Wine Tasting on Sea, Not Land

Making wine events less boring, is a side quest that the team consistently discussed while conceptualising events for AWR.

Shaun Foo, the Founder of Avelis Lifestyle Yacht and a wine lover himself, echoes the same thought. That is how we eventually decided to do a wine tasting event together. And not on land, but on sea.

Finding a yacht with sufficient size to fit twenty attendees while having a space to host a wine tasting was not a difficult task as I had initially thought, thanks to the number of yachts that Avelis has on deck.

Many standard yacht charter companies in Singapore rinse and repeat the same formula according to Shaun, “the same anchorage, same water toys, then back to the marina”.

“What Avelis is looking to build is curation,” shares Shaun. “Working with partners like AWR to bring like-minded people together around something they actually care about. Wine is one version of it.”

When speaking to Moritz about the wines, we spoke of wines with a link to the sea. In the end, these three producers were chosen: Michael Cruse's Cruse Wine Co to represent California’s maritime climate, Gentle Folk from marine biologist and seaweed scientists turned winemakers Gareth and Rainbo Belton in Adelaide Hills and Clive Dougall and Peter Lorimer’s Deep Down Wines from Marlborough's maritime climate, winemakers Clive Dougall and Peter Lorimer.

Both 2022 Chardonnay from Gentle Folk stole the hearts of the event attendees, sparking a debate over their preference between the leaner Scary Gully or the textured Piccadilly. Without a doubt, both bottles expresses the lands of Forest Range and Piccadilly Valley respectively — with one being on shallow quartz and sandstone soils at higher altitude, and the other with deeper soils and better sun exposure. While I generally preferred a more mineral and austere style, both bottles showed depth, unravelling layers on my palate that.