Bodegas Valdemar Winemaker Antonio Orte was born in Zaragoza with family roots in Campo de Borja, an ancient winegrowing region linked to monastic life. Antonio received his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Viticulture & Winemaking and a postgraduate master degree in Experimental Winemaking. During his professional career, he also served as a university winemaking professor in Tarragona.
Before graduating, Antonio’s first experience working with wines was in DO Cariñena (oldest protected winegrowing areas in Europe), at one of the most prominent wineries in the region, where he was responsible for the winegrowing lab. During this stage, he became hooked on the magic of winegrowing and winemaking.
After graduating, he was selected to carry a very challenging project designed to create premium, and high-end wines in DO Cariñena. Here, under the supervision of Miguel Angel de Gregorio, one of the most prestigious winemakers in Spain, Antonio and his team developed fine and elegant chateau-style wines.
Juve & Camps, the very well-known, high-quality cava producer, was Antonio’s next home for 11 vintages. During this large part of his career, he converted the winegrowing and winemaking program to organic practices. He also was in charge of the R&D to find alternatives to mitigate the effects of global warming on the viticulture and winemaking.
In 2017, Antonio Orte decided to move with his family from Cataluña to Rioja to become the Winemaker and Technical Director at Bodegas Valdemar. Antonio manages a winemaking team of four people and a production team of 20. He continuous with research into sustainable winegrowing, and he is developing new projects linked to the new top Rioja designation: Singular Vineyard. He also is experimenting with indigenous grape varieties as well as new innovative surprises that will be released next year.
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