Organic Winemaking in Argentina: A visit to Domaine Bousquet
Domaine Bousquet continues to elevate Argentine wine through generations of dedication and innovation in organic wine practices. Earlier this year, Irma Remigio and her team warmly welcomed SWR’s Membership Manager, Ilva Fridenberga, to their winery.
The winery, located at the foot of the Andes Mountains, is globally recognized for its award-winning wines and has grown into a must-visit destination in the Mendoza region. Visitors get an up-close look at the Domaine Bousquet’s organic practices throughout the property, including a dedicated biodynamic garden that hosts educational sessions.
At the time of the visit in February, the team was trialing two different types of corridors in the vineyard: biodiversity and garden. The biodiversity corridors are closed off in order to not disturb the natural vegetation, and the harvest is performed from outside the vine rows. The garden corridors, by contrast, are used to grow complementary plants and vegetables alongside the vines. Both approaches make meaningful use of the space between rows and provide a working example of organic viticulture as a constantly evolving practice, rather than a fixed method.
Water scarcity is a defining constraint for winemakers in Mendoza. The team has implemented more efficient processes throughout the winery to help reduce water usage. For example, during the last harvest period they compared water usage between two different hose types used to clean grape harvest boxes, and as a result, made the switch to high-pressure hoses that use significantly less water.
The team has also worked toward more energy-efficient facilities, updating tanks, temperature-controlled rooms, and grape-sorting machinery to cut down on energy use. Domaine Bousquet is also a signatory of the Bottle Weight Accord, committed to reducing the average weight of its still wine bottles to below 420g, an effort that shrinks the winery’s carbon footprint long before a bottle ever reaches a shelf.
Domaine Bousquet stays actively engaged with the wider SWR community, and its work reflects a strong commitment to innovation, from the vineyard to the bottle.
A huge thank you again to Anne Bousquet, Irma Remigio, Bruno Stradiotto, and everyone at Domaine Bousquet for their warm welcome and for being such valued members of SWR.
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