Tori Haysom: From NZ to South America – My Wine Journey So Far

Tori Haysom

Kiwi born and bred, however with an international twist, my sister and I were brought up by two very social, food, wine and travel-loving parents. Having an international pilot as our dad meant we were very fortunate to experience the world as part of our childhood. This included Europe adventures and sips of vino along the way.    

After working in hospitality, nutrition and food production, I enrolled in Celia Hay’s New Zealand School of Food and Wine for the Certificate in Cookery with the aim of becoming a chef. I do recall Celia’s recommendation to also complete the Professional Wine (Sommelier) programme, to which I politely said, “no thank you” not realising how complex and exciting wine study could be. However, Celia knew something I didn’t, and after just one session in the NZ Certificate in Wine course, included in the Cookery programme, with Joelle Thompson as my Tutor, I was hooked!

This changed my career direction toward the wine industry. I completed the Professional Wine (Sommelier) course which included WSET Level 3. These qualifications lead me to gain work firstly at Glengarry Wines, and for 6 years as Account Manager for wine importer and distributor Dhall and Nash Fine Wines and now the Wine and Guest Experience lead at the newly opened venue The Wine Room, in Freemans Bay. In recent years, I enrolled in the WSET Diploma in Wines with Jane Skilton MW at The NZ School of Wine & Spirits. This is a very thorough and internationally recognised qualification that is tough, but worth pursuing.

This blog is about realising that when you are in pursuit of knowledge and you genuinely want to excel, that wonderful opportunities will come to you.

WSET Marcia Waters Vintner’s Bursary Award

During my WSET Diploma study, I was not aware there were awards for exams and gaining distinction in my Wine Business paper (which helped my confidence that I was in the right career) was enough of a personal achievement that I was proud of. But it turned out that I had also won the Marcia Waters Vintner’s Bursary Award – an Award dedicated to another impressive female Master of Wine sponsored by the Worshipful Vintners Company in England.

After a quick Google, I found that this company is thought of as the ‘Spiritual home’ of Wine Business in England, managing both the quality of wines and wine trading since Medieval times, with a more current focus of maintaining tradition and supporting the Wine Industry.

The Bursary itself simply required that I visit a wine producing region to study it. Being given free rein to choose any wine producing region in the entire world was quite the (fortunate) challenge – as it would be for any wine enthusiast who has studied wine and become lost down the rabbit hole… or down the wine trail, more fittingly.

In the end I chose Mendoza, Argentina as my main wine region - This was for a few reasons:

1) This was a weak point in my wine knowledge

2) March was perfect timing for harvest including great weather

3) South America was a continent that I had not yet set foot in.  

I quickly realised the only direct flights from New Zealand to South America were to Santiago, Chile – so I couldn’t help but take the opportunity to visit both Chile and Argentina. Luckily upon reviewing my wine maps, I noticed just how close Santiago and Mendoza are.

Mendoza in March

Due to many harvest events being held at the beginning of March in Mendoza, I decided to start in Argentina and come back to Chile. I was told by local contacts there is a stunning crossing over the Andes and that I should go by road one way and by plane the other to get the best of both worlds.

Taking this advice, I took an 8-hour double-decker bus ride across the border. This included famous pin turns around precarious roads in a top floor corner window seat with panoramic views that was highly (but also cautiously) recommended online. Aside from mild vertigo, the bus ride gave me an immediate perspective of the beauty and sheer size of this mountain range. A helpful perspective given the Andes not only provide water to the vineyards in the form of snow melt, but they also provide many different altitudes which affect the style of wine produced.

Mendoza, I learned, has sub regions in four of five Winkler scale divisions due to this! There is also a diversity of soils due to the Andes formation as well as alluvial fans  other volcanic activity.