It's been many years since we welcomed Brian Davis to our Society, so it will be great to have him back. Brian is a specialist wine educator passed his WSET Diploma in 1999 and regularly runs wine tasting events across Surrey and Berkshire. He'll be presenting wines from Southern Italy, always a popular choice with our members.
This month we're delighted to welcome Richard and Eka, who together run Taste of Georgia. We're very excited to be able to explore this Eastern European region and its wines which are the product of 8000 years of unbroken wine-making heritage. Nevertheless, it's a region which may well be unfamiliar to some of our members. So it's a great opportunity to come along and taste some wines from their portfolio.
It's always a privilege to welcome a Master of Wine to our Society, especially so when they are presenting to us for the first time. Jeremy is Master of Wine at Amathus Drinks PLC, a UK national wholesaler importer and distributor. He has 20 years wine industry experience, both in the UK and Australia. The Amathus portfolio of Greek wines brings us some the best available in the UK. So this is sure to be a popular evening.
This month we welcome back Dan Farrell-Wright, Director of Wickhams, an online wine merchant. They recently took first place in the International Wine Challenge Awards ‘Specialist Merchant of the Year England’ category. Dan will be presenting a selection of wines from Beaujolais and Burgundy.
This month we're delighted to welcome Duncan Ross, who is Sales Account Manager at Berkmann Wine Cellars. Duncan will be presenting wines from Argentina, the largest wine producer in South America and the fifth largest in the world. Key wineries represented will be Pulenta Estate and Bodega Norton. And reds will dominate!
We start our autumn tastings by welcoming back Janina Doyle, one of our most popular previous speakers. Since Janina was last with us in 2019, she has moved on to Balfour Winery in Kent, where she is Brand Ambassador. Balfour Winery is one of England’s leading wine producers, pioneers for both English traditional method sparkling wines, and a new wave of English white and red still wines.
We welcome Fliss Syrad, who is presenting to us for the first time. Fliss holds the prestigious WSET Diploma, and was recently awarded the Vintners Cup for coming top of all Diploma students worldwide. Fliss will present some top wines of New Zealand to us this evening.
In November we'll be welcoming David Wright, owner of David Alexander Wines. They are an importer, wholesaler and retailer of wine. David will present wines from Germany.
Tonight we'll be celebrating Christmas! And we're going to do that in style by raiding the Chair's Cellar! Yes, Keith will be digging deep into his cellar to bring you some superb wines, which will hopefully get us in the mood for the upcoming Christmas celebrations.
To start the new year, we welcome Richard Addison. He's a specialist in wines from the Swartland Region of South Africa. Swartland is a relatively young wine region, which has risen in popularity in the last 10 to 15 years. It is attracting many upcoming winemakers who make world class wines that have put this region on the map. Chenin Blanc and Syrah are sure to be included.
It should be a fun and fascinating evening to start the new year!