Federico Isgró and Santiago Bernasconi are ready to have some fun. “Our goal was, first of all, to make wines we like, secondly to make wines with a connection to our Italian ancestry, and thirdly to show Argentina’s strong identity with its historic varieties… but mainly… we just want to enjoy it again!” says Santiago, of the wine industry both he and Federico have been working in for the best part of 25 years and of the origin of their Sangiovese-based wine project in the Uco Valley.

You can see that they certainly are having fun, and are also extremely passionate about every detail of BIRA — from their Indiana Jones-style discovery mission for old Sangiovese vines in Uco Valley to the hand-drawn labels which they worked on with their talented local hairdresser.

BIRA (standing for Bernasconi + Isgró, República Argentina) is a 50/50 partnership between winemaker Federico Isgro and business manager Santiago Bernasconi, and although both of them bring experience and strengths from their own respective sides of the industry, they are both as equally involved in every aspect.

“We started BIRA because we have a shared taste for Italy, and European wines, and we wanted to do something different in Argentina,” explains Federico, who met Santiago while they were both working with different wineries in Rio Negro in 2011. Federico hadn’t been long back in the country, after spending five years making wine in Valpolicella and around Italy, and they bonded over drinking Italian wines and dreaming of making Italian-style wines in Argentina one day.

The dream talk became more serious in 2017 and finally came to fruition with their first vintage, in 2018. Although they are having fun, and enjoy harvesting the grapes together with their families and children, BIRA is a very serious endeavour. In fact, I can’t think of many debut collections of wines from Argentina that are quite as smart and successful as theirs. Their first vintage has barely been released and is already being imported into the top chain of Argentine restaurants in the UK, Gaucho, where four of their five wines retail for between £50 and £115 a bottle. The restaurants sold over 1,000 bottles in the first month stocking the label — no small beer for a brand new label with no website or marketing at the time.

What makes these wines appealing is two-fold: firstly, and arguably most importantly, they are delicious and well made; but secondly, BIRA is producing something very different – and yet strangely familiar – for Argentina.

Sangiovese in Argentina

The focus behind the brand is Sangiovese. A grape variety that was brought to Argentina over 150 years ago with the first wave of Italian immigrants. It was widely planted for over a century but began to lose favour in 70s to Malbec and other Bordeaux varieties.

“The old men, mainly in their late 70s, who own these old vines of Sangiovese say that they remember when Sangiovese was the most important variety here in Argentina,” regales Federico, from his many conversations in the vineyards where they purchase their grapes. “But most of them were pulled out and replaced by varieties that were more consistent with quantity.”

“In the 80s Argentina went through this period where quantity became more important than quality, and although Sangiovese yields well you’ll often find grapes ripening at different periods,” adds Santiago.

Argentine Sangiovese was believed to have claimed over 5,000 hectares of vineyards in its heyday but plantings have dipped to just over 1,500 hectares today. Finding old vines of Sangiovese isn’t easy and in fact Santiago and Federico believe the true hectarage of Sangiovese under vine is less than the official stats. “In most cases where we’ve gone to a vineyard that the records show as Sangiovese, it simply isn’t there anymore,” says a slightly downcast Federico.

Despite the challenging misinformation, they managed to find two blocks of old vine Sangiovese in the Uco Valley: one planted in 1975 in Arboleda and one planted 1972 in La Consulta. And that’s enough to make their five wine blends, of which they aim to produce a total of 50,000 bottles of this year.

All five wines are Sangiovese blends: two of which are Malbec dominant (Tano and Tanito) and three of which are Sangiovese dominant (Rosso d’Uco, Brunetto and Bin Otto). Winemaking is artisanal (native yeasts, hand punch-downs, plastic bins and micro ferments) and oak ageing is minimal and sensitive (often 500-litre casks, mainly second and third use). The wines are very much focused on the purity and freshness of Sangiovese, with different interpretations and personalities to each blend.

“Our Malbec blends are because we are in Argentina, and blending with Malbec is part of our identity here today,” Federico explains the concept behind each wine. “And the other three are inspired from my time in Tuscany and Montalcino, where I learnt that Sangiovese adds the fruit to the blend, Syrah adds the meaty mid-palate and truffle aromas, and Merlot adds structure and a longer finish.”

Each wine certainly does have its own personality — from the femininity and freshness of Rosso d’Uco to the intensity and concentration of Tano — but they all offer a refreshing and polished perspective of Argentina’s traditional grape varieties. And ultimately, as Santiago and Federico set out to do, these wines are fun to drink.

Bring on the Sangiovese renaissance!

** Disclaimer: The featured photo is at the end of a rather late night tasting at Casa de Contratista, where cigars are the ultimate way to finish up. Life and wine are about enjoyment, right? **

Wine tasting notes BIRA wines

Tanito 2018

The more feminine and lighter partner of the Malbec duo, Tanito (meaning little Italian) is 80% Malbec from Gualtallary, 12% Sangiovese from Arboleda and 8% Cabernet Franc from Gualtallary. Silky and fresh with a perfumed nose of cherry, violet and black forest fruit.

Tano 2018

The big brother of the Malbec blends, Tano (a local nickname for Italians, and much burlier in name than Tanito) is a blend from La Consulta with 60% Malbec, 20% Sangiovese, 15% Merlot and 5% Syrah. This is much spicier and meatier, more of their Super Tuscan equivalent, but still with great freshness and fruit.

Rosso d’Uco 2018

Fresh, floral and filled with tart red fruit, this Sangiovese (60%), Syrah (25%) and Merlot (15%) blend is the ultimate summer red wine — I could drink this by the magnum.

Brunetto 2018

Incredibly stylish, Brunetto has enticing earthy notes of truffle and exotic spice and there’s a bit more new oak that comes in to play here giving this wine complex layers of fruit, perfume and spice. Syrah (20%) and Merlot (10%) make up the rest of this Sangiovese-dominant blend.

Bin Otto 2018

When Federico started making the Sangiovese grapes they had picked, he fell in love and ran back to harvest more and buy another bin to crush them in… this wine is named after that 8th bin of grapes. It is the most structured of the Sangiovese blends, with 15% Merlot and 5% Syrah, although the finish is smooth and aromatic.

The ultimate Latin American wine guide: Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia & Peru. Buy the book today!

Santiago Bernasconi

A BIRA mission to bring back Argentine Sangiovese