Laura Catena

"Sometimes things happen You ship the wrong wine, or the label was scuffed. The people I work with in Argentina care so much. I say, ‘Let’s figure out how it happened and not let it happen again. Then we have to move on.’ It’s the perspective you get from being a doctor. Was a small child hurt? No"

"“We make sure everyone is thinking about it all the time.”"

"I am from a fourth-generation Italian family. My great-grandfather, Nicola Catena, came from the Marche to Argentina with the very specific desire to plant vineyards and make his own wine because his father and grandfather made wine in Italy. I was born in Mendoza and my father had started working with his father when I was born. But my father wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a professor of economics and try and save the Argentine economy (which I’m glad he didn’t as that would’ve been quite difficult!), or if he wanted to work with his father and the winery."

"Victoria Has your family been involved in wine for a long time?"

"I grew up going to the winery with my father and grandfather; I remember that winemaking was a man’s world. My father always equally encouraged myself, my sister, and my brother to study hard and there were no greater expectations for boys over girls, which was rare. At that time in Argentina the idea was that if you were a man, you needed a good job that paid a lot of money, and if you were a woman, you needed a good husband. And it’s not that long ago! But my father had great expectations. In the end my grandfather was more likely to take my brother to the vineyard and I would take care of the dogs. That was my ‘side-door’ into the winery, to hang out with my grandfather. But the winemaking was reserved for the men, and in my generation that was my brother."

"I honestly had no intention of going to work for the family winery. I studied medicine and I wanted to be a travelling doctor helping people all over the world, which I got to do somewhat. I did have a career as a doctor but always part-time because I was also working for the winery. When I was going to school, I didn’t think that people making wine were making a big difference in the world because, to me, those jobs were as a teacher, as a doctor – you had to be in service."

"But today I manage our winery which provides jobs that elevate Argentine wines, and we are helping our whole region with all the research that we do and share. Then there’s the joy that wine brings to people. I honestly think that I’m making a greater impact as a winemaker than as a doctor. Back then I thought I would drink the family’s wines rather than make them. However, the moment that I decided that I wanted to work with my father was when I started going to France with him because he wanted to check out the competition. I had studied French since I was quite young and in the wine world it can be quite useful. He invited me as his translator, and I fell in love with drinking wine. I still thought that I was going to be a doctor. Finally, my father asked me to go to this wine event, the New York Wine Experience. He said, ‘Laurita, nobody here speaks English, you have to go.’ So I managed to trade some shifts at the hospital and I showed up in New York where we were the only South American winery."

"I remember being in my booth and people walking by and seeing Argentina and just being ignored. Back then in the mid 1990s, it was all France and Italy and Spain. I saw my father’s dream of putting Argentina on the wine map as almost impossible! I called him and said, ‘Papa, I have to come and help you because you need so much help.’ Of course, my arrogance as a young person came through and my father was thrilled! I think he pretty much would’ve put me in charge of the winery right there and then."

"I like science and I like people. It’s a great profession because you have instant gratification. You also see a lot of suffering but you can make a big difference to people’s lives. Also, I did emergency medicine so you’ll have a parent that brings in a child who is hurt. The parent is terrified, the child is crying and within an hour I’ve fixed the child. I’ve fixed the parent. Everybody’s happy. It’s the most incredible feeling."

"Winemaking takes a lot more patience because you have to blend the wines before they make a really great wine and that’s 10 to 15 years. You also must research and study and wait for a while to see if the wines can age well. I loved medicine because it felt like I was making a difference all the time, every day, every minute that you’re working. I actually said to my father, ‘Papa, why didn’t you tell me wine was so great?’ Because it’s science and there’s people. He said that if he’d told me to go and work with him then I wouldn’t be working with him now. It was important that I came on my own. That’s something I’ve discussed with other family wineries. You should wait for people to come on their own."