WINERIES

DON MANUEL VILLAFAÑE
The Don Manuel Villafañe family has been in the wine business for almost 400 years. In 1611 Don Manuell Villafañe came to Argentina from Spain as a soldier to fight against the English pirates who attacked Spanish ships. Later he settled in South America as a farmer, and became a pioneer of winemaking in Argentina for being one of the first people to plant vines on that land. The objective at that time was to provide wine for the priests of the church and much later for the settlers, who came to the ‘New World’ to take advantage of the new opportunities.
Recently the Winery has planted 80 hectares of vineyards around the winery, with varieties such as Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Chardonnay. The vineyard is located on the bed of a prehistoric river, product of melting mountain ice. The soil is extremely rocky, composed of rocks eroded by water. Being in such stony ground, the winery's production is very small, oscilating between 5000 to 7500kgs per hectare.
Harvesting is done by hand, in small cases of 16 kgs, at dawn, so that the grapes come into a cool winery.