My story

I am Alvaro Criado born in Godoy Cruz Mendoza Argentina on the 23th of September of 1992. Son of Liliana Martinez and Manuel Criado. My mother, an Agricultural Engineer with PhD in Biological Sciences researcher of the vineyard and the global warming effect on the vines. My father is a born entrepreneur, who started many business involved with batteries and electronics. My grandparents from my father side, were born in Salamanca, Spain and migrated to Argentina in 1949. On the other side, my mother's parents were born both in Argentina and they owned fine varietals vineyards and a winery in Mendoza.

I was raised in Godoy Cruz, Mendoza, Argentina until the age of 8, when my family moved to Lujan de Cuyo, a controlled origin denomination for Malbec, where my parents bought a new land and built up a new house. The purpose of this location was that it was near to the school where me and my brother used to go and also near to the National University of Cuyo's Agronomy Sciences College where my mother still works as a Full professor in Plant Physiology.

Near finishing high school my mother tried to convince me for studying Agriculture Engineering but I preferred to chose Industrial Engineering as I was looking for an engineering career with some business content in it which could allow me to start my own company in the future.

While studying industrial engineering I got passionate about the winemaking process, it was one of the course lectures in ''Industries and Service '', one of the obligatory modules in the bachelor's degree . I visited more than ten different wineries to understand the wine process.  My mother loved to explain me about the physiology  of the vineyards and I loved to explain to her all the industrial processes learned at college. She noticed that I liked the industry and invited me for organizing international conferences about grape growing and vineyards.

During my career I always wanted to travel around and have international experiences as a professional. I applied for scholarships for studying in France and I didn't got it as my French was not so good at that moment. I got through a serious illness in 2014 which allowed me to see life with another perspective.

I decided that when I finished my degree I would like to generate my self the opportunity of traveling and do whatever I wanted. I did my engineering thesis about a mobile canning line for craft breweries which I loved. On the mean time, I was working  at a local bakery in my town.

The Andes Mountains, Mendoza, Argentina

After finishing my career I started looking for a job as an engineer in the most popular wineries in Mendoza, Argentina. For different reasons I couldn't get the job. I applied for a job at the biggest exporter of wine in Argentina with other 2000 applicants and I got into an assessment center process where I got into the final 10 candidates. But guess what? After presenting a wine in can product I was not selected. I'm glad that I didn't get that job, thanks of that I'm now in Ireland.

On 2018, after graduation and, with some money saved I decided that it was my time to leave and explore. I left Argentina on October of that year, now it's 4 years living in Ireland. I decided to choose Ireland because it's one of the countries with the best human developing indexes in the world and it's an English spoken country. Not only that, I had my cousin living in Dublin for three months. Since I wanted to practice my English and the fact that it's a country inside the European Union and I have a Spanish passport, it was a no brainer decision for me.  

After working in The Shelbourne Hotel, a 5 star hotel in in Stephen's Green Park, Dublin, where I did everything from hoovering the entire ballroom and polishing glasses of wine to serving food & wine to the guests at prestigious company events. In 2019, I got a job in Cartamundi, a Belgian gameboard manufacturer in Waterford. I worked as an Industrial Engineer for 1 year supporting the Operations Department trying to improve efficiencies through time studies, procedures and line balancing. Then, 6 months as a Business Development Specialist. 

During 2020, with COVID I had time to think in my future. I always wanted to have my own business and be independent. What if I started a project that involved my career, my passions and my roots? 

That's why I started CRIADO WINES, originally a blog site where you could learn about Argentinian wine, it's regions, foods, culture and history. After doing more work in planning, market research while I completed a WSET course level 2 with merits, I started importing Argentinian wine through Spain. I built my own website which now is part of the past as we have a brand new website launched on 2021 where you can find our best selected wines from the most prestigious wineries of Mendoza, Argentina.

The origins December 2020, in Stoneybatter, Dublin.

Me, captured by a regular customer. Dec 2020.