Elvira Calle was probably Mendoza's most important woman of our time. Smart, down to earth and deeply committed to social issues, she won the affection and admiration of all of Mendoza. Behind her light and elegant figure, the woman lived with temperament and fortitude. She managed to successfully assume the difficult task of managing Diario Los Andes, founded by Adolfo Calle in 1888, through good times and bad.

In addition to chairing the board of the newspaper, Elvira was a shareholder of a television channel, had a construction company and was active in the life of various welfare institutions.

For years she practiced her profession of Notary. She took pride in notarizing the deeds of «many poor families who purchased their first homes». Then she embraced her other great love, sociology, and came to preside over the Academy of Social Sciences of Mendoza.

Despite such a prolific life, Elvira Calle decided early in the new milenium to particpate in and fund the project of a new winery. The volatile context of Argentina's tough economic times, did not waver her determination to undertake this new challenge.

Elvira explained the reason for this initiative: «After the death of my father when I was very young, my mother remarried to an exceptional man who was my second father. He had vineyards and I really enjoyed the holidays becasue we often played cards with the workers. Since then I have loved wine because it is the quintessential work of my people. Although life's satisfaction has filled me in everything I have undertaken, this was minted in my heart, with the passage of time, the dream of creating a winery».

«When it seemed that everything was collapsing in my country», said Elvira, «I felt the time had come. It was no longer an option, it was a moral duty». «I believe in the destiny of greatness of my country and I know that destiny is shaped by creating thousands of small and medium businesses that provide work for people».

The first step was to work with a team capable of creating a wine with soul and life, the second was to decide if we build a new winery or buy and remodel an existing one, «I went for the later», said Elvira, «as a way of recovering the history of winemaking in Mendoza in a time when most new wineries were started by large foreign capital».

«After a bit of searching we found what we wanted, a small, century-old winery, located next to a stately colonial house, but the buildings needed improvements, we all loved it from the beginning, especially since the winery was small and had various elevations that allowed us to establish the gravity processing system that our winemakers wanted». «For me the house was also important, representing a marvelous place of cultural events for charity, it truly was love at first sight», continued Elvira.

Ms. Elvira Calle passed away in 2007. The original partners that helped build the winery and turn it into reality, are still involved with the day to day work of the project and are honored to carry on in her tradition.