Winemaker

Mark Abernethy

Discipline: Winemaker
Based in: La Junta, Chile
Venue: Tepaluma Distillery · Distillery

i. Biography

Since 2017, Mark Abernethy has been the co-founder and master distiller of Tepaluma Distillery in La Junta, Chile, working whisky and gin in a setting where landscape is part of the production context. The move from downtown Antwerp, Belgium, brought a cosmopolitan chapter into contact with a more remote one, and the shift points to the practical scale of the work: building a distillery with intention, in a place defined by distance, quiet, and the demands of nature.

At a Glance - Role: co-founder and Master Distiller. - Place: La Junta, Chile. - Year: 2017. - Craft focus: whisky and gin. - Earlier chapter: downtown Antwerp, Belgium, where he described a cosmopolitan life before the move.

Signature

Mark's signature wines include Tepaluma Gin and Tepaluma® Gin, the Spirit of the Forest. The name is doing craft work here: it ties the spirits to place, and place to the distillery’s identity. In those bottles, the expression stays direct and legible—clear in intent, and marked by the environment that names it.

In Their Words “We saw ourselves living happy and a tad wild, dedicated to creating the best whisky possible from the purest of ingredients in the middle of vast and vibrant nature.” That line describes a working posture as much as a setting: a distillery built around ingredients, landscape, and repetition. It puts the emphasis on discipline without stripping out scale or appetite, with whisky framed as something made in close contact with place. The sentence marks the point where a possibility became a decision. For the trade, that kind of shift is familiar: a long-held idea becomes the basis for real work, and the future is taken on not because it is certain, but because it has become unavoidable.

FAQ Where does Mark Abernethy work? Mark Abernethy works at Tepaluma Distillery. Who is Mark Abernethy? He is a co-founder and Master Distiller. What is Mark Abernethy known for? He is known for distilling whisky and gin in La Junta, Chile.