Celebrated winemaker shares his passion for wine with Guam

By Jannice Carrasco, for KUAM News 

The gentle swirl of glass, the rich aroma of grapes, and a room filled with curiosity. Guests gathered to explore the world of wine with Craig McAllister of La Crema Winery during an exclusive masterclass. 

McAllister shares what first piqued his interest in wine, the benefits of being in the wine industry and what is most rewarding. "I was born and raised in New Zealand and that’s where I got my first exposure to the wine world. I was working in hotels in New Zealand serving  and selling wine. And that really piqued my interest in wine," he said.

"Then like a lot of New Zealanders do, I traveled and I lived in the UK for about  six to seven years and then when I went back to New Zealand that’s when I really  got serious on wine and I went to college and I learned wine making and (vitti) culture at Lincoln university outside of cross church and that was really where I got the nuts and bolts of how wine is made and that was a foot in the door to start my wine career and one of the beautiful things about  the wine industry is that you can travel,so that took me to Australia. I worked several harvests in New Zealand and ultimately ended up in California at La Crema in 2007. I started there at La Crema as the harvest technologist so I was running the night shift, sort of the wine making operations and then I followed up that harvest with the harvest in Chile, one back in New Zealand, and then one in Cyprus and the Mediterranean, and I ultimately ended up back in La Crema winery in 2009 and have been there since and was really really lucky to get promoted into the head of winemaker back in 2016."

"The wine making process is a lot of fun you know, being able to see the whole process through from the vineyard to the bottle it can be challenging but it's really really rewarding when it comes all together and you get to test the results of your hard work, or everyone’s hard work,in the finished wine."

McAllister then explains the reasoning behind his visit to Guam, saying, "To talk about La Crema, to talk about the history of our our winery, and to talk about the winemaking, to talk about the grape growing regions, what goes into making the wine and even how they should be paired with food."

Guest Ana Guerra shared her thoughts on the master class, saying, "Actually it was very good, I have gone to like ibd’s classes and everything, but its very educational and that’s one of the things that is good about it from all of the wines that they serve from white all the way to Carbernet to Sauvignon Blanc to Chardonnay to Pinot to Cab."

From the first swirl to the final sip, its a passion meant to be shared. Cheers!