Rodrigo Serrano is the lead winemaker and operations manager at Domaine Bousquet. His curiosity about chemistry, as he saw his parents work at a pharmacy growing up, led him to choose his career in enology.
While his main objective is to continue making elegant, organic and high-altitude wines, he also enjoys challenges and innovation, which is why he manages to surprise consumers every year with new varietals, styles of wine, and winemaking techniques.
Find out more about Domaine Bousquet
What made you fall in love with wine?
Many things. I fell in love with wine at my first job, in Terrazas de los Andes, one of the most beautiful wineries in Mendoza. I’ve always been very keen on the winemaking process and on my first few days on the job, I realized that the wine world was where I wanted to be. Also, being able to add my personal touch to each wine is marvelous. As is sharing wine with consumers and seeing how they appreciate and want to learn more about what’s behind each bottle.
What is the one winemaking technique you really geek out on?
The harvest. Because it reflects all the effort you’ve put into that year and how the wine will turn out. I’m fascinated with the whole process that starts with the pruning of the vines, the budburst, flowering, veraison, and when you finally decide to harvest. I feel the same adrenalin as when I used to participate in karting races, where the starting point and the classification are moments of high adrenalin.
The moment you decide to harvest there’s no going back. The grapes are the main tool we need to make wine and any quality attributes the grapes have or lack will be decisive. The moment I sit down with Franco [the chief agronomist at Domaine Bousquet] and decide when to harvest is a very special moment. But then when you materialize that and see the grapes arriving at the winery is when you realize that there’s no going back and start the race to make the best out of them. Fortunately, most of the time we arrive at that place we planned and dreamed of.
What is your favorite pairing for one of your wines?
It’s very difficult to pick one. Most of our wines pair very nicely with an asado, especially if I make it myself. Opening a bottle of wine while I work on the fire and the asado is a moment I enjoy very much.
What is the one wine that you wouldn’t share with anyone else?
It’s difficult to pick a wine that I wouldn’t share with anyone else because one of the nicest things that wine has is being able to share it with other people. One of the things I enjoy the most is sharing moments with people and wine is the best partner for that.
What is your guilty pleasure?
I need to have wine in a good wine glass… I don’t enjoy it when it’s served in a regular glass.
