Stories of the nominees

News from the WTA nominees: must-vote candidates sharing their recent achievements

Great Britain/Sweden/Germany

Chris Boiling: Experimenting with unique grapes and winemaking techniques

Chris Boiling is a wine writer and winemaker. He works for William Reed, the company behind World’s Best Vineyards, World’s Best Sommeliers Selection, International Wine Challenge, and the fortnightly newsletter Canopy.

Chris Boiling

Apart from all his activities as the wine editor, wine writer and wine educator, Chris Boiling is an aspiring winemaker, experimenting with special grape varieties and wine styles at various wineries. His interest mostly focuses on Eastern Europe.

“My favourite Furmint, as I’ve said many times, is Gorca from Vino Gross. It’s named after the small town, near Ptuj (Slovenia’s oldest city), where the talented Austrian winemaker Michael Gross has three steep-terraced vineyards growing old Slovenian clones of Furmint. In 2022 I tried to team up with Michael to produce an amber Furmint. But the grapes that year were not clean enough for a skin-contact wine, so we had to abandon that idea. Instead, we co-fermented some of his Laški rizling juice and Traminer berries and put the wine in a 300L barrel for a year. The resulting wine has been bottled and will hit the market… when someone says they want to buy it! There are only 310 bottles available”, says one of Mr Boiling’s posts in his social media. 

Chris also shared some thoughts on his own vineyard, located in Jeruzalem wine hills in Slovenia: “My vineyard is my favourite spot for drinking Furmint. It’s my happy place. It’s where I make my Laški rizling and Furmint field blend. When I bought Amy, my winehouse, and old vines 15 years ago, the field blend had about 5% aromatic varieties (Yellow Muscat and Traminer). I think the Yellow Muscat has disappeared and the local deer always beat me to the remaining Traminer.

Anyhow, the photo shows my Furmint and Laški field blend, my little vineyard and food brought over by my kind neighbours. This is why it’s #1 in my list of favourite places to drink Furmint (and blends featuring Furmint).”

Besides his Slovenian endeavours, Mr. Boiling also produces his own red wine in Albania in collaboration with Max Mavrud Winery: “The co-fermentation of Debine e Zezë, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah is looking (and tasting) good. It will be blended with Mavrud (a signature local red — ed.) in a few months.”

And a cherry on top — Chris Boiling’s truly unique sparkling wine, a special blend of 50% Viktória Gyöngye (Pearl of Victoria) and 50% Grüner Veltliner, Methode Champenoise, produced In collaboration with Szilárd Nádas of Nádas Borműhely, a boutique winery in Etyek, Hungary. This new wine is still young but shows tremendous potential, according to French wine expert Jérôme Pérez. Let’s hope some of us who are lucky will be able to raise a glass of this bubbly when it’s ready. Cheers to that! 

In the meantime, please vote for Chris Boiling in the WTA Expert Opinion nomination.

Per and Britt Carlsson: Chasing New Zealand’s Pinot Noirs

Britt Karlsson and Per Karlsson, a renowned duo of experts in the world of wine, authors of the “The Wine for the Future – Sustainable, organic, natural and environmentally friendly”, a book published in 2023, owners of BKWine Tours and founding editors of BKWine Magazine, are passionate promoters of international wine tourism and creators of unique tours for winelovers from all over the world.

Per and Britt Carlsson

Soon after their amazing tour to South Africa exploring the wine scene there, Britt and Per are now touring the wineries of New Zealand, the New World’s winemaking benchmark. In her recent article published at BKWine, Britt shares the story of Pinot Noirs produced in two major wine regions of New Zealand, Central Otago and Marlborough, later on switching for the less famous Martinborough and Hawke’s Bay: “Pinot noir is not just Burgundy and Champagne. The grape is the ninth most cultivated variety in the world. It is planted on 115,000 hectares, of which roughly 30,000 hectares are in France. In other words, a lot is left for the rest of the world. In the relatively cool climate of New Zealand, it feels right at home. All wine regions in New Zealand have pinot noir vineyards; in some, it is a signature grape. Come with us on a journey through New Zealand’s wine regions and learn how great pinot can be here.” You can read the full article here.

Per and Britt Carlsson

Britt and Per are now happy to announce their three “winter” long-distance tours, heading to destinations in the south-hemisphere summer (Chile-Argentina in January, South Africa in February, and New Zealand in March). They are relatively long (ten to 16 days) but very exceptional. The expert couple is focusing on the pioneers of the modern wine industry, be it in New Zealand, South Africa, Latin America or anywhere else. Very different from when you go visiting the “globally famous” brands that are much more mainstream and touristy visits lacking a special personal touch. It is also tours that mix wine with getting to know the countries, their culture, gastronomy and nature.

Britt and Per

Here are the three programmes:

Or to get a more “live” view of what those tours are about, feel free to join Facebook groups for them:

Yet the Carlssons recommend not to neglect their European tours either: Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone in English, and much more for their Scandinavian customers: https://www.bkwinevinresor.com/).

And, of course, please don’t forget to vote for Britt and Per Karlsson, the WTA nominees in several categories:

Jürgen Diebel: Mind and Spirit

Jürgen Diebel, Germany’s most renowned spirits expert, has been committed to the world of spirits for over forty years. During this time, Mr Deibel has been collaborating with dozens of distilleries, brand suppliers, associations and industry professionals. As a qualified chemist, Jürgen Diebel has earned his great achievements primarily through his constant commitment to the image of spirits. This is just as much part of his work as the DAFS Academy of Fine Spirits, Hannover, founded in 2009,  for professional, independent spirits training. His numerous regalia include such titles and awards:

The WTA nominee in the Author of the Year category, Jürgen Diebel continues his educational activities. Most recently, he was one of the top speakers of ProSprits at ProWein 2024, hosting two overbooked sessions on the five trends in spirits and the tour for the journalists. Well done, Maestro!

Deibel

Jürgen Deibel has been nominated as the Author of the Year by WTA for being the author, co-author and editor of 40+ liquor books and articles, including “Whisky” by Michael Jackson, the “Great Whisky Book / Whisky Opus” with Gavin Smith and Dominique Roskrow, “Tequila” and “Sherry” books published by Haedecke and many other books as well as magazines, such as Bar News (Switzerland) and Brannt (Meiniger Verlag, Germany).

Don‘t miss the chance to vote for Jürgen Diebel here!