Len Evans (wine)

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, of Welsh parents and was educated at Framlingham College. 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 recognise that the future of Australian wine lay in table wines rather than in the sweet fortified wines in which the country then specialized.

In 1967, Evans co-authored a book with expert gourmet Graham Kerr, The Galloping Gourmets. The two got their nickname from a 35-day worldwide trek to the finest restaurants around the globe. The Galloping Gourmet persona, however, became more associated with Kerr, who would later host a globally syndicated cooking show, The Galloping Gourmet.

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. Tower Estate is now owned by the Evans' family close friends the Cowley family. Matthew Cowley is a director and CEO and Ken Cowley, formerly chief executive at News Ltd, is the chairman.

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 wines.

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Wikipedia