A drink with…

Argentinian Valeria Gamper won the ASI Best Sommelier of the Americas 2022 contest, which was held in Santiago, Chile in February. A WSET diploma student, she currently works at Michelin two-star El Molino de Urdániz near Pamplona, northern Spain. ‘My earliest wine memory is taking a very basic three-part course as part of my hospitality degree. I remember trying one very unglamorous white, a Chardonnay. I didn’t really drink wine back then, but something within made me think, “Wow, there really must be something more to this…”

‘In the run-up to the ASI contest, I had a very strict calendar that I had to stick to because, if I didn’t, everything would have started to snowball. I had to cover theory, culinary products, tastings, spirits, service... It’s almost impossible to know everything, so simply knowing that helped me keep calm.

‘Regions and styles that excite me at the moment include wines aged under flor, which, besides Jerez, many in Spain are experimenting with. I also really enjoy wine from the Canary Islands and am an advocate for Salta’s [Argentina] high-elevation Torrontés, as it’s an underappreciated grape.

‘The most memorable wine I’ve ever drunk is Bodega Lagarde’s Mendoza Semillon 1942: pure liquid emotion. I tried this vintage for the first time at the ASI’s world competition in Mendoza in 2016. It has a very special story behind it and also shares my dad’s year of birth.

‘Drinks-wise at home, anything goes, to be honest. But I do enjoy whites. I’d rather have a glass of aromatic white, or a white blend by Susana Balbo or Luigi Bosca’s Gala 3 [Viognier-ChardonnayRiesling], for their combination of freshness and complexity, than a red.

‘It’s an honour to win the ASI Americas contest, because I competed against the best sommeliers working across both continents. It’s a privilege, but also a responsibility to represent Argentina in the world competition in Paris in 2023. It’s a great feeling – but I need to keep moving forward.’

Interview by Sorrel Moseley-Williams. To read more, visit decanter.com