Sobell House runner tastes 25 glasses of wine during London marathon

Tom Gilbey sampled 25 wines during the London Marathon, raising more than £14,000 for charity Sobell in the process

Tom Gilbey
Published 24th Apr 2024

Tom Gilbey, 52, swapped the gels and traditional supplements for reds and whites as he completed the race, tasting a different wine at every mile.

He started out strong at mile one, identifying a 2018 Burgundy pinot noir, and went on to name, "mostly correctly", 21 wines, getting four wrong.

With two glasses stashed in his running belt, the wine connoisseur challenged himself to name each wine's vintage, grape and producer.

But as the finish line got closer, the challenge became a bit of a blur for Tom, whose predictions began to stray further from the mark.

Tom's crazy idea was part of a fundraiser to help Oxfordshire based charity Sobell house where his mother spent her final days.

"Tom is a hospice hero, and we are so grateful to him and all our other amazing marathon runners who have raised over £51,000 so far," said Amelia Foster, chief executive of Sobell House.

"Hospices help people live life to the full while they can and to have as good a death as possible when the time comes. It's hard to talk about, but so important, and Tom is certainly living life to the full in memory of his dear mum, Caroline."

Tom known on TikTok as the ‘‘wine guy’’, went viral on social media after he was filmed tasting the 25 different wines during the race.

By this morning, he had raised over £15,900 for Sobell House, which is an incredible achievement.

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