2009 Alfredo Vidaurre/Montes Winery Scholarship Winner Announced
The Institute of Masters of Wine and Montes Winery S.A. are delighted to announce London-based Jennifer Docherty as the winner of the third annual Alfredo Vidaurre/Montes Winery Scholarship.
Open to candidates around the world at any stage of their Institute studies, the scholarship consists of a US $10,000 travel bursary to visit Chile to further the recipient’s knowledge about its terroir, growing conditions, and winemaking.
A native of Vancouver, Canada, and a former fashion designer, Jennifer is a second-year student in the Institute’s education programme and works for Bibendum Wine. She secured the scholarship with her 1,000-word essay addressing the topic of “How should Chilean wines be positioned over the next five years?” which took into account both commercial and environmental challenges.
Commenting on her success, Jennifer said: “I am delighted to be awarded this magnificent opportunity to see at firsthand Chile’s favoured growing conditions and sustainable practices. I am truly grateful to Montes for offering me this once in a lifetime adventure.”
Aurelio Montes, Founding Partner and Chief Winemaker of Montes Winery, said: “Jennifer’s essay identified the true value of Chilean wines in that they offer reliability, value, and high quality across all price points. It also pointedly observed that, in order to build long term sales, Chile needs to drive awareness of its super premium wines on a deeper level by educating consumers about its environmental superiority for growing grapes.”
Siobhan Turner, Executive Director of the Institute, said: “We are honoured to work alongside Montes to deliver and promote wine education at the highest level. The Alfredo Vidaurre/Montes Winery Scholarship offers the winning student an exceptional opportunity to visit and increase their knowledge of Chile and its wines. Jennifer has proved herself to be a talented student in her studies with us and we are delighted that she will have the opportunity to benefit from this very generous scholarship.”
Jennifer follows in the footsteps of Mark Janes, who was the recipient of the 2008 scholarship. Upon his return from Chile, Mark said: “I left Chile immensely optimistic about the wine industry there. In fact, I believe no other place in the world has the potential Chile does in producing wines in the premium price range in a fruit-driven, yet fresh and not overdone style with a wide range of varietals and expressions of place.”
Montes is a totally Chilean-owned, boutique winery, created in 1988 with the unique mission of producing exclusively premium wines. Montes pioneered the Chilean ultra-premium wine category, first with Montes Alpha “M”, a groundbreaking wine that set new quality standards for Chile. Next came Montes Folly, the first Syrah produced in Colchagua, and most recently Montes Purple Angel, its first Carmenère-based wine.
The Institute of Masters of Wine is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the highest educational and professional standards in the global wine trade. It was founded in London in 1955 and today it is a truly international organisation with a membership of 279 individual Masters of Wine based in 22 different countries. More than 240 students from 24 countries are currently studying in its education programme, which leads to the Masters of Wine Examination.