look at our list of 100 AWEsome Wines and to experiment with other wine varietals and styles.

Having the opportunity to introduce people to new wines that offer quality and value is always fun, and being able to receive a fee from AWE to promote our choice of wines from the 100 AWEsome Wines collection is an added bonus.

I hope other AWE members can follow me in spreading the news about our eclectic range of recommended wines.

Vivienne Franks