Winery Overview
Rocamadre was started by husband-and-wife team Juanfa Suarez and Cecilia Duran. The project concentrates on crafting wines from mountain-grown grapes in the unique Paraje Altamira GI in the Uco Valley. In the foothills of the Andes Mountains at 3,600ft above sea level, it has a continental climate, intense cold spells and year-round wide thermal amplitude. Bright sunlight and scarce rain generate a very healthy environment for making wine. The soils are alluvial, with a sandy-loam topsoil covering calcium carbonate-rich (limestone) soils. Juanfa Suarez’s great grandfather put roots down in Paraje Altamira in 1921 to experiment with winemaking. His son, Juanfa’s grandfather, turned to growing apples and pears on the land to survive economic fluctuations. Today, Juanfa farms 99 acres and vinifies 20% of the grapes for Rocamadre, Finca Suarez, Traslapiedra, and other projects, and he sells the rest of the fruit to surrounding wineries. Juanfa practices sustainable farming and winemaking with indigenous yeast. They rely on Andean meltwater to irrigate their crops and live in the beautiful desert land with their young son Pedro. They stay true to respecting the environment and natural processes of viticulture and winemaking. Their wines are fresh and pure, made with a sense of where they are from. Their goal is to reflect the mountains, the sun, the snow and the stones in every bottle. The labels are from an original numbered series of art works that were printed by artist Fábrica de Estampas.