The Guainmeiquer Hand & the San Rafael Truth
Finca Las Payas is the one-man natural wine revolution in San Rafael, Mendoza — a tiny, circular cellar where Santiago Salgado makes blood-drawn wines that don't like to be handled, the attempt to put a piece of truth inside a bottle. A former radio pirate and theatre impresario from Buenos Aires who fled the 2001 crisis and landed in San Rafael in 2004, Santiago began making wine in 2005 in an old shed at the back of the farm — combining his pleasure for manual work with the grape bunches that ripened at the bottom of the property. Everything is made with zero additives, native yeasts, no wood, no filtration, no clarification, no stabilisation, and total sulfur below 30mg/L. In 2018, Finca Las Payas became the first artisanal winery in Argentina to export its wines — after Santiago had to prove to the Argentine state that there was no reason a small producer couldn't do what only large bodegas were allowed to do. Today his wines flow to Brazil, Denmark, Sweden, Miami, New York, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Central America. The labels are capricious, unregistered, and irreverent — as much works of theatre as they are works of viticulture. The result is a portfolio of small, irreproducible batches — Moscato di Cardinale, Criollaje, La Abuela No Está Orgullosa, and the Bicho Raro line of exotic varietals — that taste of San Rafael's sun, Santiago's restless creativity, and the radical conviction that before the Second World War, agriculture could be done without chemicals.
The Radio Pirate & the San Rafael Hand
The story of Finca Las Payas begins not with a vine but with a microphone. Santiago Salgado was born in Buenos Aires, graduated from the Nacional de San Isidro in 1984, and earned a degree in Communication Science from the UBA in 1989. In 1987, he and some friends set up a pirate FM radio station — "El Bulo de Merlín" — broadcasting from the back of his mother's house. A few years later, in 1990, he reopened an abandoned neighbourhood theatre — Stella Maris de San Isidro — and founded a performing arts school and a children's theatre company in English, The Flywalk Group / The Group Entertainment Co. He was, by his own description, a man of radio and theatre — a creative spirit with a developed capacity for invention and a restless, experimental mind.
Then came 2001. The Argentine crisis laid bare what Santiago called "the unpleasant and aggressive side of the city" — overwhelmed by the metaphors of The Matrix and Chicken Run, he fled Buenos Aires with his family in search of a better place to live and raise his daughters. They had never been to Mendoza. In 2002 they vacationed there, fell in love with it, and in 2004 they moved to San Rafael — a quieter, sun-drenched district in the south of Mendoza province, far from the frenetic pace of the capital. The idea was to live off the land, on a farm, at a slower rhythm.
In 2005, combining his pleasure for manual work with the grape bunches that ripened at the back of the farm, the Finca Las Payas project was born — in an old shed, with dubious first bottles and no formal training. Santiago considers himself not a winemaker in the industrial sense but a producer of artisanal wine, a lifestyle rather than a business. "It took me many years of work, but today I can say it is a project that works very well." He is one subject away from graduating as a University Technician in Enology and Viticulture at UNCuyo — a degree that, he admits, will probably never happen. And that is precisely the point: Finca Las Payas is not about credentials; it is about conviction.
"I consider myself an artisanal wine producer, and I see it as a lifestyle, different from most people who perhaps see it as a means to make money. It took me many years of work, but today I can say it is a project that works very well."
— Santiago Salgado
San Rafael, El Colectivo & the Agroecological Hand
San Rafael is the southernmost of Mendoza's major wine districts — a sun-baked, slower-paced region that has historically been overshadowed by the fame of Luján de Cuyo and the Uco Valley, but which possesses a distinctive warmth and viticultural character all its own. The soils are alluvial with sandy-loam and gravel, the climate is intensely sunny and dry, and the altitude is moderate — producing wines of ripeness, generosity, and a certain wildness that the cooler, more polished northern zones cannot replicate. It is here, in this less celebrated corner of Mendoza, that Santiago Salgado has found his home and his voice.
The estate is small by design — a boutique artisanal operation where Santiago is simultaneously janitor, winemaker, CEO, label designer, and export manager. During the pandemic, he organised a crowdfunding campaign to plant a small agroecological vineyard on the farm — El Colectivo, half a hectare of Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Ancellota, Corvina and Nero d'Avola — funded by supporters in just two months. The vineyard is managed agroecologically: no synthetic chemicals, no industrial inputs, only the natural rhythms of soil, sun, and water. Santiago also works with grapes from local growers in San Rafael, selecting parcels that align with his no-chemical philosophy.
The guiding conviction is simple and radical: before the Second World War, agriculture could be done without chemicals, and wines could too. Part of the journey is to renounce modern technique and recover the old ways of doing things — to find the most frank path between the earth and the drinkers, clearing it as much as possible of interference. The farm is not a monoculture but a living, breathing organism where vines, herbs, fruit trees and wildlife coexist. The result is a vineyard that produces grapes of extraordinary purity and concentration — small batches, hand-harvested by Santiago himself, and brought to the tiny circular cellar where the magic happens.
San Rafael is the southernmost major wine district of Mendoza — a sun-drenched, slower-paced region with alluvial sandy-loam and gravel soils, intense sunshine, and a warmth that distinguishes it from the cooler, more celebrated Uco Valley. For centuries, San Rafael has produced robust, generous wines that have been overshadowed by the fame of Luján de Cuyo. But for Santiago Salgado, San Rafael is not a second choice; it is a revelation — a place where the pace of life allows for the patience that natural wine demands, and where the sun produces grapes of ripeness and wild character that no northern terroir can replicate.
During the pandemic, Santiago organised a crowdfunding campaign to plant a small agroecological vineyard on the farm — El Colectivo, half a hectare funded by supporters in just two months. The vineyard is planted with Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Ancellota, Corvina and Nero d'Avola, all managed agroecologically with no synthetic chemicals. It is a testament to the community that Santiago has built around his wines — a group of drinkers who believe so deeply in his project that they were willing to pay for vines they would not harvest for years. The first grapes from El Colectivo are expected for the 2025 harvest.
Finca Las Payas operates on a categorical refusal of synthetic chemicals, industrial fertilisers, and modern viticultural technology. The farming is agroecological — a closed system of soil health, biodiversity, and natural pest management. Santiago believes that before WWII, agriculture was done without chemicals, and wine should be too. The grapes are hand-harvested by Santiago himself, selected for health and ripeness, and transported to the tiny circular cellar where they are handled with the lightest possible touch. This is not certified organic agriculture in the bureaucratic sense; it is something older and more fundamental — a return to the way wine was made before the invention of the spray bottle.
The winery at Finca Las Payas is a small, circular bodega — intimate, artisanal, and entirely operated by Santiago Salgado. He is the intellectual and material author of every bottle: from scrubbing the floors to versing about the overripe blackcurrant aroma of Bonarda at tastings, he does it all. A multifaceted one-man band. From foreman to CEO and everything in between. The cellar is not a cathedral of technology but a workshop of patience — where a former theatre director proves that the best bottle from Argentina is the one that needs no credentials, only a glass, a meal, and the courage to swim against the current.
Zero Additives, No Wood & the Creative Hand
The cellar philosophy of Finca Las Payas is summarised in a single declaration: the wines rule, and the Guainmeiquer obeys. Santiago is guided by the transparency of telling drinkers everything he does in his wines — and consequently, doing only what he says. The rules are absolute and unbending: minimum intervention; no wood; no additives that give flavour; native yeasts; no sulfiting the harvest; no filtration; no clarification; no stabilisation; total sulfur dioxide below 30mg/L. And a dream: to make wine with grape must and nothing more.
The wines are made with a toqueteo mínimo — the lightest possible touch — because, as Santiago says, the wines confessed that they do not like being walked on. The native yeast fermentation ensures that every vintage is unique, a snapshot of the specific growing season and the specific microbial life of the San Rafael cellar. The absence of wood means that no vanilla, no toast, no spice from barrels can mask the fruit. The absence of filtration, clarification and stabilisation means that the wine remains alive, evolving, and true to its origins. And the total sulfur below 30mg/L — far below the conventional standard — ensures that the wine tastes of nothing but grape and place.
Santiago's creative background — radio, theatre, pirate broadcasting — infuses every aspect of the project. The labels are capricious, irreverent, and unregistered — he thinks about them for a long time, and the relationship between the label and the wine is often deliberately whimsical. Some ideas are used; others are left by the wayside. The three wines that have maintained continuity over time — Moscato di Cardinale, Criollaje, and La Abuela No Está Orgullosa — are tied to the experimental, the creative, and the concept of small, irreproducible batches. And since 2013, the Bicho Raro line has explored exotic varietals with the same spirit of restless curiosity. For Santiago, winemaking is not a technical discipline but a creative act — the continuation of theatre by other means.
Native Yeasts, Zero Additives & the Theatrical Truth
The guiding principle of Finca Las Payas is that the winemaker's job is to get out of the way. The agroecological farming provides healthy, complex grapes from living soils. The hand harvest by Santiago ensures that only pristine fruit enters the cellar. The native yeast fermentation captures the microbial soul of San Rafael. The zero-additive approach removes every barrier between grape and glass. The absence of wood, filtration, clarification and stabilisation preserves the living, evolving character of the wine. The total sulfur below 30mg/L ensures that the wine tastes of nothing but honesty. And the theatrical, capricious labels remind the drinker that wine is not merely agriculture but art — a piece of truth inside a bottle, placed there by a former radio pirate who fled Buenos Aires and found his stage in a circular cellar at the bottom of a San Rafael farm.
Moscato di Cardinale, Criollaje & the Bicho Raro Hand
Finca Las Payas produces a remarkably diverse, deliberately capricious portfolio of small, irreproducible batches — wines that reflect Santiago's restless creativity and his refusal to make the same thing twice. Three wines have maintained continuity since the beginning: Moscato di Cardinale — a skin-contact Moscato rosado made since 2005; Criollaje — a light, juicy wine from the Cereza grape; and La Abuela No Está Orgullosa — an artisanal white wine that has become the estate's most talked-about expression. Since 2013, the Bicho Raro line has explored exotic and heritage varieties — Cereza, Carignan, Emperatriz, Patricia, Canela, Fer, Dolcetto, Verdicchio, Nero d'Avola, Croatina, Corvina, Tannat, Caladoc and Ancellota — always in small, unrepeatable lots. Additional wines include Crudo Cabernet Franc, Libre Corvina, and a Bonarda that Santiago considers one of his most satisfying achievements. All are united by zero additives, native yeasts, no wood, no filtration, and total sulfur below 30mg/L. The result is a portfolio that is simultaneously deeply serious and playfully irreverent — proof that a one-man cellar in San Rafael can produce wines that travel the world.
The First to Export & the Artisanal Hand
Finca Las Payas is not merely a winery; it is a proof that a former radio pirate and theatre impresario, fleeing Buenos Aires with his family and landing in an old shed in San Rafael, can become the first artisanal winery in Argentina to export its wines — and build a global following from a circular cellar with no staff, no investors, and no credentials. In an era when Argentine wine is dominated by industrial scale, corporate consolidation, and the homogenising pressure of export markets, Santiago Salgado has demonstrated that one man, one shed, and one conviction are enough — that the same San Rafael soil can produce both a 500-bottle orange wine from a seedless table grape and a globally distributed natural Bonarda, that the same creative mind can design capricious labels and agroecological vineyards without contradiction, and that a single family can speak the language of theatre and viticulture in the same breath.
The legacy of Finca Las Payas is the legacy of the disobedient hand in viticulture. The 2001 crisis is not a distant memory but a defining origin — a reminder that sometimes the best way to build a wine project is to flee the city that broke your heart. The 2018 export breakthrough is not a commercial milestone but a political act — a one-man proof that the Argentine state had no right to reserve export privileges for large bodegas alone. The crowdfunding of El Colectivo is not a financial strategy but a community manifesto — a declaration that wine lovers will pay for vines they may never see if they believe in the vision of the person planting them. And the Bicho Raro line is not a marketing gimmick but a rescue mission — a refusal to let Cereza, Corvina, Verdicchio and the "Argentina" grape disappear into the monoculture of Malbec.
The future of the project is tied to the future of Argentina's artisanal natural wine movement — to the growing global community of drinkers who seek wines that are not only delicious but honest, not only unique but true. As Moscato di Cardinale continues to introduce a new generation to the possibilities of skin-contact wine, as La Abuela No Está Orgullosa proves that a table grape can produce a world-class orange wine, as the first grapes from El Colectivo approach their 2025 harvest, and as Santiago's wines flow to Denmark, Sweden, New York and Berlin, Finca Las Payas remains what it has always intended to be: a one-man farm where a former theatre director proves that the best bottle from Argentina is the one that needs no pretension, no credentials, and no chemistry — only a glass, a meal, and the courage to swim against the current. The story of Finca Las Payas is the story of a man who looked at the San Rafael desert and saw not a barrier but a stage — and who proved that the best wine is not the most technical, but the most true.
"The attempt to put a piece of truth inside a bottle. Between those first dubious bottles from 2005 in the old shed on the farm and those from now, a lot of wine has flowed down our river. Everyone is invited to uncork and swim against the current."
— Santiago Salgado, Finca Las Payas