Written by Liza Chernobay
Photography by Aman Kaur
Liv and I first met as I pitched an article to The Beaver’s Social section in 2022, where Liv was an editor. Later that academic year, she graduated from LSE majoring in Politics and History. Convinced that there was more to life than your classic corporate grind, Liv decided to craft a unique path, following her fondness of wine – which turned into a swashbuckling adventure around the globe.
From interning at The Monocle, to picking grapes at an Argentinian vineyard, she discovered her inner ‘party animal’ while working at a natural wine bar in Barcelona. Finally, she landed a trainee sommelier job at one of London’s most prestigious fine wine restaurants – Noble Rot. In between, Liv organised a community-focused jazz and wine evening at a Hoxton-based non-profit jazz club, The Vortex. A writer, farmer, wine expert and host – evidently, Liv is not an ordinary LSE graduate – and she firmly believes that building up courage to dream big and challenge yourself is the way forward.
We met outside the Pear Tree Café at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on the eve of Halloween. Despite the late-Autumn chill, driving me to dissolve into my warmest chunky sweater, Liv appeared as elegant as I remembered her from two years prior. Wearing a black coat and shawl, draped over a vintage cherry-red shirt, Liv embellished her outfit with lacquered pointed kitten heels, a round felt hat and a touch of lipstick matching her top. Her chic look was reminiscent of full-bodied Burgundy (Liv’s favourite), hinting at her Parisian upbringing. We ordered mint tea, served in oversized mugs, and briefly discussed books before our conversation turned to her post-university journey into the fine wine industry.
Why Wine?
For Liv, “Wine is a means to an end. I love wine, and drinking wine. But what’s more intriguing is that it’s a luxury product, made in a very artisanal way. Which also pertains towards my other interests – food and gastronomy.”
Channelling her inner History and Politics aficionado, Liv emphasised that fundamentally, wine is a “commodity that has been traded across the world for a long time. It touches upon the deep inequalities between those who make it, and those who sell it.”
“Like art”, she added, “wine is highly collectable. I work in the fine wine industry, which makes about five percent of production. You can have bottles that will sell for £100,000-160,000. And it’s interesting, because the people making them generally don’t see a lot of that money, as it goes to auction houses, imports, et cetera.”
Hence, the underlying idea of Liv’s post-graduation journey was to “explore as many sides of the wine industry, and to understand the political and socio-economic ramifications of how this product is made.”
Liv first worked on a vineyard at 17, in France, right before commencing her LSE degree. Looking back, this experience proved life-altering, as she kept returning in late August to early September for the next few years to pick grapes, before flying off to London to live her “little LSE life”.
“It was a very cool thing to do as I connected with all of these ideas and started forming a world of my own.” The people she met at the vineyard are now her “closest friends, and being around them feels like home. I think I found a lot of ‘homes’ in the wine industry.”
After LSE, Liv gave herself three years to figure out what she wants to do next. “I have always been interested in Latin America and speaking Spanish, and I knew these wineries in Argentina, so…off we go,” she smiled gently.
“I knew I could only do this between February and April [harvest time], so I had to fill the time before then.” Three months before her Patagonian stint, Liv interned at The Monocle magazine. “My philosophy has been not to wait to do things.”
The vineyard
I wondered what challenges Liv encountered while grape-picking in Argentina. On a farm, “You’re not just hanging around, admiring barrels and having fun, it’s very physical, strenuous work. I was working 80-hour work weeks for about 4 weeks, which is 14-15 hours a day, in very physical conditions, with industrial presses and pumps. These are really huge machines, and you don’t wanna mess up, because then it’s like thousands of pounds, just ‘whoop’ – on the floor,” she smirked.
“I’ve grown up in a city, so it felt really interesting to be surrounded by these people who are so passionate, asking: what is this leaf telling me? What is this soil telling me?”
Working on a vineyard, “You are in contact with the elements that you don’t get exposed to when you grow up in cities. What does it feel like to feel your hands, bones, the aching of your body physically working? It’s really powerful.”
Back to the city
“After Argentina, I returned to Barcelona, where I worked in a natural wine bar. I’d always had a more classical education, and this was my first natural wine experience, and first time working at a restaurant.”
Liv reminisced animatedly over her Spanish adventures. “We were always fully booked, doing possibly 150-200 covers every night, so it was a very fast-paced experience. But it was really fun, trying to understand people’s brains, memorising the wine list,” figuring out what people might like based on what they described. “At Noble Rot, where I work now, the wine list changes every day.”
While Liv initially hesitated to apply for the position at Noble Rot, her friend encouraged her to try regardless. Looking back, she spoke with confidence: “I think I have a pretty great wine CV, and it’s a big advantage to have worked at so many different wineries. It’s two different aspects of the same industry, and in some ways these worlds stay very separate. So the input value of having lived experience in wineries is very respected. Also, they [Noble Rot] see a lot of potential [in people like me] to grow as individuals, and also grow their brand and network.”
Yet, nothing comes without challenges. “Starting this new job has been very hard, and I’ve felt a lot of pressure. The people I’m working with all have five-plus years in the wine industry, who have worked really hard to get where they are – it is an extremely competitive position to get.”
However, over time Liv found a “kind of zen” in it, which helped her relax a little. “You know they’ve recruited you, and if they fire you – they fire you, but just take everything in while you are here.”
Life’s lessons:
What has Liv learnt throughout her journey to date? “Working these menial jobs has been a very self-reflective process. When you are stripped away of everything that makes you yourself – your clothes, friends, family – and find yourself in the middle of Patagonia, you really reflect on what makes you you, what motivates you in the morning to do things”
“Being at the bottom of every echelon, I thought: these people are better than me at this job. And that doesn’t actually matter that much, because I don’t need to be the best winemaker in the world – that’s not what I want to do.”
Reflecting upon her time in Barcelona, Liv continued: “If you’ve always been this massive intellectual who gets good grades, [like me], you can still have that party girl inside you. It is very freeing to discover that.”
I shared that in my final year at LSE, I overcame a limiting belief and started attending dance classes, which eventually became the highlights of my weekly routine. In response, Liv noted that many people lack the courage to seek out the versions of themselves they’ve always dreamt of being.
“Why don’t you go and seek out the dancer? Why don’t you go and seek out the party girl? Why don’t you go and seek out the farmer, why do you think you just have to be this one thing that you’ve been put into a little box that you’ve created for yourself?”
“I never thought I could be adventurous. I still do, but I used to be more anxious. It was crippling.” But once she overcame one fear, she realised: “it was actually doable. I’ve done this once, so this means I can do it again.”
On privilege
Throughout our conversation, Liv consciously acknowledged that her thought process, and ease of embracing unorthodox graduate opportunities originated in part from her privileged upbringing.“I’m very aware that I live a super privileged existence. I’m fortunate to have parents who have supported me as I’ve gone on my crazy adventures. For starters, they paid for my education – so I am debt-free, and can travel around the world because I have multiple nationalities.”
“I think it should be the duty [of people like me] to be very aware that they lead a privileged life, and to make use of that. Either to help others and create things, to bring people up, to be generous with their time and contacts.” Crucially, she hopes that her current projects, albeit small, will help her achieve her bigger ambitions “later in life in a meaningful way.”
Looking ahead
So what are Liv’s future plans? For now, she hopes to stay at Noble Rot and absorb as much knowledge as possible, while building her savings. Then, perhaps she’ll go and harvest grapes in South Africa and “learn more about different places while travelling”.
“My other interests aside from wine are politics and journalism, and creation in general. I’m not really sure now how these things will come together, but I think they will. I’m not too stressed”, Liv concluded.
Leaving the café, we circled around Lincoln’s Inn Fields in the dark and talked about the meaning of life, before parting at Holborn station. Liv asked me about my dreams for the future, and to my embarrassment, I struggled with producing an answer.
“Being able to afford life in London?”, I offered sheepishly. “Is that really your craziest dream, though? I’m sure you can come up with something bigger,” she encouraged. On my way home, I mentally journaled down all the extraordinary things I could pursue in the future.
Liv’s zeal for cultivating self-confidence and seeking adventure regardless of fears is profoundly contagious. Being brave, dreaming and finding ways to achieve those dreams, no matter how unconventional, is a rewarding experience. And ultimately, an LSE degree does not chain you to a corporate ladder post graduation. In Liv’s own words, “There is more than one way to live.”
