Villa Maria wine event at Avenue HQ

Firstly, briefly praising Avenue HQ again. They kindly changed my subscription from the 10 day a month to a one day a month charge. I needed to do this as I will be starting a new technical author contract. ( I do occasionally need to earn some money) At short notice, they changed my charges. (Thanks Savannah).
I kept a subscription going because of some of the great events that they do. Such as the one described here. As a member I can still go to these.
Would you believe it, it was another wine tasting event. Not mine this time, but organised by Villa Maria. They are a New Zealand winery, and have outlets here to promote their wines. And a good time was had by all (again).

But the main part of the evening was a talk by Judi James
She is on TV sometimes talking about the psychology and relationship interactions on shows such as Big Brother and Love Island. (I shouted out a bit too loudly that I never watch Love Island, everybody seemed to notice.) A very interesting talk too, with good interaction from the guests/audience.

Onto the wines. Here are all four wines that were kindly on offer, a glass of each free, courtesy of Villa Maria (but they kindly gave me an extra glass of the red, thanks).

All four wines were very good, but if I had to pick favourites, it would be the Bin Rosé and the Sauvignon Blanc.

I had been introduced to New Zealand wines at the Yorkshire Wine School.
And where previously I had not been too keen on ‘Sauvignon Blanc’ I did enjoy the one from New Zealand. Talking about this with the charming Villa Maria brand ambassador Angela Lewis, New Zealand is famous for this type of wine, and it is the wine they export the most. Tasting the one from Villa Maria, I can see why. It really was a delightful fruity wine. A perfect summer drink. From now on, if I want a Sauvignon Blanc, I will get ones from New Zealand only.

I had the chance to test this when I was on a flight from London Gatwick to St Lucia in the Caribbean, and saw a French Sauvignon Blanc on the wine list to have with my meal. So I had to try it, and it was OK but definitely nowhere near as good as the one I tasted from Villa Maria. (Stay tuned for a post about my wine tasting in St Lucia coming soon).

By coincidence, when I was at a restaurant elsewhere a few days later, I spotted another Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc on the wine list.

Obviously a well known and popular winery, And having now tasted several of their wines, I can see why.