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 just one session in the NZ Certificate in Wine course, included in the Cookery programme, with Joelle Thompson as my Tutor, I was hooked!

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.

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