José Galante, Bodegas Salentein’s Chief Winemaker.
Bodegas Salentein’s Chief Winemaker, José Galante
José Galante is Argentinian, born and raised in the San Martín department, in the Mendoza province.
José Galante is much more than a winemaker. He is, due to his knowledge and his career, one of the enologists with most expertise in Argentina, and one of the icons of the national modern wine making. His name is unavoidably bound to the change in Argentinian wine styles since the 1980s. For 34 years, Galante worked as the main enologist of the bodega Catena Zapata, and received many of the flying winemakers from all over the world which the bodega hired in order to strengthen its creations. There, he made memorable products that became milestones in the industry, until 2010, when he joined Bodegas Salentein as chief winemaker. One of the keys to his success is the style he brings to the wines. Far from following fleeting trends or making products without identity, he always produced great, modern varieties which preserved the identity of the Argentinian wine. As Bodegas Salentein’s enologist, his wine-making philosophy consists of “preserving entirely the spectrum of aromas and flavors of the fruit through a soft and gentle fermentation process, with excellent technology and a particular emphasis in achieving the best expressions of the Uco Valley”. The wines must incorporate the wooden contribution without affecting the varietal or the soil typicality; “aromatic wines of great concentration, good tannic texture, soft and silky, and long duration in the palate”, he emphasizes. Bodegas Salentein’s wines are authentic terroir wines, products which are ambassadors of Uco Valley’s elevations and carry in the bottle a piece of this land. With more than 34 harvests already done, and after producing in the most important regions of Mendoza, José Galante firmly believes that the Uco Valley is the best area in Argentina for producing first-rate wines.
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