Susana Balbo Wines

The story

The move to Cafayate

At the beginning of her career, Susana Balbo could not find work near Mendoza. She moved roughly 1,000 kilometres to Cafayate to work at Michel Torino, taking a winery role far from the area where she had hoped to begin. The move came before she founded her own project in 1999 and before Agrelo became the winery base for Susana Balbo Wines. Cafayate, Michel Torino, Mendoza and that long distance form part of the route behind a producer now working from estates in Agrelo and Gualtallary, with Susana’s children José and Ana part of the business.

From the atlas

Susana Balbo Wines

At A Glance

Susana Balbo Wines began in 1999 and works from estates in Agrelo and Gualtallary, with its winery at Agrelo in Luján de Cuyo, Mendoza. Its most clearly documented white brings together Torrontés, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillón from Paraje Altamira, then spends five months in French oak: a useful frame for wines that pair aromatic fruit with a fuller palate.

The Producer

Susana Balbo was Argentina’s first female winemaker before founding her own project in 1999. José and Ana Balbo are now part of the business, while Susana still tastes wines from barrel and decides their eventual allocation. That hands-on barrel work connects the estate’s Mendoza base to bottles such as the Signature White Blend, where the final balance of fruit, oak and texture is decided before release.

Place

The estate structure joins Agrelo, where the winery stands, with Gualtallary; the Signature White Blend adds a third named Mendoza location through its fruit from Paraje Altamira in the Uco Valley. Rather than treating Cuyo as one undifferentiated source, the bottle names a particular origin for its three-grape blend. The result is a white whose floral and citrus-led fruit is shaped by both its vineyard address and five months in barrel.

Soil And Site

The available material names Agrelo, Gualtallary and Paraje Altamira but does not establish a parcel-by-parcel soil account. That leaves the bottle, rather than an unsupported ground story, as the useful guide: Paraje Altamira is named on the 2025 Signature White Blend, while the wine’s French-oak ageing supplies the documented textural counterweight to its aromatic varieties.

Story

Balbo founded this project after a career that also included becoming the first female president of Wines of Argentina, a position to which she was elected three times. The 1999 start matters in the glass because it created a house able to bring its own fruit, barrel decisions and family involvement into one range. José and Ana’s place in the company carries that work forward from the Agrelo winery into wines that move between oak-aged white and stainless-steel rosé.

Vineyards And Cellar

In a 2022 interview, Balbo said that all the company’s vineyards were organic. The statement does not establish a current certification or a detailed farming programme, but it places vineyard care alongside a cellar approach built on tasting each barrel and allocating it accordingly. Balbo has also argued for subtly toasted wood and shorter ageing periods; in the Signature White Blend, five months of French oak gives fruit and acidity room to remain present instead of being covered by heavy oak flavour.

Wines

The documented range shows two distinct cellar routes. The 2025 Susana Balbo Signature White Blend is 50% Torrontés, 25% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillón, from Paraje Altamira, and ages for five months in French oak: 60% new barrels and 40% second-use. Torrontés brings floral fruit, Sauvignon Blanc brings citrus and acidity, and Semillón broadens the body; the oak adds spice and a rounded texture through the middle of the palate.

The rosé sits on a different track, made in stainless steel rather than barrel. That contrast makes the range easy to read: the white is built around a three-grape blend, site and measured oak, while the rosé keeps its vinification away from wood. These are two different ways of carrying fruit into a dry wine, rather than a claim of a complete portfolio or a fixed hierarchy.

In The Glass

Start with the Signature White Blend’s aromatic side: Torrontés suggests floral perfume, while Sauvignon Blanc brings citrus fruit. On the palate, Semillón and five months in French oak give the wine more weight and texture than a simple crisp white, and the Sauvignon Blanc share keeps acidity moving through that broader shape. New and second-use barrels together should register as a seasoning of oak and spice rather than a woody finish, leaving citrus, fruit and dry freshness in view.

A Bottle To Understand It

Choose the 2025 Susana Balbo Signature White Blend first. It puts three grapes, a named Uco Valley origin and a specific barrel programme into one bottle: 50% Torrontés, 25% Sauvignon Blanc and 25% Semillón from Paraje Altamira, aged five months in French oak. Floral fruit and citrus meet a textured, lightly spicy palate, while acidity carries the wine through a dry finish. It is the clearest single bottle for seeing how the house combines aromatic white grapes with barrel ageing.

Anecdote

At the beginning of her career, Susana Balbo could not find work near Mendoza. She moved roughly 1,000 kilometres to Cafayate to work at Michel Torino, leaving the area where she had hoped to begin and taking a winery role far to the north-west instead. The move came before the 1999 launch of her own project and before the Agrelo winery became the base of Susana Balbo Wines. Cafayate, Michel Torino, Mendoza and the 1,000-kilometre distance remain part of the route behind a producer now associated with estates in Agrelo and Gualtallary.

Final Word

Susana Balbo Wines is most vivid through its practical contrasts: Agrelo winery and Uco Valley fruit, family business and barrel selection, aromatic Torrontés and French oak, stainless-steel rosé and a textured white. Begin with the Signature White Blend and let its citrus, floral fruit, oak and dry finish show how those choices meet.

Sources

https://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/iwc-insight/winemaker-interviews/susana-balbo-i-have-devoted-too-much-time-to-the-development-of-my-company.html

https://www.argentina.travel/en/enotourism/susana-balbo-wines

https://tienda.susanabalbowines.com.ar/products/susana-balbo-signature-white-blend

https://www.winesargentinaexpress.com/products/susana-balbo-signature-rose/