Alberto Antonini is one of the world’s foremost consultant oenologists. He has advised many wineries across the globe and broken new ground on various continents.
My whole professional life has been quite adventurous. It has been a constant search for new discoveries or rediscoveries. I started with my thesis in viticulture at the University of Florence by searching for grape varieties on the verge of extinction. In the province of Florence alone I found over 60 of them. This showed me the sense of complexity and biodiversity of the wine world which became a constant source of inspiration.
In 1995 I travelled with my friend and business partner Antonio Morescalchi to Mendoza, Argentina, for the first time. I fell in love with high-altitude old Malbec vines. At the time they were not appreciated by local producers – their focus then was on Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. In that same year, I started a project with Morescalchi, Altos Las Hormigas, which pioneered the rediscovery of Malbec.
A few years later, in 2007 in Uruguay, along with the family of Alejandro and Bettina Bulgheroni, I discovered amazing, decomposed granite bedrock called balasto in the Maldonado region – so we developed the Garzon project. This really put Tannat on the map, reappraising the potential of this beautiful grape. In 2008, still with the Bulgheroni family, probably came the greatest discovery at the end of the wine world in Sarmiento, Patagonia, Argentina. Again, I was struck by an amazing limestone terroir which encouraged me to plant this southernmost vineyard, taking a big risk but also achieving character and quality in the wines – mainly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
In 2010, with Zorik and Yeraz Gharibian, I jumped back several thousand years to where everything started: Armenia. It has over 200 grape varieties, almost forgotten with very little known about them. Now we rediscover them: Areni, Sireni, Chilar, Garan Dmak, Voske Hat and others – an experience alongside rediscovering ancient winemaking techniques.
In 2015, again with the Bulgheroni family and project manager Amelia Nolan, we rediscovered the soul of Barossa in South Australia on a farm called Alkina in Greenock with old Grenache vines. With the help of terroir specialist and friend Pedro Parra we found amazing sites of schist and limestone that we keep separate to make single-lot wines; pure expressions of the magical combination of the three: soil, vines and climate. With non-invasive farming we ended up with a flavour profile very far from most Barossa wine and yet probably the most Barossa wines ever…
Working in so many different wine regions in two worlds, the old and the new, I discovered that geology does not know the difference between them, that terroirs and biodiversity are everywhere. I am very happy to have given a small contribution to making the wine world wider, more diverse and exciting. I am aware that what we are drinking is probably no more than 20 percent of what Mother Nature can offer us in terms of places and grape varieties.
