About
“The creation of my wines at Susana Balbo Wines is to me the maximum achievement as a winemaker, product of all my efforts and many years of hard work. I could say that the winery is like my third child, a dream come true.” Susana.
Born into a traditional family, Susana reneged of her fate since she was young by applying to study nuclear physics in Bariloche. Being this a very unconventional choice for the time, her parents refused to let her leave Mendoza. From that point, Susana decided to follow the family business (viticulture) professionally, thus challenging the contemporary social beliefs, because at that time no women had graduated as winemaker.
In 1981 Susana received her degree in enology, and became the first woman in Argentina to do so. Her career started in Cafayate, Salta province at Michel Torino winery where she was in charge of developing and stylizing the Torrontes varietal. Afterwards she worked at many well-regarded wineries such as Martins and Catena Zapata.
In 2012, she was recognized as one of the “Most influental women wine-makers” by The Drink Business magazine. Later, in 2015, she was awarded by the same magazine as “Woman of the year”. Recently in 2018, the magazine recognized her again by including her in the list of “The 10 most influental women in the wine world”.
Throughout her career as a winemaker, Susana had the opportunity of working internationally. She was the first Argentinean woman hired as a consultant to wineries worldwide: Spain, Chile, Italy, Brazil, Australia, and California. This experience allowed her to always be ahead of market trends and wine styles.
Susana’s Signature wines capture her ultimate expression as a winemaker – creating bold wines with artistic finesse that you never get tired of drinking. The wide range of styles in Susana’s Signature wines highlight the breadth of winemaking expertise Susana brings to the winery. Susana’s winemaking approach is to seamlessly apply her human touch and enhance (not mask) the grape’s character, preserving all elements of terroir.
The vineyards for Susana Balbo Signature Malbec were hand-harvested and located at an elevation of 4,000 feet. Destemmed, lightly crushed. Pumping over 3 times a day. Max. Temp. 30°C. Extended maceration for 35 days. 13 months in 80% new French oak barrels and 20% second use French oak barrels.
Beautiful deep violet color. It is a balanced and well-structured wine with flavors of raspberry, dark plum and currant that feature plenty of refined savory accents. Hints of mineral and smoke appear on its elegant, velvety and long finish. Well integrated oak and filigree tannins. Pair with beef, pork, game meats, cream-based sauces.