Winemaking as a Family Business

07.02.08-Today’s tastings gave us a new window into the lifestyle of the family winery. What was particularly interesting was the legacy aspect of the wineries, in that either the owner came into the winery through inheritance or they are part of a family that expanded into winemaking.

Without going through the intricacies of all three of our tastings, it is interesting to note that they all came from this tradition. Within the U.S. when one says family winery generally it is a matter of a generation or two that has been involved in the project, with the hopes of passing it on.

What one can witness in Argentina, however, is that this process is a couple of generations further, within an environment of economic classism. One particular winery was being run by third generation wine owners, and was being supported by third generation employees. At one time they had the grandfather, father, and son, working at the same time at the winery.

I always really enjoy interacting and learning from these people, since they have such an interesting life story to tell. In addition, I love learning more about the people who are making things work from the ground up, for they too have a dynamic and interesting story to tell.

Before I forget (we did a tasting of our malbec and cabernet sauvignon wines tonight, so things are a little cloudy!), we had a fantastic dinner with Daniel from Los Domados winery last night. We were picked up at about 9:00pm and drove (with a few missteps) to a restaurant that sells their wine. It was a very modern and hip place, and I, the newfound carnivore, ordered rabbit, while Ashley, the other carnivore, ordered chicken. We tasted their collection over appetizers and dinner, and, I have to say, it was absolutely delicious and one of the best lines we have tried. Their devotion to quality is such that their production is extremely limited but I am hoping that we can get our hands on a few bottles to bring into the U.S. You can definitely taste the land in their wines – their rocky vineyards are so stressful that the vines produce wine that is intense, concentrated, and with a eucalyptus note that is rarely found elsewhere.

In addition to Daniel, joining us were the business manager and a friend of Daniel’s. They were both amazing people with amazing life stories, and we ended up chatting until one in the morning, despite needing to be up by 7am!