The
Best Wine South Florida in America
is in
Over 850 of the country’s best wines made their way to South Florida as we celebrated the 10th annual American Fine Wine Invitational and Gala. This event takes place over the early months of 2017 and showcases top American winemakers and labels, whose wines are judged blindly by 24 nationally-renowned industry professionals. One of the differentiating factors that separates this competition from others is that winemakers must be invited to enter their wines, maintaining their exclusivity as the largest American-only Invitational and Gala in the world. The American Fine Wine Invitational and Gala (AFWI) began in 2007 as the brainchild of three wine professionals who pooled their many years of experience and broad range of wine talents together to create a unique, first-class competition in South Florida. Shari Gherman, a Miami native, is President and co-founder of the AFWI, along with Monty & Sara Preiser, who both have extensive backgrounds in the wine industry as judges, wine writers and most recently, publishers of The Preiser Key, a comprehensive guide to Napa Valley & Sonoma wineries and restaurants. Together, they organized a months-long series of events that have grown to become the largest competition open only to fine wines produced in the United States. This year’s wine judging took place over a two-day period at Florida International University’s Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management located in North Miami .
Medals from Bronze to Double Gold were awarded to the wines, with official results released several days after the judging. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the competition is not necessarily how many top-notch wines are judged blindly by a “dream team” of industry professionals, but the fact that the AFWI has raised thousands of dollars for South Florida charities each year since its inception. A different local charity is selected to be the recipient of proceeds raised from all the events surrounding the Invitational and Gala auction each AFWI season. This year’s Charity Wine Gala is on Saturday, April 29th and supports the Dolphins Cancer Challenge. The Gala is open to the public and offers an exclusive opportunity for South Florida wine-os to get up-close and personal with award-winning winemakers and wines. If you would like more information about the American Fine Wine Competition, or to purchase tickets for the charity gala or any tasting seminars, visit americanfinewinecompetition.org, or e-mail Shari Gherman at Shari@AFWCandGala.com. Jacqueline Coleman is a certified Sommelier and 4th generation Miamian, born and raised in Coral Gables. You can find her musings about the “wine lifestyle” on her blog, History & Wine (historyandwine.com), or follow her on Twitter @HistoryandWine.