Scholarships and academic awards have been a formative part of my career. The opportunity to learn from others, getting a leg into different professional worlds, and receive an enormous motivational boost. My first scholarships came in my teens, and I am proud to say I have received scholarships and academic awards right through to my late 30s — enabling me to complete the Master of Wine program. I am a huge advocate for the importance and profound impact these opportunities can have on advancing one’s career and inspiring future paths. 

VIK Wine Lab might sound like a wild experiment, but it is fundamentally a scholarship program with an academic award as the incentive. It starts with 36 winemaking students from different universities in Chile being given an incredible opportunity to access the state-of-the-art facilities at VIK’s winery. Here, they make their own wine barrel in the cooperage and create their own wine blend.

VIK is the only winery in South America with an in-house cooperage, and the winery itself is an absolute work of art. This opportunity alone is quite unparalleled.

After several of months ageing in barrel, the wines are bottled, and then the challenge and award process begins… The 36 wines are evaluated by an expert panel to select three winners. This year, I was lucky enough to be part of that panel — and I am proud to say I was its first Lady President!

We were a group of professional tasters from Chile, Argentina, the UK, the USA, Brazil, and Portugal. Together, we evaluated the wines, gradually narrowing down the top selections from each flight, until we reached a consensus on the top three. The wines that excelled showed balance, elegance, and poise. The standard was impressively high across the board, and the three winners produced wines I would definitely love to drink over and over again. 

Over 130 people have died so far in the tragic wild fires that have ripped through Chile’s Valparaiso and Viña del Mar region this February. It the worst natural disaster in Chile since the 2010 earthquake with a quickly-climbing death toll. Here is how to help and donate to charities and people working in the region to provide relief to the people and animals affected:

Update:

Yesterday, five days after devastating wildfires took hold in Chile’s Valparaíso Region on 2 February, the fire brigade declared them to be under control. Some 1,900 volunteer firefighters were involved in the effort to combat the fires that not only ravaged forests and farmland but also rampaged through residential districts of tourist city Viña del Mar and other local towns, destroying around 14,000 homes and killing at least 131 people. 

Teams of doctors and vets are working 24/7 shifts to attend to the sick and injured. The operation to clean up the debris is just getting started and, in the meantime, a staggering number of people (and their pets) have been left homeless. Many have found refuge with friends or family, others are in temporary hostels, while others are camping out near the burned-out shells of their homes.  One thing is for certain – it’s going to be a long time before things get back to normal in this region.

National charities to support and donate to – How to help with the Chile wild fires

Desafío Levantemos Chile

This is a national charity that responds to disaster situations (https://desafiolevantemoschile.org/). They are now raising money for first aid kits and to help remove debris in the areas where homes have been burned down and will subsequently look at reconstruction efforts. 

The webpage for this campaign (in Spanish) includes a Paypal option for people donating from abroad: https://desafiolevantemoschile.org/finalizar-compra-2/?causa=levantemos-la-v-region&product_id=203157

Hogar de Cristo

This religious charity works with senior citizens, homeless and other vulnerable groups, and has set up a campaign specifically so they can give kits (masks, gloves, spades etc) to the people who lost their homes and need to remove the debris in the Manuel Bustos camp.

Website (in Spanish) includes details of how to donate within Chile or from abroad: https://hcstore.org/dona/

Un Techo para Chile

This charity mobilizes volunteers to build temporary housing, especially in the wake of disasters, in Chile. Visit their webpage for the Valparaíso fires campaign: https://cl.techo.org/techo-chile-lanza-campana-para-reconstruccion-tras-los-incendios-en-region-de-valparaiso/ 

Donations to help build temporary housing for fire victims can be made here: https://app.payku.cl/botonpago/index?idboton=26240&verif=49166b0e 

Colegio Médico Veterinario de Chile (association of Chilean vets)

I have personally observed the enormous operation being undertaken by vets from across the region and further afield. Scores of vets and vet technicians are working round the clock in the temporary veterinary hospitals that have been set up and the mobile veterinary units that are going into the devastated areas to find and treat farm animals and pets of every description, many of them with burns, respiratory problems, injuries or simply displaced or homeless.

The Colegio Médico Veterinario de Chile is accepting donations at the following bank account:

Name: Colegio Médico Veterinario de Chile

ID Number: 70020300-K

Bank: Banco Estado

Account number: 62900097382

Email: [email protected] – please put the reference “Incendios Febrero 2024”

Writing for Decanter magazine is one of the highlights of my career, and gives me a great opportunity to try wines from all over the world but also highlight some of the most exciting wines in South America. This year I was asked to pick my Top 10 South American wines for 2023, and it gave me a good opportunity to highlight some of the trends that are really changing the shape of South American wine today.

“Looking back over my tasting highlights of 2023, what really stands out is the growing mastery of South America’s winemakers with the Goldilocks varieties of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Limarí and Gualtallary are — in my opinion at least — bonafide ‘grand crus’ for these varieties, but Aconcagua Costa and Malleco are increasingly prevalent too. Tabali, Reta, Catena Zapata, Errazuriz and Vinos Baettig as notable disciples. 

That being said, it was actually the rather more unusual locations that really caught my eye this year. One of the best Chardonnays I tasted in 2023 came unexpectedly from a boutique producer in Brazil’s emerging Serra do Sudeste region. To the other extreme, deep in Argentine Patagonia, the world’s southernmost commercial winery, Otronia, has been producing excellent Chardonnay since their first vintage, but it is the new 2021 vintage of Pinot Noir that I found to be a great surprise.

From Chile, I have thoroughly enjoyed drinking Rafael Tirado’s Pinot Noir which offers excellent value for money and still begs the question as to why he is the lone producer in Maule’s Andes mountains. Another, which is not available outside of Chile yet, is JP Martin’s brilliant Pinot Noir from Huasco… made in the Atacama Desert no less!

The other variety that has really shone this year is, perhaps less surprisingly, Malbec. I particularly enjoyed the distinctive expressions coming from old vines in Maule with the wines of Reta and Miguel Torres’ Los Inquietos, and the tippy top altitude expressions of Humahuaca in Northern Argentina with Cielo Arriba. We have also seen some real leaps in quality in the Uco Valley, which continues to drive forward Argentina’s top wines. 

The long-awaited debut release from Altos Las Hormigas’ Jardin Altamira vineyard is one of the best wines I have tasted this year, and it can sit proudly alongside the other noble Malbec wines coming from Zuccardi, El Enemigo, Catena Zapata and PerSe. The wines reflect Argentina embracing a more Burgundian ethos, while bravely also showing their own distinct personality.