We are Santiago (Architect) and Agustín (Agricultural Engineer). We were born into a family who taught us that freedom is the truest path towards real happiness.
We were born and raised in Tupungato and we are the fourth generation that has chosen to live in the Uco Valley. Among vines and other fruit trees and crops, our father inculcated in us the importance of working the land, imbuing us with a passion for agriculture that runs in our blood.
In the year 2017, we assumed the leadership of the estates and the winery convinced it was time to chart our own course. Each one of us focusing on our respective career fields, we combined science and art drawing inspiration from our family history. Nowadays, we are going through an exploration, search and understanding phase regarding the countless ways of expression of our hometown, Tupungato. We are rediscovering our home through the land on which we stand.
“Flor Silvestre” is named after the flowers that started to bloom from the land after we began to work our vineyards in an organic way.
This project respects the duality of being part of a family history and old vineyards, in addition to freedom being the driving force of emotions. This is what we call a vital force and it is what encourages us to carry out this venture.
Emotions are experienced skin-deep (in Spanish, “a flor de piel”) and they are stored in our wines. The skins add passion, joy and calm that await to be discovered inside each bottle.
Freedom is the opportunity to be different, to choose which path you want to follow, to raise up, even when the rain is imminent. Thanks to freedom, we are able to and we must take risks in our lives.
Calm is found when we learn to love properly, when egoism gives room to giving and when dissatisfaction vanishes and we are able to open our hearts and souls fully giving ourselves to whomever is willing to give and receive love.
“The transfer is the moment when knowledge transcends time and becomes infinite. We are what we were taught and the expertise is kept alive in our vineyards. We are the fourth generation in the Uco Valley and we come from countless generations that used to work with vineyards back in Italy.”
The painting that brings life to this line labels was painted using wine. It would be wine itself who marks the passage of time and accompanies us on this journey. We believe that the moment the sunlight breaks through the tree leaves is when time vividly presents itself. Such phenomenon served as a direct source of inspiration to create this masterpiece in a play of light and shadow.
A Malbec with perspective of place. In Tupungato, the landscape interacts with the delicate intervention offered by the time spent in the barrels. Nothing is more important than the vineyard. It is our responsibility to take care of it and to find its best expression.
“The old vineyards reveal themselves in these bottles. A Chardonnay that captures Tupungato’s minerality and La Arboleda’s robustness. The combination of concrete and wood reflects the essence of this place.”
In 1950, an Italian immigrant arrived to the Zingaretti family vineyards in Tupungato looking for a job. This visitor was carrying stakes of a Sangiovese vine that he had pruned back in Italy. After these grapes sprouted, Mr. Santiago Zingaretti decided to vinify them with the family’s Malbec, inadvertently creating a sought-after jewel in the wine industry. Nowadays, that very same percentage of Sangiovese has become the total amount of said variety in the bottle.
We fly the flag for Merlot and we carry it together with freshness and mountain air to the very depths of Agua Amarga. The wine comes from a vineyard that is more than 25 years old and it is aged in third-use barrels for two winters.
We want nature to be in charge of everything, being terroir the true protagonist of this story. We do not want a wine in disguise; we want it to be real, raw, unfettered. We believe in intervention as a form of revolution to make our vineyards more agroecological, sustainable and free. We resumed our grandparents’ practices because we are aware that tradition is the true innovation that connects us to the land and to our history. Colores is our alchemical laboratory, it is where we experiment. Colores is where nature comes to life.
Colo-orange! Skins and wine coexist in concrete eggs for 6 months. Acidity, expression and mountain, all in one bottle.
Raw and sharp Pinot. It reflects the character of the river surrounding the vineyards. Authentic Tupungato! Concrete egg wine.
Burst of colour! Wild electric rosé born among flowers from a concrete egg.
Inspired by the wisdom and expertise of our beloved nonnos (grandfathers), Mario Balestra y Enrique Zingaretti, who guided us in our relationship with the vineyards, we decided to follow in their footsteps and go on our own adventure in the agriculture sector.
The legacy of our father, Sergio Balestra, who instilled a deep love for the land and the agricultural work, is still alive in us and it is what drives us to continue writing our family history. The strength of our mother, Fabiana, and our sister, Valentina, is our cornerstone. Both of them help us to uphold our family values that are heightened in the vineyards. Every Sunday, the lunch table is full of joy because our nonna (Fiorella) keeps alive the Italian tradition, reminding us of the family history as it once was back in Italy and as it is nowadays here, surrounded by the all family.
Driven by the desire to continue our tradition and always acting freely, we decided to add our personal touch, merging art and science to interpret the environment around us. At present, we are able to capture in every bottle a unique and subjective perspective of the vineyards we grew up with.
Two families from Le Marche, Italy, settled in Tupungato and, just like all the other immigrants of the time, they started to work in the vineyards.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Zingaretti family arrived to the Uco Valley. Along with some other families, they became the winemaking pioneers in Tupungato.
Around 1914, they imported from France the stakes they used to shape their own vineyards.
After some decades, in 1950, the Balestra family disembarked. Little by little, and thanks to their tireless effort and hard work, they managed to acquire small plots of land, which allowed them to start planting vineyards and other fruit trees and crops.
These days, the legacy of both of these agriculturist families lives on and it is stronger than ever. The historic winery opened once again its doors to welcome the grapes during the harvesting period.
Our nonno used to say, “La vigna parla” (the vineyards speak for themselves). Because of that philosophy, we are able to understand our vines.
To us, the importance of working and the honour of accompanying the vines growth throughout the year, always looking for harmony and balance, is part of the art of being a grape grower, or, in a broader sense, an agriculturist.
Our estates are part of the legacy of our immigrant nonnos who, with dedication and devotion, took care and appreciated every inch of arable land. The vine is a noble plant that thrives in almost any soil and clings to the stoniest areas and the poorest soils. These rough soils enhance concentrations and provide superior quality. As we know, the most difficult challenges are always for the fittest.
LA FEDE | 1022 msnm
LA MELLIZA | 1059 msnm
AGUA AMARGA | 1054 msnm
FLOR SILVESTRE | 1115 msnm
LA MARÍA | 1053 msnm
LA CASUAL | 1123 msnm
Our aim is to transform our territory into a liquid shape. We consider the wine as an element that connects landscapes and people. We want to protect our roots and become one with the environment.
We are part of a mountainous region, the sun and the cold are our most precious treasures.
Made by Estudio Argo
