Rafael Urrejola, as head winemaker of Undurraga, is the leader of the entire winemaking operation, giving guidance and instructions to his team who each manage specific ranges or wines from entry-level to higher end including still, sparkling and late harvest wines. Furthermore he is personally in charge of Undurraga’s flagship wines Altazor, Trama, Founder´s Collection, and the emblematic T.H. -Terroir Hunter- range.
Rafael joined Viña Undurraga in 2007. He initially joined the team to specifically oversee one of our globally best-known brands, T.H. (Terroir Hunter) and then more recently, in 2013, he took over the winery’s premium lines and simultaneously became head winemaker.
Since joining, and because of his involvement from the outset in the T.H. project, Rafael has spent a great deal of time understanding Chile’s diversity with regards to the vineyards , and it is in this area that he has proven to have a particular interest in the soil types and a natural ability to detect and manage special micro-lots.
Prior to joining Undurraga, “Rafa”, as he is more commonly known, worked as Head Winemaker at Viña Leyda, from the very beginning of the viticulture development in San Antonio and Leyda Valley. There, he made a range of Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay wines, many of which won important international awards.
Rafael has travelled extensively within Chile and globally always with a desire to gain a greater knowledge and exposure to the array of different terroirs. He spent many harvests working in wineries including: Saintsbury winery (Carneros, California), Viña Montes (Chile), Gainey Vineyard (Santa Barbara, California), Domaine Jacques Prieur (Mersault, Burgundy, France) and Paul Ginglinger (Alsace, France).
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Among his many achievements, include being selected Winemaker of the Year 2009 by the Círculo de Cronistas Gastronómicos de Chile (Chilean Circle of Food & Wine Writers). Further accolades have followed; in 2014, he was nominated as one of the 30 best young winemakers in the world by U.K. magazine The Drinks Business and in the same year he was nominated as one of the three best red wine winemakers in the world by The International Wine Challenge (U.K.).
Other notable highlights of his already impressive career include in 2009, T.H. Sauvignon Blanc Lo Abarca 2008 won the International Trophy for the Best Sauvignon Blanc in the World at the UK’s prestigious 2009 Decanter World Wine Awards. He repeated the feat three years later, in 2012, with Leyda Pinot Noir 2010, and again in 2015, when the 2012 vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon Alto Maipo was recognized as the best in the world at the 2015 International Wine & Spirits Competition.
In addition Viña Undurraga has been included in the Top 100 Wineries of the Year by Wine and Spirits Magazine in 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023. In 2016 Undurraga was nominated to New World Winery of the Year by Wine Enthusiast. All these mentions where given for T.H. –Terroir Hunter- wines.
In 2017, Rafael was named as The Winemaker of the Year by Tim Atkin MW, one of the most influential wine critics in Europe, in his Special Wine Report on Chile.
Rafa was also chosen Red Winemaker of the Year by International Wine Challenge 2023, positioning him as one of the 5 best winemakers in the world, truly unprecedented for the Chilean and Latin American wine industry. Continuing with the same streak, he was chosen as the Winemaker of the Year by Alistair Cooper MW by Catado’r 2023.
When Rafa is not up to his neck in grapes or digging holes in Chilean vineyards he enjoys relaxing with his wife Macarena and their children, listening to good music and ideally with a decent glass of wine or often beer in his hand!