ON THE LIST | Lucy Meza Ortega
Lucy Meza Ortega was born in Brussels, where she began working in hospitality before studying hospitality management in Valais. After stints in both Japan and Chile, she returned to Geneva and then to London. There she met Eric Zwiebel MS, who convinced her to specialise as a sommelier, and became her mentor. After working with him at the renowned Dorset hotel Summer Lodge, she joined 67 Pall Mall London in 2020 before, in November 2021, moving to open our Verbier Club where she is now Head Sommelier
‘I’ve always been fascinated by “terroir wines”. But terroir is a concept that’s difficult to grasp, even for committed wine lovers. We know that the variety of soils in the vineyard, allied to the grape variety, can greatly impact the resulting wine. But understanding how and why can be tricky – and in my opinion, can only be done through tasting and comparing wines.
‘Luckily, the list at 67 Pall Mall Verbier affords plenty of opportunities for doing just that. And while Alsace is an obvious jumping off point, renowned worldwide for the diversity of its soils, we have another example of the power of terroir even closer to home. Valais, home to the Verbier Club, is hugely diverse in terms of soils due to the convergence of three tectonic plates (I’ll spare you the intricate geological details). And Pinot Noir, a famously soil-expressive grape, is the perfect vessel for showcasing these differences.
‘An interesting tasting would be to try Jean-René Germanier’s Pinot Noir de Vex, Clos de la Couta and Provins’ Domaine de Beuble, side-by-side. Both vineyards are set on the glacial moraine but have different origins. Beuble’s limestone-pure soils provide the wine with a beautiful freshness and lightness that yields just-ripe red berries, whereas Clos de la Couta’s shale brings a deepness to the wine, enhanced by the smokiness of the soil.
‘I find some grape varieties express their origins and environment more strongly than others. Syrah does so beautifully. Consider a wine like Craggy Range’s 2016 Le Sol, from Gimblett Gravels in New Zealand, where rows and rows of vines are planted on stony alluvial soils in the deserted bed of the Ngaruroro River in Hawke’s Bay. And then compare it to Delas Frères’ Côte-Rotie Seigneur de Maugiron from the same vintage, and a site where vines are barely hanging onto the steep slopes of ferrous shale and gneiss. Both beautiful wines, but so, so different, all because of the terroir – and great examples of wine’s endlessly fascinating variety.’
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WHAT
I’VE
LEARNED
Olivier Humbrecht MW, Zind Humbrecht
IN
THE
VINEYARD
Klein Constantia, South Africa
UNDER
THE
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