About Us
Who we are
We are Vinos de La Luz, a winegrowing group with its own production wineries offering unique quality in the outstanding regions of the old and new worlds:
- Ribera del Duero, Peñafiel. Spain.
- Tuscany, Siena. Italy.
- Uco Valley, Mendoza. Argentina.
- Santa María, California. United States.
Our history
It’s been 100 years in the making.
The winegrowing tradition of the Fernández Núñez family dates back to the early 20th century, to 1910, when Galician emigrants Serafín Fernández and María Núñez left for Argentina in search of work. There, as day labourers, they contributed their know-how in planting, pruning and harvesting. In that ‘land of milk and honey’, these two Spaniards held a variety of jobs until settling in Mendoza,, in 1919, where the free access, government-owned lands of the lower Andes mountains needed labour near the border with Chile. Argentine sovereignty was then represented by these Galicians, who saw their future in the vines. The place was the Uco Valley, where Vinos de LA LUZ first took root.
The characteristics of the soil and the not always positive experiences forced Serafín to avoid goblet planting and to bet on arbours and espaliers. Flood irrigation was used, for which he had to channel the unstoppable torrents of melted ice from the Andes mountain range. Due to its purity, it became known as ‘holy water’, because the old folks thought it came from heaven. 35 years elapsed between the first vineyards and the construction of the first winery of the Uco Valley, made of reinforced concrete.
The 1980s and 1990s revolutionised agriculture and industry in the southern countries. Investments had to be resumed by the generation of university-educated professionals in the family. Their experience studying in France and Italy and contact with Spanish wineries laid the foundation for developing the investment project in Spain and Italy.
The search in these two countries had to continue the work done by Serafín and María in Argentina with Malbec. The town of Peñafiel in Valladolid, located in the heart of Ribera del Duero, was the place chosen to begin the dream of producing that famous Tempranillo they used to tell us about over family dinners.
Ribera del Duero, Peñafiel. Spain.
Tuscany, Siena. Italy.
Uco Valley, Mendoza. Argentina.
Santa María, California. United States.
Tradition had provided experiences and wineries in Argentina, and the search in Spain and Italy was geared towards identifying the best vineyards in Ribera del Duero, from Gumiel de Izán – in Burgos – to Peñafiel in Valladolid; and those of the highest quality in Italy’s Tuscany; Montalcino. Malbec in Argentina, Tempranillo in Spain and Sangiovese in Italy were the result of that search for our roots.
There, an obligation was born to generate a concept of quality based on uniform protocols. The challenge was for our oenological team, with strong in-country training and international knowledge, to combine know-how and experience to achieve wines worthy of the name Vinos de LA LUZ.
