Founder
The man who chose this valley.
Born in Mendoza to a family of merchants, Ignacio Alvear studied agronomy in Bordeaux before returning to Argentina in 1889. He believed — against the prevailing wisdom of the time — that the alluvial soils of the Valle de Uco, cooled by melt from the Andes, could rival the great terroirs of Europe.
In 1892 he acquired 3,000 hectares of scrub at the base of the Cordón del Plata, dug the first irrigation channels by hand with a crew of twelve, and planted vines that his grandchildren would one day bottle.
Ignacio never lived to see the estancia bear his name in export markets, but the values he set down — patience with the land, generosity to the table, plain speech — are the ones we still try to keep.
