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Valentina Garza
Editor’s Note: Alfredo Espinola, el Restaurante’s representative in Mexico City, had the pleasure of chatting with Valentina Garza, a leader in Mexico’s wine business.
Who is Valentina Garza?
I am an explorer of wine and its culture, a storyteller. I not only taste and teach about wine, but also connect stories, people and landscapes through product awareness and enogastrocultural experiences. My approach is not only technical, it is also cultural and anthropological.
Tell us about your career.
For more than a decade I have dedicated myself to teaching wine, managing to combine technical training with practical and down-to-earth approaches, working on sensory analysis focused on the interpretation of wine, rather than deducing tasting notes.
Since 2017, I have served on several occasions as a judge for the Mexico Selection Mondial de Bruxelles. In 2021, the World Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) appointed me as an expert in the following subjects: Viticulture, Oenology, Economics and Law, Training, Safety and Health; that same year, the magazine Lideres Mexicanos considered me to be one of the 25 leaders of Mexican wine.
I was director of the Escuela de Vino del Altiplano (EVA) and took part in the Querétaro Wine Zoning project.
What were your beginnings in the world of wine and what motivated you?
My first harvest was in 2011 in a family vineyard near the Riscos de Bilibio, where I understood the value of working in the fields and the effort involved in a real harvest.
In short, I wasn't prepared and it was a great lesson. I was captivated by its complexity, the way a glass can tell a story of origin, climate, family and culture. Since then, my mission has been to communicate that background with an anthropological approach.
From your perspective, what does wine mean?
Wine is not just chemistry, it is history, identity, countryside and a reflection of the personality and emotions of those who work on the project.
Valentina, what have been your greatest achievements?
- Creating the first wine tourism course in Mexico, becoming an official trainer for the Rioja Designation of Origin (D.O.), which allowed me to promote one of the most important regions in the world with the support of the Regulatory Council.
- Directing the Altiplano Wine School, developing educational projects to strengthen wine knowledge in Mexico, training more than 1,000 students.
- Having increased the number of hectares planted in the Altiplano through conscientious advice; as well as setting up an academic winemaking winery from scratch, with the help of great friends who are experts in oenology.
- Increasing the number of wine projects in Mexico related to wine-themed restaurants, wine marketers, wine shops and businesses of any kind whose purpose was to integrate wine into their line of business
- And not least, being recognized by the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV) as an expert.
A hands-on course with Valentina Garza
What was your time like at the Escuela de Vino del Altiplano (EVA) and what were your projects as director?
I was living in Burgundy and returned to Mexico in 2014, having been offered the opportunity to direct the EVA. I must say that I arrived at a time when the school was still in the process of being set up. My role was to design programs that would raise the level of wine knowledge in Mexico; we implemented courses in oenology and sensory analysis, we worked on the professionalization of wine service and we created learning spaces for those who wanted to enter the sector with a solid foundation.
I managed to set up a winemaking cellar with top-quality equipment. Its initial stage was hand in hand with the then-called AVQ (Asociación de Vitivinicultores de Querétaro); in the second stage the school was more independent.
It is worth mentioning that the school worked with donations of grapes from different producers in the Altiplano, that is to say, that the oenologists helped us produce our wine and the students learned a lot about the grapes of the area and the microclimates. It was an interesting academic exchange.
We professionalized the oenology course in which students made white, rosé, red and sparkling wine and learned to play with wine and lose their fear of it. I also implemented courses in viticulture and ampelography (the botanical identification of grapevines; this was the first course of its type in Mexico), reaching agreements with various universities such as the University of Arkansas, Querétaro Campus and Anáhuac; as well as agreements with the CMV and the Guanajuato Grape and Wine Association, bringing education to various states of the Republic such as Mexico City, Aguascalientes, Querétaro and Guanajuato.
We dignified the consumption and knowledge of white, rosé and sparkling wine, we opened practical debates that allowed students to carry out experimental vinifications and learn first-hand the steps to follow in local winemaking, without the rigidity of the classic books on winemaking that we studied with.
I managed to integrate the participation of wine professionals into the teaching. For me it was very important that they had a say in the school, because they are the ones who are really involved in production.
We created the Altiplano initiative, which emphasizes that political boundaries do not necessarily correspond to wine-growing boundaries.
How did the Querétaro Wine Zoning project come about?
It came about with the intention of talking to the public about the Altiplano, a very large wine-producing region, from the anthropology of wine, specifically, from the path of Fray Junípero Serra, where the way was opened to Mexican viticulture and the root of our history. In this way we dignify our product and create a more culturally friendly region.
Let's understand that this project is based on amalgamating the anthropology and history of winemaking, making wine have a Mexican identity.
The first stage of the project was to give structure to the impulse of wanting to grow and solidify a wine region, to understand where it was going and to have an exact knowledge of the varieties that are grown, and to see what the market is asking for, to carry out planting intelligently.
In the second stage, a census was carried out in partnership with the University of Arkansas Querétaro Campus, and with the support of the highly talented Dr. Soledad del Rio, who provided us with access to a satellite program that allowed us to establish how many hectares each project of each of the winegrowers in Querétaro had, delimiting only and exclusively those planted in each vineyard, resulting in a total of 400 hectares actually planted.
In the same way, this system allowed us to see the evolution of each of the grape varieties according to the vegetative cycle, which ones sleep better, at what point the leaves fall and sprout again, allowing for more technical control over the agricultural production of the vineyard, and as a result, to know the quality of the wine.
The idea is that Mexican wine should not only be valued for its general origin, but also for its specific characteristics according to the climate, soil and traditions of each region. This project is a key initiative for creating the identity of a region and truly understanding its vocation. It was led by Lluís Raventós, general manager of Freixenet Mexico, and at that time president of the technical committee of the Querétaro Winemakers Association, and I was serving as director of EVA.
As director of the Altiplano Wine School, how did you deal with the pandemic?
The pandemic was a challenge, but also an opportunity to transform wine education. I opted for digitalization, reluctantly teaching virtual courses because for me wine education should be very practical. To appreciate viticulture you have to spend a morning in the sun, planting or pruning, and that can't be transmitted via Zoom.
One of my biggest challenges during the pandemic was to set up a wine cellar on the school's premises. This cellar is located in the center of Querétaro and has the best advice you can get, such as the region's oenologists and winegrowers, who also give classes at EVA. The idea is for the local winegrower to talk first-hand about the problems we have in the field.
Nowadays, Mexican wine is more widely consumed, but how can we make sure that new generations are familiar with it?
The key lies in accessible education, assertive communication and the story that each wine has to tell its consumer; as well as generating relaxed and unpretentious tasting experiences, being honest with our products and being open to listening to what new generations want and are looking for. We must tell authentic stories; the new generations are not looking for labels, but for experiences and real connections with what they consume.
We must understand that wine is for bringing people together, enjoying each other's company with a glass of wine in hand and removing that element of sobriety that has pigeonholed wine. We have to reinforce that simplicity, without losing respect for the product.
It is worth mentioning that I will soon be opening a wine shop where the shelves will be organized in such a way that the buyer can purchase a wine according to the moment or event in which they want to enjoy it. Some of the proposals for the classifications will be:
- The fashionable wines.
- They are not exotic, they are visionary.
- What a sommelier brings to a dinner party when he is not working.
- Wines for demanding in-laws.
- What the experts drink.
- Adventurous wines.
- Wines to try at least once in your life.
- Wine for experts when they are not working.
- No labels, no rules.
- From Mexico to the world.
- Wine for gossip.
The importance of these classifications is that we can all understand them, whether you are an expert on the subject or someone who is going to try wine for the first time, I speak a more universal language through my work.
Do you think that women have been gaining more and more ground in the world of wine?
Wine has historically been dominated by men, but it is currently changing thanks to the presence of brave women who have been able to join forces to demand their rights and gender equality. The interesting thing is that we are not only gaining ground, but also transforming the narrative. We bring a more inclusive, pedagogical vision oriented towards experience and professionalization.
I'll share with your readers that one of the women from whom I learned a lot was Paz Austin, the first woman to run the CMV, and one of her first objectives was to create the first meeting of women in wine; she taught me that we can shine together and be stronger united.
It is essential to make the role of women in Mexican wine more visible. It is already clear to us what we contribute and that we are not willing to return to the cave of obedience and discretion. It is essential to break the glass ceiling, to stop questioning women who shine for their excellence and to continue strengthening women's associations. Today there is no wine without women, there is no going back now that we have strengthened, we are already organizing the first summit of women in leadership together with the association of women and tannins that will be on March 7th of this year.
In this regard, I would like to share with you that together with Dr. Diana Celaya Tentori, I am working on a research project that will be presented at the next OIV World Congress entitled: Women as a Key Factor in the Construction of a Resilient Business Model in the Mexican Wine Industry.
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