Argentina’s O Fournier estate sold to Finca Agostino

Argentina’s O Fournier winery, founded by the Ortega Gil Fournier family in 2000 and known for its striking circular stainless architecture, has been sold to the Agostino winemaking family for an undisclosed sum.

The O Fournier Winery in San Carlos department of the Uco Valley was completed in 2000 by the Spanish Ortega Gil Fournier family.

The sale includes the winery, vineyard and O Fournier brand, which will be controlled by the Canadian-Argentine winemaking family of Finca Agostino, which already has a winery and 305-hectare (754 acre) vineyard in Barrancas in Maipu, Mendoza, and a (124 acre) 50ha vineyard, Finca La Serafina, in the Uco Valley’s La Consulta.

Finca Agostino was founded by brothers Vincenzo, Rosalía, Sebastián and Miguel, who grew up in Mendoza but settled in Canada in the 1960s, before returning to their home country in 2003 to realise their winemaking ambitions.

The family’s purchase of the 263ha O Fournier estate and vineyard will see the family almost double its total vineyard property to just over 600ha.

Speaking to LosAndes.com, the family confirmed it had purchased the property with plans to carry on the use of its name and the expansion of its established brands, which includes Urban, Urban UCO, AlfaCrux, O. Fournier and B. Crux.

José Spisso, O Fournier’s winemaker, will continue to oversee the estate’s vineyards and winemaking, while the Wine Partners property investment scheme, launched by O Fournier in 2012 and extended to its Ribera Del Duero holdings in 2014, will continue.

The O Fournier estate and winery in Argentina was built by José Manuel Ortega Fournier in 2000, whose family also owns vineyards in Chile and Spain’s Ribera Del Duero.

Standing at 1,200 meters above sea level it is located in the department of San Carlos of the Uco Valley in Mendoza and was designed by Bórmida & Yanzón Architects.

Using glass, concrete and stainless steel, the structure was designed to make a striking visual statement, set against the backdrop of the Andes, while facilitating a gravity-flow winemaking system within the building.

Harvested grapes are brought up to the winery via ramps to an elevated reception area where they are deposited into four holes in the floor that lead to its underground barrel room.

It has also been designed with tourists in mind, and visitors can tour the winery, from the underground barrel cellar to a viewing area at the top of the structure.