DWWA judge profile: Norrel Robertson MW

Norrel Robertson MW is a judge at the at the Decanter World Wine Awards (DWWA)

Norrel Robertson MW profile:

Norrel Robertson MW has been making wine in Spain for over 12 years and is currently the only Master of Wine living and working in Spain. He owns 9 hectares of Old Vine Garnacha, Macabeo and Syrah around the village of Villarroya De La Sierra, in the Comarca of Calatayud, Aragon. Norrel was born and raised in Scotland and, after graduating from Aberdeen University with a MA Honours degree in Politics and International Relations, has worked in the wine industry for the last 20 years, starting in sales, buying and product development.

In the late 1990´s Norrel decided to pursue a career in winemaking and decided the best way was to work and learn from the cellar up. Norrel went on to work vintages in Chianti in Italy, Portugal, Australia, France and Chile. From 1998 to 2000, Norrel embarked on the Master of Wine Course and became a Master of Wine in November 2000, winning the Robert Mondavi Award for the best overall theory performance in the exam.

In 2002-2003 Norrel studied the Postgraduate Viticulture and Oenology course at Lincoln University in Christchurch, New Zealand, obtaining his postgraduate qualification with distinction. In 2003, he moved to Spain to as Winemaker for International Wine Services and quickly fell in love with the old Garnacha vineyards in the area of Calatayud, Aragon and decided to start making his own wines. His company – EL ESCOCÉS VOLANTE SL (The Flying Scotsman) took off and Norrel now currently produces many award winning wines made from very specially selected vineyards at high altitude in Aragon, Spain and also has winemaking projects in Murcia, Extremadura, Castilla y Leon ,Galicia, Murcia and South Africa.

Norrel Robertson MW was first a judge at the DWWA in 2006.