Master Winemaker 100: Cynthia Ortiz
The winemaker at Chile’s Viña La Rosa features in this year’s Master Winemaker 100 guide. She tells db about wishing the world of wine was less elitist, designs on Kilamanjaro and learning from her dog, Meru.
Cynthia Ortiz began her professional career at various renowned Chilean wineries, including Cono Sur, Casa Lapostolle and Aquitania. With this firm foundation in place, she then travelled to Napa Valley to deepen her understanding of premium red wines at Silver Oak, before working with several producers in Spain’s Manchuela region. Ortiz’ curiosity and desire to learn have also taken her to Rioja, Burgundy, Italy and Bordeaux. Today, alongside her day job at Viña La Rosa in Peumo, Ortiz regularly judges at national and international wine competitions, as well as being vice-president of the Cachapoal Wine Route, where she spearheads initiatives to strengthen the wine identity of the valley. She spends any free time practising her great passion: mountaineering.
A wise person once told me to enjoy the simple things: go for walks, sleep enough and smell everything you can. It wasn’t a person who taught me that; it was my dog, Meru.
A great wine should make you feel something, give you an authentic experience.
A great winemaker should remain constantly learning; be able to read a place, a terroir, and capture it in a bottle, creating wines with a true sense of identity.
Perfection is simplicity.
The thing I’d most like to change about the wine world is how distant wine can feel to so many people, how elitist it sometimes becomes. I wish the wine world felt closer, more joyful, simple and shared.
I wish I could tell the consumer who drinks my wine that it makes me deeply happy every time I see someone enjoying my wines. Each bottle carries a piece of our land and our people.
The last time I asked a sommelier for advice, he told me to try, mix, pair unusual things, make mistakes and create your own pairings. There are no strict rules when curiosity is involved.
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If I couldn’t be a winemaker, I’d be a perfumer or a tea sommelier – any craft where I could use my senses deeply. To me, enjoying aromas and flavours is something truly wonderful.
I wish our vineyards could live for many more years in a healthy, sustainable and environmentally respectful way, so they can keep telling our story long after we’re gone.
My next ambition is to climb Kilimanjaro and enjoy a glass of Chenin Blanc on the way down.
If I won the lottery, I’d travel the world discovering cultures, wines and mountains without the rush of time. Wine and mountains have been two fundamental parts of my life; they’ve given me unique experiences and the chance to meet wonderful people who accompany me along the way.
If there were more hours in the day, I’d spend more time walking barefoot on the grass, playing with Meru and enjoying good wine and conversation.
When it’s all going wrong, I hug my dog, take a deep breath; sometimes I cry, other times I pour myself a glass of wine and start again.
My desert island wine would be… Well, first I’d change the scenery a little and go to a deserted mountain instead. I’d take a wine that invites reflection, one that connects me with the beauty and immensity of nature. I imagine a snow-covered mountain, so I’d choose our Cabernet Franc from La Palmería with its forest, wildflower and berry aromas.
Cynthia Otriz’s Master medals
La Rosa Carmenere 2022 & Cuvée Don Reca 2020, The Global Carménère Masters 2025.
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