Jorge Gutierrez
Chile
Jorge gave up a big paycheck and now makes mouthwatering wines exclusively for Angels
Jorge spent a decade working at one of Chile’s poshest wineries, Montes. He’s the genius behind their iconic ‘M’ and ‘Purple Angel’ wines as well as their famous ‘Napa Angel’ so you can bet this guy knows his stuff!
We met him in a hotel lobby on a scouting trip to Chile. He walked over, hands full of unlabelled sample bottles and, the second we cracked one open, we knew we couldn’t let him walk away.
He gave up the big paycheck back in 2016 to follow his dream and become an independent winemaker. The road has been hard, his time split between making wine and making pants at his mum’s business to pay the bills, but Angel funding means he’ll now be able to focus 100% on his wines (and get some proper labels on the bottles too!)
Vineyard Location
Jorge Gutierrez's Story
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A couple of years ago our Wine Guy Eamon went on a scouting trip to Chile, where he unearthed exciting new winemaking talents like Edgard Carter and Luca Hodgkinson. It was on that trip that he also met Jorge. Jorge brought along a couple of sample bottles of red, without labels on, and as he poured he explained how he’d made the wines in his spare time while moonlighting as the admin guy for his mum’s underpants business. As you can imagine, expectations were low! But the second Eamon tasted the wine, his jaw dropped. It was utterly delicious. Jorge explained he’d just spent a decade working for Montes – one of Chile’s premium brands. Their best kit sells for around £40 to £50 a bottle. Turns out he’d made their iconic ‘M’ and ‘Purple Angel’ wines, and he was the genius behind their famous ‘Napa Angel’ when Montes launched in California. He'd given up the big Montes paycheque in 2016, when he took the leap to follow his dream as an independent winemaker. Since then he’s had to sacrifice a lot, and the road has been hard. Right now he splits his time between making wines, and making pants at his mum’s business to pay the bills. So he only produces small volumes, which he mostly sells underground in mates’ restaurants, supper clubs and wine societies in Santiago, hand-writing on the bottles because he can’t afford to print labels. Angel funding is going to make the world difference to Jorge and really put him, and Paradones in the Colchagua Valley, firmly on the map. He's excited. We're excited. So watch this space!
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