Alistair Cooper is an independent British wine writer, judge, consultant and educator with over 18 years of experience in the industry. He writes for JancisRobinson.com and is a regular contributor to Decanter Magazine and Decanter.com, where he writes as a specialist on the wines of South America as well as other countries. He has written for many other publications such as The Spectator, Harpers, Meiningers Wine Business International and Drinks International.

Having studied modern languages at Newcastle University, Alistair moved to Chile and Argentina in 2002 where he lived for 4 years, working for wineries in export management. Moving back to the UK in 2006, he ventured into all aspects of trading from managing, buying and consulting for wine bars and restaurants to importing and wholesaling wines.

Having passed the WSET Diploma in 2011 as the top performing student, he was awarded the Derouet Jameson Scholarship. He went on to study for the Master of Wine and in 2017 passed the final part of the examination, the research paper. His research paper was focussed on the region of Itata in Chile.

Alistair now works as a freelance wine consultant and writer. Alistair has appeared on both television and radio in the UK, Chile and USA. He is a regular judge at The Decanter World Wine Awards and is a panel chair for the IWSC, as well as President of South America’s most prestigious wine competition, the Cata d’Or Wine Awards. Alistair is in South America several times a year, judging, educating and consulting. He has recently written a guide on the Wines of Latin America.

Alistair is also the global consultant wine buyer for the Sydney based Australian company United Cellars, Australia’s largest independent wine merchant.

Primary area(s) of work: Communication

Industry sector(s): Marketing, Journalism, Educator, Consultant, Wine judge

Wine region expertise: Argentina, Chile, France

Market expertise: South America

Specialisms: Food and wine pairing, Restaurant wines, Wine labels, Wine tourism, Wine judging