Alberto Arizu’s life has been taking place mostly among vineyards. One of his first memories dates back to Finca El Paraíso, located at the Department of Maipu, where most of the greatest and most significant moments of his life have occurred. Engineer Alberto Arizu was born in that same country estate, therefore, the scents and colors of the vines and antique olive groves were part of his first contacts with the world. He had lived in the large country house of El Paraíso until he turned 7 years old, then he moved in order to attend school but, since that moment on, he would spend every summer among his rows full of grapes.

He holds special memories of the first summer holidays when he had returned to the estate after having studied in the city, since that was the first time he had actually participated in the harvesting season. With only eight years old, he collaborated in one of the most difficult and important tasks of the productive cycle: the wine harvest. It must have been that same summer, while playing and taking part of small duties, that he started following the path traced by his father and grandfather, Leoncio Arizu, Luigi Bosca’s founder. From then onwards, his participation and active role in the wine harvesting and in the wine elaboration started growing exponentially until in 1966 he got the degree of Agricultural Engineer from the National University of Cuyo.

All along his life, Alberto Arizu has been one of the main protagonists of many of the greatest changes and innovations of Argentinian vitiviniculture. However, there is a milestone that highlights over many other achievements: the creation of the first and most important Controlled Denomination of Origin (C.D.O.) in Latin America in 1989. The ambitious project of establishing the elaboration parameters of the Malbec variety, protecting Luján de Cuyo native soil and establishing high quality standards was fostered by two men: Alberto Arizu and Raúl de la Mota, two Argentinian vitiviniculture visionaries that belong to the most relevant personalities within the wine industry.

Following their steps, the representatives of more than 30 wineries of the region gathered with a joint desire: to create a C.D.O. following the European style for the Malbec, since the Argentinian labels were beginning to gain relevance worldwide. The objective was to appraise the area in order to upraise the wines as well as the daily work in the estates and wineries. However, it took time and heated debates to agree that this C.D.O. should only be for Malbec: “It was crucial to understand that a C.D.O. arises from a prior significant fact, as, for instance, the outcomes obtained with this grape variety, and not after its creation”, Alberto Arizu explains.