Fernando Buscema

Background

About Fernando Buscema

I am a fifth-generation winemaker from Mendoza, Argentina. A few more generations of my family were related to grape and wine in Italy as well! We have faced a great deal of challenges to sustainability…and here I am. I have worked with renowned international wineries, including Domaines Barons de Rothschild [Lafite], Catena Zapata, and my family winery, Famiglia Bertona. I also co-founded a boutique project called Tierra de Dioses, which is now owned and managed by my original partners. I have worked, and continue to work in Argentina, Italy and the United States and have completed more than 20 harvests! Tim Atkin named me Young Winemaker of the Year in 2018 and James Suckling selected one of my wines, CARO 2012, as one of the top 3 in the world. Research (to find solutions to the challenges of viticulture) fascinates me. I lead one of the most innovative teams in the industry at the Catena Institute of Wine and founded Qualab (qualab.co) to serve as a bridge between producers and the scientific community. I graduated from UC Davis, California and worked alongside one of my mentors: Roger Boulton. Our studies focused on the existence of terroir and how to measure it. Our research lead to the most extensive study of Malbec in the world, documenting over 40 wine growing sites across two hemispheres. All our work has been published, and this is one of my favorite papers: https://bit.ly/MALBEC-UCDAVIS. I also share what I know and continue to learn. At UC Davis, I taught “Physical and Chemical Stability of Wines” and I am a head professor of “Wine Operations Management” at the Wine MBA of the J.A. Maza University in Mendoza. My vision of winemaking is holistic. I want to help triple impact plant, grape and wine producers to become sustainable, achieving profitability by making the world a better place to live in. have 3 key goals, to advance sustainable production, ensure producers can make an honest living and ensure our methods improve the world’s ecosystem.