I embrace traditional roots in Argentinian winemaking

“I was born in Tupungato, Argentina, a traditional town in the Mendoza region at the foot of the Andes, where wines have been made since the arrival of the first European immigrants in the nineteenth century. Growing up, I remember annual grape harvests, when the streets were filled with fruit from the vines, and there was a smell of fermentation in the air. The vines grew everywhere, and as children we ate grapes of every colour for days.

This had a strong influence on me, and later I pursued winemaking as a career. I studied oenology at Argentina’s National Technological University in Mendoza, before completing a postgraduate degree in agroecology at the National University of the Comechingones in San Luis, Argentina, in 2023.

I now specialize in holistic and integral agriculture at Stella Crinita, a family-run winery in the Uco Valley, south of Mendoza. My job consists of designing and planning the production of wine and other beverages, a role that includes fieldwork, beekeeping and fungiculture. In this photograph, I am about to stir up dead yeast that has settled at the bottom of a wine barrel, to help the ageing process.

In Argentina, wine is the legacy of European families, particularly Italian and Spanish, who brought their winemaking traditions with them. Now, there’s a greater diversity in the techniques used by wine producers here. For example, varieties of Creole grapes, central to our Latin American identity, are being reintegrated into the winemaking process, and are starting to be recognized throughout the world.

For me, biodynamic agriculture and food production embody a way of life. It is important for people to understand the relationship between soil life, water purity and the production of truly nutritious food — and the impact that has on our physical, mental and emotional health.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.