Alfredo Vidaurre/Montes Winery Scholarship winner announced

Published: 15 April, 2010

A Bibendum Wine employee has won the third annual Alfredo Vidaurre/Montes Winery Scholarship.

Jennifer Docherty, was given the award by the Institute of Masters of Wine and Montes Winery, South America.

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 in London.

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 study its terroir, growing conditions, and winemaking.

Docherty won 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.

She 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 her 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.

More than 240 students from 24 countries are currently studying Institute of Masters of Wine education programme, which leads to the Masters of Wine examination.

Printer friendly version