Cristina Mantilla

The Path

Training at University of Santiago de Compostela and Technical University of Madrid’s Agricultural Engineering School gave Cristina Mantilla a foundation in precision and structure. Those two settings placed the emphasis on careful method rather than improvisation, and that approach carries through the rest of her career. The move from study to cellar to consulting in Vigo reads as steady accumulation, with knowledge tested, adjusted, and applied in practice. For a trade that often prizes instinct, Mantilla’s route makes training the underlying framework of the work.

The Work Today

At Bodegas del Palacio de Fefinanes, the winemaker’s job is to turn grapes, place, and technical judgment into finished wine. Cristina Mantilla works inside that pressure point, where each decision has an effect and every detail counts toward the final shape of the wine. The work asks for calm as much as conviction, and for a standard that can hold the raw material to its origins without losing coherence. Her own view is plain: “I strongly believe that training is the best foundation for quality work.”

In Their Words “I strongly believe that training is the best foundation for quality work.” “When I started making wine 18 years ago the only job for women at the bodega was doing the paperwork.”