ABOUT US
We are a team of professionals involved in the world of wine, which merges around Juan Pablo Michelini, the soul of the project. Those of us who make up Altar Uco have shared dreams, objectives and values.
Winemaker
Juan Pablo Michelini
He works as winemaker for Altar Uco wines and is the provider of its exclusive subjectivity. He studied Winemaking at Don Bosco Winegrowing School, the oldest in Mendoza, and began his professional career in Doña Paula with his brother, Matías Michelini. In 2003, after having worked in the winery for three years and conducting a harvest in Sonoma, California, he became Doña Paula’s Head Winemaker and later, in 2004, he took part in the harvest that took place in Pomerol, France. He worked in the Cafayatean wineries Finca Quara and El Esteco for the following two years. In 2007, he worked as winemaker at Wine Valley, and one year later he started working at Zorzal Wines, where he currently works as Head Winemaker.
In the year 2014, driven by his wish to make absolutely amazing reds and wines, with no rushes or deadlines and able to move any wine lover, he developed the Altar Uco project along with Daniel Kokogian.
Director
Daniel Kokogian
The origins of the love story between this geologist and Mendoza can be traced back to the year 1982, when “el Koko” arrived in the capital of Cuyo to work in the oil industry. It was love at first sight: he brought his children up in this province and never left. He had the opportunity of going all over it, from the Uspallata valley to Río Colorado and Eastern Huayquerias to the Mountain Range.
While living in Luján de Cuyo, he started visiting the wineries and buying wines in demijohns at the establishments of the region. At the beginning of the new millennium, after having become a wine connoisseur, he started developing a winegrowing project in Gualtallary. This is how he would later become partner of Zorzal Wines, where he definitely wrapped up his union with the winemaking industry.
Daniel is the co-founder of Altar Uco, a project launched in coordination with Juan Pablo Michelini. Today, he is happy walking along its fudres and barrels, tasting the blends of his own winery (what he still finds hard to believe!) and proud to take a winemaking project of supreme quality forward.
Agronomist
Maia Echegoyen
She graduated as Agricultural Production Engineer at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) and obtained a Master’s Degree in Winegrowing and Winemaking at the National University of Cuyo. Also, as part of his education, she was awarded research scholarships to work at the National Institute for Agricultural Technology (INTA). She took part in a winegrowing research project in Languedoc-Roussillon (Pech rouge), France, and worked seasonally in Zorzal Wines. Today, she works as Altar Uco’s Agricultural Engineer and is an integral part of this project’s soul.
Director
Lucas Kokogian
He grew up in the rural area of Luján de Cuyo, and he was just a child when he fell in love with the characteristic landscapes, people, aromas and sunsets of Mendoza.
He studied in different schools until he decided to take a degree in International Relations and worked in the Canadian and American embassies. He then studied to become a sommelier and devoted himself to his great passion: art, to such an extent that he has been managing an auction house for ten years in the city of Buenos Aires.
Passionate about the world of wine –especially about the reds made in Mendoza– he is the commercial and operations manager of Altar Uco, together with his father Daniel Kokogian.
All Altar Uco's staff members share the same interests, projects and foresight, a key to make genuine and top-quality wines.