BIRA Wines

BIRA Wines, an acronym for “Bernasconi + Isgró, República Argentina”, was founded by two friends, Federico Isgró and Santiago Bernasconi and their project is one to watch in Argentina. Federico and Santiago crossed paths whilst working in Rio Negro in 2011, with Federico just joining the iconic Bodega Chacra after returning from a position at Cantina Guerrieri-Rizzardi in Valpolicella. Their mutual passion for drinking Italian style wines and a shared Italian heritage inspired them to embark on an adventure into Argentina’s traditional viticultural past and ultimately inspired them establish BIRA in 2017. They stumbled on two blocks in the Uco Valley: one was planted in 1975 in Arboleda and one planted in 1972 in La Consulta and speaks to the Italian heritage dates back over 150 years ago in Argentina, when the Italian immigrants arrived. Italian winemakers were amongst the first wave who arrived in Argentina, and planted varietals such as Piemontese Bonarda, Barbera and Sangiovese. However, Sangiovese was considered the most important varietal until the 1970s and sadly were pulled out to be replaced with Bordeaux varietals and Malbec. With only two Sangiovese blocks and their first vintage released in 2018, BIRA Wine is not only creating Sangiovese based blends but also speaks to the wine revolution happening in revitalizing Argentina’s historic varietals.