Alberto Antonini

The Path

The making of this career starts with study, not spectacle. University of Florence, Université de Bordeaux, and University of California, Davis gave Antonini a route through three institutions central to the trade, before the work moved into wineries and vineyard decisions. Early posts as assistant winemaker at Frescobaldi Winery in Italy, technical director at Col D’Orcia Winery in Montalcino, Italy, and head winemaker at Antinori Winery in Italy placed him in roles where the craft is judged by what the fruit and site will support. In 1995, becoming partner and winemaker at Altos Las Hormigas in Mendoza, Argentina sharpened that focus further, particularly around terroir and Malbec. Today, Alberto is owner of Poggiotondo winery and consultant of own consulting business since 1997. The span of those roles points to a practice built across vineyards, climates and growers, but anchored in the same questions: how land is farmed, how it is read, and how it can be expressed without forcing it.

The Work Today

At La Cipriana, Antonini serves as external consulting oenologist, bringing the perspective of a consultant oenologist for many wineries in multiple countries. The work is less about imposing a fixed cellar style than about calibration: reading soils, assessing vine balance, and working out what each vineyard can reliably give. That approach is stated plainly in his own words: “The making of a great wine happens 80% in the soil.” It is a practical line, and it describes the center of the job. Vineyard decisions come first; harvest decisions follow what the site has already made possible.

Signature

Among Alberto’s signature wines are Bertolino Soprano 2017, Terre del Sommacco 2016, and Gordon Ramsay Vibrante Bianco. Read together, they show a career that moves across names, places and styles while returning to the same concern: letting a site come through clearly in the bottle.

In Their Words “My dream is that one day we won't talk about Malbec first, when we talk about Argentina. Instead, we'll talk about Vista Flores or Luján. We'll talk about where the wine is from, before we talk about Malbec.” “Focusing on farming is nothing new. It’s more like we’re going back to the future.”

Acclaim

Another named credit is Gordon Ramsay Vibrante Bianco 2020. Alongside the Argentina chapter and the consulting work, those wines place the career around site, grape and technical direction rather than a single cellar address.