Finding stories that inspire us have been pivotal to keep our vision moving forward. Recently, I came across Sommelier Juanita Diusaba Yusunguaira, a young Colombian citizen of the world currently living in London. Juanita will move to Washington State to pursue her dream to study enology. Her history caught me and I couldn’t help myself but to invite her to share her story with our community. – Martha
It has long been my dream to enroll in The Program of Enology & Viticulture. I appreciate the ability of wine to transport me to another place without being there. It was my father who introduced me to the fantastic culture of wine. He is a writer and his job used to take him around the world; he would bring back bottles of wine to show me and used to tell me the story behind each wine so that I could get to know the places he had visited.
That fascinated me, therefore I started traveling to other countries as well including Sweden, Denmark, Chile, Argentina, Spain, the United States and the United Kingdom. It has been a great experience for me to see how different things such as art, diversity, nature, food, wine and languages shape the experiences that people can have and my passion for wine started to develop from there.
Initially, the closest thing that enabled me to develop my connection with wine was working in the food industry, so I started working as a Pastry Chef. I focused on creating recipes, learned how to balance flavours and discovered new tastes. This was fulfilling work but was elevated to a whole new level for me when I started learning about how to pair dishes with wine.
From there, I became curious to understand more about wine including the winemaking process itself. My first real experience in vineyards and wineries began in Chile and Argentina. After I finished a Sommeliers course, I went to the vineyards in Mendoza and this piqued my interest in the winemaking process. I would like to gain more of an appreciation for the end-to-end process from the grape to the bottle as well as to learn how the elements can affect the production and taste of the wine.
In the meantime, I have been studying my courses in London at the WSET “Wine & Spirit Education Trust” and am looking forward to furthering my studies in Enology and Viticulture to take my knowledge to the next level.
I believe the enology program will be the perfect place for me to do this, given its hands-on method of study, state-of-the-art facilities and the world renowned status of the program itself. In addition, I have a few close personal connections in The United States in terms of friends and family, including my boyfriend who’s a fantastic winemaker, he has been encouraging me in putting hands on in the vines. It would be a fantastic opportunity to connect with them as well.
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On the other hand, I am interested in continuing to develop my wine tasting technique which I have started to refine since working as a Junior Sommelier (which I am doing at the moment). I would one day like to use my passion, experience and knowledge to become a winemaker, creating new wines that engage peoples’ senses and deliver a new and unique experience through each sip.
In addition, I envisage myself meeting with producers from around the world, sharing my love for wine with others, supporting small producers to bring quality wines to market and advising restaurants on how to complement great dishes with locally sourced wines. I also intend to keep my industry knowledge as well-rounded and current as possible and would love to travel around the world learning new techniques from other winemakers with the same passions and interests as myself.
Sincerely,
Juanita Diusaba Yusunguaira.
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