The Quechuan Love & the Biodynamic Hand
Alpamanta — Quechuan for "love for the land" — is the pioneering biodynamic estate of Andréj Razumovsky, André Hoffman and Jérémie Delecourt in Ugarteche, Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza. Founded in 2005 on a virgin, previously untouched site, the 35-hectare single vineyard has been farmed biodynamically from day one — never exposed to a single chemical. Certified Demeter and Ecocert, the estate is a self-sufficient living organism where sheep, horses, chickens and ants coexist with vines, herbs and compost pits beneath the shadow of the Andes. Alpamanta was a pioneer in Mendoza with concrete eggs (2009) and a pioneer in Argentina with natural wine production — the unfiltered Breva line launched in 2015, followed by pét-nats in 2020. All wines are made with indigenous yeasts, minimal sulphites and minimum manipulation, from the unoaked Natal line to the Reserva Malbec aged 18 months in new French oak. The result is a range of wines that taste of their place — of alluvial sand, clay, lime and calcareous stone, of pure snowmelt and 340 days of mountain sun — bottled with an owl's wisdom and a revolutionary's heart.
Andréj, André & Jérémie — the European Hand
The story of Alpamanta begins with three European friends who chose to plant love in the desert. Andréj Razumovsky, of Austrian noble descent from the princely family Sayn-Wittgenstein, brought a heritage of Moldavian vineyards and a philosophical commitment to organic agriculture. André Hoffman — Austrian-Swiss — shared a parallel passion for land stewardship and sustainable design. Jérémie Delecourt, from France, brought the sensibility of his family's Châteaux de la Crois Bontar in the Côtes de Provence, where rosé and respect for terroir were family creed. Together in 2005, they established a boutique winery in a virgin, previously untouched site in Ugarteche — a blank canvas of 35 hectares where no chemical had ever been spilled, no industrial vine had ever been planted, and no conventional wisdom had yet taken root.
They named the estate Alpamanta — "love for the land" in Quechuan, the ancient indigenous language of the Andes — a declaration of intent before a single vine was planted. The logo, a lechuza (owl), was chosen as a symbol of wisdom, protection and nocturnal vigilance — the guardian spirit of a vineyard that would be farmed not by force but by observation, lunar rhythm and ecological harmony. From the first day, the founders resolved that biodynamics would not be a later conversion but the founding principle — a radical decision in 2005 Mendoza, where industrial agriculture and chemical monoculture were still the unquestioned norms. They built a winery architecture harmonious with the landscape, employing LEED sustainable practices, solar energy, water recycling and conscious packaging from the outset.
The team was soon joined by Ignacio Ciancio, who became the commercial face and guiding voice of the estate's visitor experience, and agronomist Ricardo Garcia, who laid out a detailed technical map of every parcel — recording soil type, yield, rootstock and varietal behaviour across the 35 hectares. This meticulous attention to terroir segmentation would later enable the estate to produce wines of extraordinary precision, harvesting different soil blocks on different days to capture the full spectrum of the vineyard's voice. Today, Alpamanta stands as one of only seven certified biodynamic wineries in Argentina — a beacon of the 0.1% who farm by the stars, the compost pit and the ant colony rather than the spray tank and the spreadsheet.
"It's the culmination of what we've been doing for over 15 years."
— Andréj Razumovsky
Ugarteche & the Alluvial Hand
The estate is located in Ugarteche, in the heart of Luján de Cuyo — the Primera Zona, the historic first wine zone of Argentina, 38 kilometres south of Mendoza city and framed by the snow-capped peaks of the Andes. The vineyard sits at 950 metres above sea level (3,117 feet) in an arid, high-desert climate that receives less than 250 millimetres of rainfall annually but enjoys 340 days of intense, pure sunshine per year. The altitude provides a sharp diurnal temperature range — warm days ripen the fruit, cold nights preserve acidity — while the constant mountain breeze keeps the canopy healthy and reduces fungal pressure. Irrigation is provided by drip lines fed with pure snowmelt from the Andes, the same crystalline water that is bottled locally as mineral water, requiring no treatment before it reaches the roots.
The soils are a complex mosaic of alluvial deposits washed down from the Andes over millennia — a matrix of sand, clay, lime and calcareous layers in the subsoil, typically 1.2 metres deep before reaching stony subsoil. Ricardo Garcia's technical mapping identified six distinct soil characteristics across the estate — clay, lime, sand, calcareous and various combinations — each imparting a different mineral signature to the vines. This is not a uniform vineyard but a patchwork of terroirs within a single estate, allowing the team to harvest different blocks at different moments and blend components of extraordinary complexity. The poor, well-drained alluvium forces the vines to struggle, producing small berries with thick skins, concentrated flavours and a natural acidity that is the hallmark of the estate's style.
But the true genius of the Alpamanta vineyard lies not in its geology alone but in its biology. The estate is a self-sufficient living organism certified biodynamic by Demeter. A mobile hen-house travels the rows, its chickens devouring cutworms and pests while depositing nitrogen-rich manure. Sheep graze the cover crops, controlling weeds without herbicides and recycling plant matter into the soil. Horses work the land to avoid the compaction of heavy machinery. An organic herb garden supplies chamomile, dandelion and yarrow for biodynamic compost preparations, while cow-horn manure and horn silica are buried and dynamized according to the lunar calendar. The presence of thriving ant colonies — observed by Ignacio Ciancio as a living indicator of soil health — signals that the ecosystem is alive and balanced. All vines are protected by hail nets, a necessary armour in a region where summer storms can destroy a year's work in minutes. The result is a vineyard that produces grapes of exceptional health, aromatic complexity and natural resistance to oxidation — the prerequisite for the low-sulfite, natural winemaking that follows.
Alpamanta is based in Ugarteche, a historic district in the heart of Luján de Cuyo — the Primera Zona, Argentina's first and most prestigious wine region. Located 38 kilometres south of Mendoza city, the estate lies in a broad alluvial plain beneath the snow-capped Andes, where the climate is intensely sunny, extremely dry, and moderated by mountain winds. While much of Mendoza has industrialised, Ugarteche retains a patchwork of small farms and historic vineyards, and the Alpamanta estate stands as a model of how regenerative agriculture can restore biodiversity in a region under pressure from monoculture. The winery's architecture is designed to harmonise with this landscape, employing LEED sustainable practices, solar energy, and water recycling to minimise its environmental footprint.
The Alpamanta terroir is defined by a complex alluvial matrix of sand, clay, lime and calcareous layers in the subsoil — a geological fingerprint of the Andes deposited over millennia by ancient rivers and glacial melt. The topsoil is typically 1.2 metres deep, well-drained and poor in organic matter, forcing vines to send roots deep into the stony subsoil in search of water and nutrients. Six distinct soil types have been identified across the 35 hectares, each with its own drainage, mineral content and thermal behaviour. The sandy components provide drainage and warmth; the clay retains moisture and lends structure; the lime and calcareous layers provide a chalky, alkaline backbone that contributes to the wines' natural acidity and mineral persistence. This soil diversity is the foundation of the estate's precision viticulture, allowing the team to harvest different blocks separately and blend components of extraordinary complexity.
Alpamanta has been farmed biodynamically since 2005 and is certified by Demeter — one of only seven such estates in Argentina, representing 0.1% of national viticulture. The farm is treated as a self-sufficient living organism: a mobile hen-house transports chickens to different rows to control pests and fertilise the soil; sheep graze cover crops to suppress weeds and recycle organic matter; horses work the land to prevent compaction; and an organic herb garden supplies botanicals for compost preparations. Biodynamic preparations — including cow-horn manure (BD 500), horn silica (BD 501), and herbal infusions of chamomile, yarrow, dandelion and nettle — are applied according to the lunar calendar on root days, leaf days, flower days and fruit days. The presence of flourishing ant colonies is observed as a bio-indicator of soil vitality. All work is done by hand, and the vineyard is protected by hail nets. The result is a living, breathing ecosystem that produces grapes of exceptional health and natural balance.
The Alpamanta winery is a model of sustainable design, built to LEED standards and integrated harmoniously with the surrounding landscape. The estate generates its own solar energy, recycles water through a bio-lagoon system, separates all waste streams, and measures its carbon footprint with rigorous transparency. The packaging is consciously designed to minimise environmental impact. These practices are not ancillary to the winemaking but integral to the estate's philosophy: the belief that a winery must leave the land better than it found it. This commitment to regenerative agriculture extends beyond the vineyard to every aspect of the operation, from the cellar to the bottle, reflecting the Quechuan meaning of Alpamanta — love for the land — in every structural detail.
Concrete Eggs, Indigenous Yeasts & the Minimal Hand
The cellar philosophy of Alpamanta is one of precision within non-intervention — a paradox that defines the best biodynamic winemaking. All wines are fermented with indigenous or ambient yeasts, allowing the microbial fingerprint of the Ugarteche vineyard to shape the fermentation rather than imposing a commercial laboratory strain. Sulphites are kept to an absolute minimum — the estate's natural wines receive no additives or sulfites whatsoever, while the classic lines see only the lightest touch of sulfur at bottling to ensure stability. The goal is minimum manipulation from harvest to bottle, allowing the health of the biodynamic fruit to express itself without cosmetic correction.
Alpamanta was a pioneer in Mendoza with the use of concrete eggs in 2009 — vessels that provide gentle, natural convection during fermentation, resulting in wines of exceptional purity, texture and mouthfeel without the influence of oak. Today the cellar employs a diverse range of vessels: concrete eggs, concrete amphorae, small stainless-steel tanks, French oak barrels and Austrian oak — each chosen to express a different facet of the estate's terroir. Fermentation temperatures are controlled with precision to preserve the delicate aromatics of high-altitude fruit, while macerations are tailored to each variety and soil block. The team has also explored carbonic maceration and spontaneous fermentation for the natural wine programme, pushing the boundaries of what Argentine wine can be while never losing sight of the vineyard's voice.
The estate's most radical innovation is its approach to component harvesting and blending. In the 2022 vintage, for example, the Sauvignon Blanc programme was harvested across five separate harvest days over a two-week period, yielding 67 different components from six distinct soil types — each fermented separately to capture the precise mineral and aromatic character of its parcel. This level of micro-terroir attention is almost unheard of in Mendoza, where most estates harvest by block or variety alone. The result is a blending palette of extraordinary complexity, allowing the team to assemble wines that are not merely varietal expressions but geological compositions — liquid maps of the Ugarteche alluvial fan. All wines are vegan-certified by IRAM, with no animal-derived fining agents used at any stage.
Indigenous Yeasts, Concrete Eggs & the Zero-Input Ethos
The guiding principle of Alpamanta is that the wine must be a faithful translation of the biodynamic vineyard and the alluvial soils of Ugarteche. The Demeter-certified farming provides healthy, complex grapes that are naturally balanced and resistant to oxidation. The hand harvest — often across multiple passes and soil blocks — provides pristine, terroir-specific fruit. The indigenous yeasts provide spontaneous, site-specific fermentation that changes with each vintage and each parcel. The concrete eggs and amphorae provide vessels of absolute neutrality, allowing the wine to develop texture and depth without the flavour imprint of wood. The minimal or zero sulphite approach provides wines that taste of Andean sun, calcareous stone and mountain herbs, not of the laboratory. And the sustainable, solar-powered, water-recycling winery provides a guarantee that every bottle is produced with environmental consciousness from soil to seal. The cellar is not a factory; it is a continuation of the living organism — a place where patience, precision and the refusal to standardise translate biodynamic fruit into wine that is living, pure and unmistakably of its place.
Natal, Estate & the Breva Hand
Alpamanta produces a comprehensive, tiered portfolio that spans from fresh, unoaked natural wines to cellar-worthy, barrel-aged reserves — all sourced from the same 35 hectares of certified organic and biodynamic vineyards in Ugarteche. The range is divided into four distinct lines — Natal, Estate, Reserva / Terroir, and Breva — each offering a different lens on the estate's alluvial terroir. The Natal line is unoaked, fruity and fresh, fermented with ambient yeasts and bottled young to capture the vitality of the vineyard. The Estate line sees 10 months of French oak ageing, providing structure and spice while preserving the purity of the fruit. The Reserva / Terroir line is the estate's most ambitious expression, with Malbec aged for 18 months in new French barrels — a wine of depth, power and ageing potential. And the Breva line — meaning the first or early fruit — is the natural, unfiltered, zero-additive face of Alpamanta: pét-nats, unfiltered whites and rosés that have been pioneering natural wine in Argentina since 2015. All wines are vegan, all are made with indigenous yeasts, and all are a testament to the belief that better farming results in better wine — and going green is never a gimmick.
The Owl's Wisdom & the Biodynamic Hand
Alpamanta is not merely a winery; it is a proof that three European friends, armed with 35 hectares of virgin desert, a mobile hen-house, and a refusal to accept the chemical conventions of Argentine agriculture, can build a biodynamic estate that pioneers concrete eggs, natural wine and regenerative design in the heart of Mendoza's most historic wine zone. In an era when Luján de Cuyo is increasingly dominated by industrial scale, globalised palates and the relentless pursuit of volume, Alpamanta has demonstrated that the same Ugarteche alluvium can produce wines that are both unoaked and profound, both unfiltered and stable, both vegan and voluptuous — if the farming is biodynamic, the cellar is a place of indigenous-yeast patience, and the philosophy is one of leaving the land better than it was found.
The legacy of Alpamanta is the legacy of the owl's vigilance applied to viticulture. The lechuza on the label is not a decorative mascot but a symbol of the watchful, nocturnal, holistic intelligence that governs the estate — the wisdom to farm by the moon, to trust the ants, to move the chickens, to wait for the snowmelt, and to accept that the vineyard is a living organism rather than a production unit. The 67 components of Sauvignon Blanc are not a technical stunt but a statement of terroir fidelity — a refusal to homogenise the vineyard into a single block, and a commitment to let the six soil types speak in chorus. And the Breva pét-nats are not a trend-chasing novelty but a natural evolution of a project that has been zero-input since 2015 — proof that the health of biodynamic fruit can produce sparkling wine of spontaneous stability and irrepressible joy without a single additive.
The future of the estate is tied to the future of regenerative agriculture in Argentina and the 35 hectares that continue to accumulate biodiversity, organic matter and microbial life with each passing season. As the 2005 vines enter their third decade of root depth in the Ugarteche alluvium, as the Breva line expands its natural wine reach from Buenos Aires to Berlin, and as the Reserva Terroir Malbec proves that biodynamic farming can produce wines of both critical acclaim and cellar-worthy power, Alpamanta remains what it has always intended to be: a love letter to the land, written in Quechuan, sealed with an owl's wisdom, and poured into glasses that honour the earth from which it came. The story of Alpamanta is the story of three friends who looked at a patch of desert and saw not emptiness, but destiny — and who proved that the best bottle from Mendoza is the one that needs no chemical explanation, only a glass, a meal, and the patience to let the Ugarteche soil speak.
"Care for the land is what determined the path to develop our vineyards, our winery and our wines."
— Alpamanta