Tomás Hughes

Winemaker

Running through his family vineyards at an early age, Tomás’ instincts soon became interwoven with the viticultural fabric of Mendoza. His father a renowned Agricultural Engineer, famed for discovering the Perdenal Valley in San Juan, who worked for 27 years at Nieto Senetiner was an inspiration for Tomás. After a motivational interlude in the Napier wine region in New Zealand, Tomás followed in his father’s footsteps and began a BSc in Agricultural Engineering. Realizing the significance of how intimately intertwined the terroir is with the making of fine wines, Tomás branched into winemaking within his BSc. Defying the tendency to focus on one line of studies he went on to study both viticulture and winemaking at postgraduate level, before finally also attaining a postgraduate degree in management in 2011.

Tomás has spent most of his career focused on making fine wines from Mendoza, first with the team at Achaval Ferrer then at Clos de Chacras. However, not to leave his travels behind, in 2006 Tomás visited Australia working a vintage with Peter Lehmann and visiting vineyards and wineries throughout the Barossa, McLaren Vale, Clare Valley and Adelaide Hills before returning to Mendoza to take up the position of senior winemaker, working in the team with Daniel Pi at Trapiche, responsible for their highest tier of red and white wines.

Joining the Finca Decero team as winemaker in 2014, Tomás finally realized a long-held dream of working daily at one with nature, explaining: “For me, joining Finca Decero is a reflection of who I am and what I have learnt over the years about the inextricable link between the earth and wine. Only by working day in day out with Matias Cano as viticulturist, understanding the intricacies both below and above ground from the soil to the differences by vine, by row and by block and the climate of this high elevation in Remolinos Vineyard can I nurture authentic wines which are expressive, vintage by vintage, of this unique terroir.”