Ana Paula, 32, has a degree in oenology and in 2023 she became the first woman appointed Chef de Cave at Chandon Argentina. Currently, in addition to leading the French company’s oenology area, she plays a very important role in the communication of the brand’s sparkling wines.
Where does your vocation for oenology come from?
When I finished high school, I had to choose what to study and one of my options was wine making. Although there were no winemakers in my family -I am the first-, we have always had land for agriculture. On top of that, my family works in the field of foreign trade and -living in Mendoza- that manly means to trade wine. Somehow I grew up always relating to the industry.
What were your first contacts with this profession?
At the time of making my decision about my studies, my dad offered me an internship at a friend’s winery to see if I really liked it. It is really not the same to do the work within the winery as to study about it from books. Shortly after, I fell in love with oenology and began studying at the Don Bosco Faculty.
When I started studying, I wanted to continue doing internships, as practice seems fundamental to me. So, I did some internships in Mendoza and then I traveled abroad to South Africa and Spain.
In 2017, after her internships abroad, Ana Paula returned to the country and received the proposal from Chandon Argentina. “The truth is that my role today is super challenging but also very enriching. I take it with a lot of responsibility. It is a commitment to the company and to the products. I have to understand each of the personalities in our portfolio, always maintaining the quality for which Chandon is recognized worldwide,” adds the young winemaker.
In 2019 Ana reached a new milestone with the launching of Garden Spritz (know by Apéritif in Argentina), a high-quality sparkling wine that is entirely made with natural ingredients handcrafted by Chandon Argentina.
Regarding this new product Bartolucci proudly states: “We discovered that people in the early hours of the evening like drinks that have a bitter and a citric component . So we started tasting different citrus fruits until we got to the oranges and the different macerates. Garden Spritz is disruptive.”
What is it like to be a woman in the oenology world?
I have a son, Milo, who is one year and 10 months old. Being a mother brought a very profound change in my life because I have had to learn to combine motherhood with work. All this is a challenge on a daily basis.
For example, when I have had to travel, we have chosen to do it as a family. In some way, we have combined motherhood with work, because I cannot imagine myself without my professional career… It is part of who I am. The same thing happens to me with motherhood. In this sense, I believe that today there is a strong trend in which people seek to combine work with family life.
I believe that the best wines are those that can express their terroir. In the case of sparkling wines, I would like to say that women have a lot of patience to be able to wait for the right moment when those bubbles are ready, after their long passage on yeasts.
In some cases -like in the traditional method- we leave wines from 24 to 36 months on yeasts. Waiting for the product, having that patience and that long-term vision, is for me the most beautiful thing in the world of bubbles. Personally, it is what I am most passionate about.
Interview Mariana Alvarez, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Government of Mendoza
Photo Credits: Ana Paula Bartolucci, Chandon Argentina