Unique Valley
Valle de la Puerta was established in 1994 and is located in the Famatina Valley, approximately 754 miles North West from Buenos Aires by road.
The property sits between the Famatina and Velasco mountain ranges, which branch off the impressive Andes. This unique valley offers a magnificent visual backdrop and provides well-drained topsoil.
LOCATION
Valle de Famatina, La Rioja province, Argentina
Latitude: 29°24'27.33"S Longitude: 67°29'45.10”W
SOIL & ALTITUDE
Deep sandy-clay soil of alluvial origin
Altitude: 1.000 m. | 2.380 feet above sea level.
CLIMATE
Warm and semi-arid. Temperature difference between day and night may reach 68°F | 20°C.
Rainfall ranges 4-8 inches | 100-200mm per year
1.300
150
2.2 mill.
HECTARES
OF LAND
HECTARES
UNDER VINE
LITRES OF WINE
PER YEAR
770
15 mill.
1.400
HECTARES OF
OLIVE TREES
KILOGRAMS
OF OLIVES
TONS OF OLIVE
OIL PER YEAR
Meet The Team
Javier Collovati
Farm Manager & Winemaker
+54 9 3825 67-2826
Agricultural engineer turned winemaker and motocross racing driver, Javier is one of those men whose energy never seems to run out.
La Rioja’s desert is an unforgiving environment, where only the resourceful thrive.
Working on farms, Javier put himself through college and landed a job as an intern at Valle de La Puerta, where he found his calling.
Due to the estate´s remote location, Javier, with support from Julian (the company´s President and CEO) devised a plan: they would fly in consulting winemakers from around the country, learn all they could from their short visits and hustle until they could manage to do everything on their own.
It payed off.
Today he is head winemaker and estate manager. His La Puerta Bonarda Reserva has been selected by the Argentina Wine Awards as one of the top four wines of the country. He also has developed his own vineyards and launched his own line of wines labeled “Collovati”.
Julian Clusellas
President & CEO
+54 11 4058-6003
In 1994 Julian opened the newspaper and found what would become his life passion.
Three months later his wife stood with him twelve hundred kilometers away from home, staring at four thousand hectares of barren land which he was to transform into a vast complex of Vineyards, Olive Groves, a Winery and an Olive Oil Factory.
This job soon became more than a profession; it became his and his family's way of life.
Part agricultural engineer, part pioneer, Julian took on the responsibility of building and guiding a team that, because of the estate’s remote location, had to learn crucial elements of their work from visiting experts. This required intensive on-the-job training and a sink or swim attitude to make the most of every visit.
Julian quickly understood that the desert was unforgiving and weakness was not an option. He held himself, and everyone around him, to the highest of standards and would often motivate his crew by setting up contests: he would pit himself against his employees in a race from one end of a plot to the other to see who could plant the most vines or olive trees.
Today, Valle de la Puerta employs up to three hundred people and two thousand hectares are productive and full of life, many of which were planted by Julian’s own hands.
Andrew Noble
VP Sales & Marketing
+54 11 5762-2440
Architect and Urbanist by training, entrepreneur at heart.
Andrew cut his teeth and grew hungry when he moved to a rough miner’s town in England, at the age of twelve.
He would rise at 5 am, run his newspaper delivery route before school and harvest potatoes from the frozen ground after class. Every moment he could spare, he spent sketching Durham’s Cathedral from across a river.
After military service, Andrew started his own architecture firm. He designed and built highly innovative advertising structures for clients such as Warsteiner, Michelin, Telecom and Exxon. He then moved with his family to Brazil and started an ACM aluminum composite panel processing company for architectural and specialty applications.
While living abroad, Andrew developed a taste for international trade.
Today he has transitioned into the export business, joining Valle de La Puerta to build the company´s brand and bottled wine business from the ground up, which now exports over a million bottles a year.