The winery, founded more than half a century ago by Don Juan Fernández, is named after his daughter, the only girl among four brothers, Esmeralda Fernández.
It is located in the Department of Junín, one of the most traditional areas for vitiviniculture in Mendoza and one of the main estates making and exporting high quality wines in the country.
It is a winemaking industry icon due to its modernization, organized work, incessant volume growth and constant quality.
Bodegas Esmeralda was provided with the most cutting-edge technology and machinery, including stainless steel tanks, pneumatic presses and new grinders and pumping systems. An ambitious program was also implemented for the yearly acquisition of oak barrels from the most prestigious barrel-makers in France and the United States.
Winemaking in Bodegas Esmeralda was also influenced by foreign winemakers and experts, who offered their consulting services and still do so to improve, year after year, the quality of the wines produced in the winery.
The winery has a main facility and four other satellite operating wineries, where the different blends are made. All the wines from these satellite wineries are transferred to the winery in Junín for bottling and delivery, which implies an important coordination and logistics work.
Bodegas Esmeralda’s team studies the different microclimates in Mendoza, in order to locate the best areas for planting Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Malbec.
Innovative cluster thinning techniques and harvesting methods are deployed to improve fruit concentration.
Great improvements are achieved in fruit quality and concentration by carefully managing each vineyard water stress along the growth cycle.
Agricultural engineer, son of vintners, he studied in Mendoza and majored in Enology. He produced wine in the United States to perfect his knowledge and, once he returned to the country, he focused on vineyard management for some years. He joined Bodegas Esmeralda in 2008 to work at the oenology area, where he produced wine in different wine regions of the country. After a couple of years, he took hold of the management of the winery, a position he currently holds.
