Having studied modern languages, particularly Spanish, at Newcastle University, Alistair moved to Chile and Argentina in 2002 where he lived for four 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 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 with a research paper focused on the southern Chilean region of Itata. Alistair now works as a freelance wine consultant and writer. He is a regular judge at the Decanter World Wine Awards and is a panel chair for the International Wine & Spirit Competition, 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 also works as the consultant wine buyer for the Australian company United Cellars, Australia’s largest independent wine merchant, for whom he sniffs out wines of real interest, just as we hope he will for visitors to JancisRobinson.com.
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