Regional News
We welcome the latest news from our Chairs from the regions, Chris Ankner (Americas), Michael Tamburri (Asia Pacific) and Stephen Harrison (Europe Africa) – a special welcome to Stephen who was recently appointed Chairman of EA.
AMERICAS - Chris Ankner
We have three wonderful festivals planned in 2026 - we are returning to Paris & Bordeaux in May with a new itinerary - staying at the legendary 5 star Palace hotel, Le Bristol in Paris and exclusive visits to the greats of Bordeaux including châteaux Margaux, Palmer and Figeac. In June we are heading to Walla Walla in June and then Mexico City in November.
In early January, you are going to receive an invitation to our latest Festival in Walla Walla Washington in June. Everybody knows about the incredible variety of highly rated wines that come out of Washington State, but few people ever visit the area. Unlike Napa, or even Willamette in Oregon, Eastern Washington is primarily rural. The vineyards are fired up to do a Festival with us, and we have lined up some fantastic wines and events. Steve Hipple has come out of retirement to present the best Walla Walla has to offer. More details will be out in January, but if you have an interest in visiting these great wineries, block out some time in early June.
In November we plan to go to Mexico City. That event is still in the planning stages, but I don’t see how CDMX can fail to stun. Between the pyramids, the Archeological Museum, the Historic City Center, Freida Kahlo’s house, the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe and multiple restaurants rated among the best in the world, we’ll have a bigger problem deciding what to leave out rather than what to do. We plan to showcase the wines of Latin America, which many of you know. Argentina and Chile have long been among the great wine regions of the world. Steve Greenwald is running point on the festival. He sits atop the pantheon of great Festivals and Events Chairs we’ve ever had. We’ve stacked the deck on this one.
In late January, I will be attending the Key West Food & Wine Festival. It goes on from January 28 through February 1. IWFS Americas is co-sponsoring this event. We’ve never co-sponsored an event and I’m excited to see how this turns out. I’m told that there will be great support from our relatively new Florida Keys Branch. The branch is only in its second year, but it seems to be humming. I’ve gotten to know Denise Guntert from the IWFS America’s Board of Directors and am excited by anything she’s doing. I’ve loaded up on her rookie cards.
Oh, did I not mention that we’re going back to Paris and Bordeaux in May. Maybe you’ve heard of Châteaux Margaux, Palmer, Lessègue, Figeac, Branaire-Ducru, Pichon Baron, Guiraud, or Carbonnieux. If not, perhaps you are familiar with the wines of Mouton Rothschild, Lêoville Las Cases, Cos d’Estournel, La Mission Haut-Brion, or Haut-Brion. Maybe? Don’t worry, all will be represented. By June, you’ll know them all. There is still a little space left, but you need to go to the website before year end, when we’ll close the Festival.
So, with all this festival-ing, you probably think we haven’t had time to do anything else. We have rewritten our Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation to allow the members of the Americas to directly elect their Board of Directors (thank you Lisa White). We have launched our wine and food pairing app, Ask Andrè to the membership (thank you Mark Geller) and continue to provide monthly virtual tastings (thank you Neal Vitale).
I am incredibly blessed with having a great team behind me. We’re humming like a race car. Though without the help and guidance of John Trickett and Ananth Natarajan the wheels would have fallen off by the first paragraph of this note. I can’t thank them enough.
ASIA PACIFIC – Michael Tamburri
With our magnificent festival in Malaysia (see Our Festivals) just closing in November, I also had the opportunity to visit our branches in China. As Chair of the Asia Pacific, it has been my objective for the last five years to travel and visit in person several of the branches within the region. In October I visited Chaoyang District in Beijing to award branch members for their exceptional service to the branch, since its inception in 2012.
Whilst there I took the opportunity to visit the two wineries in Hebei Province which is 100km NW of Beijing. I stayed the night at the Domaine Franco – Chinois winery which original was a joint venture with France and China governments. Then it was purchased by the Canann Winery in 2001. Now privately owned and cultivating authentic grape varieties, such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot. What was really fascinating was the development of other French varieties such as Marselan and Petit Manseng. The way the region has adopted these two varieties as their principal varieties for the region. In the white varieties they have concentrated on Riesling, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay. I was impressed by another variety which has been recently cultivated Ehrenfelser. I was told that it was a clone from the German variety of Riesling and Silvaner. I personally found this exciting in the white varieties I tasted. I found the wine versatile, modern, crisp and inviting to drink. The winemaking methods adopted by the wine maker is of high quality with hand selection of grapes and advanced wine making equipment to produce high quality wines. It was fascinating to visit the vineyard as I witnessed the end of the harvest of the Marselan grapes and was able to try the Marselan grape before it was hand harvested and the berries are selected at the winery before crushing and processing. I was amazed by the extent of the effort and practices that they use within the vineyard considering the climatic conditions of the region. The temperature ranges from 35 degrees in Summer to -25 degrees in Winter. This winter temperature that necessitates the burying of the vines under 300mls of soil from end November to early Spring. It is a picturesque area surrounded by mountains on the valley floor with a series of lakes to the south and Yantze river to the North. It is close to the Great Wall to the west and several other wineries and tourist attractions. I found it a very interesting place to visit.
On November 2nd it was a delight to participate in the celebration of the Asia Pacific Malaysian Festival. It was an honour for me to witness the dedication and coordination of respective committees of Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur showcasing their regions.
My sincere gratitude to the three Festival committees for their exemplary voluntary commitment in the celebration of 130 combined years of the Asia Pacific - Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur Branches. I was immensely proud of the way they showcased their regional culture, cuisine and camaraderie. This will be an everlasting memory for me and no doubt all the members that participated. See Our Festivals to read more…
As this is my final Asia Pacific Chair’s message for the Global Grapevine, I felt that it was important to share an extraordinary journey we had in Malaysia.
Although my term as Chair concludes in October 2026, I’ve taken the decision to stand down and commence the transition for the next incoming Chair of Asia Pacific. No doubt this gives the opportunity to continue our great journey amongst our IWFS family.
My sincere thanks to the Asia Pacific Directors and Executive Committee members that have supported and guided me in these past challenging times, and I’m honoured and privileged to have led an incredible and dedicated team. This is also a significant opportunity to regroup and grow and I encourage members to consider inviting other like-minded people to join our IWFS family.
EUROPE AFRICA – Stephen Harrison
We’ve had a fabulous response to our proposed “Judgement of Paris, 50 years on”, with branches from 5 countries planning to join possibly the largest international wine tasting ever! From the Sparkling Wines podcast we have achieved 8,000 views on Instagram, a record high for one of our posts, and which has been spreading the word about the IWFS far and wide. Plans are also underway for our 2026 Chef’s competition – now in its fifth year.
The original Judgement rocked the world of wine when relatively unknown Californian wines outscored prestigious wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy. The event transformed the world of wine, overturning the notion that only French wines were of high quality and paved the way for a new generation of winemakers around the world.
50 years on, we want to showcase our Society’s global reach with a series of tasting events. During the week leading up to Saturday 23rd May, branches will hold tastings with as many members as possible, delivering their own unique “Judgements”. We’ll collate results in London before media announcements of the results on Sunday 24th May.
Any help you can give by organising a tasting, either as a Branch or more informally as a group of friends, would be greatly appreciated.
Wine Blast
Building on the excellent "Sparkling Wines of the World" Monograph, author Essi Avellan MW and Mimi Avery took part in the popular Wine Blast podcast, which is available to stream free of charge at: https://susieandpeter.com/podcast/ - it’s well worth a listen, and does a great job in publicising the IWFS. Particular thanks to Andrea Warren, for the international focus and to Phillip Kim and Clare Gill, from EA, for being part of the production team. On the back of the broadcast, the Society has sold a growing pile of monographs, and the EA hit a new record for an Instagram post of over 8,000 views – almost entirely people who have never heard of us before.
Young Chef Competition
The 2026 competition is about to start, with a record list of colleges taking part with ‘Simple is More’ is the theme. This year, we’re launching an IWFS-branded wine tutorial online video series which will be available to all participating students. This addresses a major gap in the curriculum at colleges and has been widely welcomed by senior tutors. We’ll be posting the series onto our websites for all members to enjoy.
