Len Evans (wine columnist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Leonard Paul Evans AO OBE (31 August, 1930 - 17 August 2006) was an English-born Australian promoter, maker, judge, taster, teacher and drinker of wine. The Oxford Companion to Wine writes that he did "... more to advance the cause of wine in Australia than any other individual." Others have referred to him as "the godfather of the Australian wine industry" and "Australia’s leading ambassador of wine."

Len Evans was born in Felixstowe, England. He migrated to New Zealand in 1953, then to Australia in 1955. After various experiences, he became the first regular wine columnist in Australia (1962), he was the founding director of the Australian Wine Bureau (1965), and he wrote the first major encyclopedia of Australian wine (1973). He was one of the first leaders to recognize that the future of Australian wine lay in table wines rather than in the sweet fortified wines in which the country then specialized.

Evans was Chairman of Rothbury Wines since its founding in 1969 until 1996, and Petaluma from 1978 until 1992. He was Chairman of Evans Wine Company since 1996, Evans Family Wines from 1980 and Tower Estate since its founding in 1998.

Len Evans transformed the blind tasting of wine into a competition sport through his creating and developing the options game in which competitors attempt to identify the identity of wines.

Because of his achievements, he has received many awards, including Epicurean Award for services to the Wine & Food Industry, the Charles Heidsieck Award for Wine Writing, Personalitee de l'Annee, (1986) Paris (Oenology section - Gastronomy), Chevalier de l'Ordre Merite Agricole (French Government), first Life Member of the Society Of Wine Educators (1995), elected Member of the College of Patrons of the Australian Wine Industry, Restaurant Association Hall of Fame, Decanter' Magazine - International Award for "Man of the Year," and appointed as an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia.

After a history of heart disease dating from 1976, Len Evans died of a heart attack on 17th August 2006, in Newcastle, New South Wales.


[edit] See also

[edit] Sources

 This wine-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../l/e/n/Len_Evans_%28wine_columnist%29_3850.html"