Where are they now? Marina Gayan MW’s Journey as South America’s first Master of Wine

Marina Gayan MW transformed Argentina’s wine industry, taking it from local beginnings to international recognition. Her journey from young marketer to South America’s first Master of Wine reveals how vision, risk-taking, and persistence helped shape the global success of Argentine wine.

In 1992, Marina Gayan wasn’t looking for a career in wine. A 24-year-old graphic design graduate, she was preparing to study in Milan when a client introduced her to Nicolás Catena in Buenos Aires. At the time, Catena had just planted the Adrianna Vineyard high in the Uco Valley and he was looking for a marketing assistant to take the brands to the next level too.

Nicolás and Marina agreed on a one-month trial and two weeks later she found herself in Mendoza where she met Catena’s vineyard director Pedro Marchevsky and head winemaker José Galante. Benchmarking Cabernet alongside Bordeaux first growths and California cult wines, she recalls ‘the reds were so intense I wanted to dilute them with water.’ It was a familiar exercise. As a child, she had had to bribe the butler to pour water into the wine served by her great-grandfather.

Breathing new life into Valderrobles

Her first challenge was to breathe new life into Valderrobles and grow the brand. Catena’s winemaker José Galante was shifting toward fresher, fruitier styles and Marina’s job was to market them. She plastered Buenos Aires with Warhol-style posters of fruits to take customers into what they were drinking rather than the traditional historical take on origin and repackaged the labels to be simple, clean and fresh. ‘It was about feeling and experience rather than tradition’, says Marina. She pushed on, launching a pale Beaujolais-style red with labels cheekily mimicking Georges Duboeuf. Competitors scrambled to copy her.

It didn’t always go according to plan. In 1995 Marina recalls visiting a supermarket and finding that all the wines in their boxes on the bottom shelves were all the same drab colour. Aiming to boost the sales of Valderrobles, she hit on the idea of changing the colours to a more eye-catching blue, red and yellow and then worked with the carton supplier to make the changes. Soon after, Nicolás Catena turned up. ‘We went for a walk at the warehouse. He walks with his hands behind his back when something serious is up. He asked if I’d noticed the boxes were in different colours.’ Catena was unimpressed because she had never got the approval signed off by him. When figures quadrupled, she was safe.

Reviving Saint Felicien

As the new-look Valderrobles was taking off, Catena’s premium label Saint Felicien was treading water. Marina persuaded Nicolás Catena to give it another chance. With the help of Arnaldo Gometz, she hand-picked a sales team. A limited edition range called SF was launched and a label contest run at the National Museum of Arts. The star architect Clorindo Testa won and his label design was printed. Restaurants received bespoke Saint Felicien glasses and decanters. Within two years, the brand had turned around.

Despite these successes, Catena still wasn’t a name on the domestic market, however. While José Galante, with the Californian winemaker Paul Hobbs, were pushing for Malbec, Nicolás thought that he needed a Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay to rival Bordeaux and Napa. Marina created the branding for a flagship blend, Catena Zapata Estiba Reservada. She suggested wrapping the bottle in a cloth bag. Nicolás was not keen, but his friend, the Argentinian celebrity chef Francis Mallmann, gave it the seal of approval. Launched with its bag in 1997, Marina started working with the press to get publicity for the Catena Zapata name in the home market.

Not just a wine, Catena Zapata was Nicolás Catena’s bid to stake Argentina’s claim on the world stage. Marina’s reward for success was to be moved to exports while retaining the Saint Felicien and Catena Zapata brands, building personal relationships with importers and buyers. Each October, Marina and vineyard director Pedro Marchevsky toured accounts to lock in commitments before critics’ reviews appeared. By the late 1990s, exports were modest but growing fast. Marina managed Europe and Asia, while Laura Catena covered North America when Marina moved to London. ‘We had a healthy battle,’ Laura recalls. ‘Marina was doing a brilliant job.’ Today, 70% of Catena’s wines are sold abroad — a reversal of the ratio when Marina started.

Moving to London and launching Argento

In 1999, Marina moved to London, where, with Bibendum, she helped launch Argento — a brand designed for UK drinkers looking for upfront fruit and drinkability. With support from José Galante, Pedro Marchevsky and Susana Balbo, Argento debuted in Sainsbury’s and First Quench before spinning off as a standalone label. It became a supermarket success and helped put Argentina firmly on British shelves.

Travelling the world convinced Marina she needed deeper expertise in wine. Friends in Bordeaux suggested the Master of Wine. When she told Nicolás, he urged her to do an MBA in New York instead. She insisted on wine. With only her experience at Catena, it was thought unlikely that she would be accepted, but Catena signed her forms, Bibendum added its support, and she was accepted. She began her MW studies in London, focusing her dissertation on Malbec. In 2003 she became South America’s first Master of Wine. ‘I’m proud of it,’ she says. ‘Not for the letters, but because I wanted to learn. The MW gives you confidence without needing to flash credentials.’

By then, she had left Catena, joining Hardy’s in 2001. Constellation Brands acquired BRL Hardy in 2003 for US$1.1 billion and soon after, Marina, as Vice President of its premium wine division, Cellar Door, was overseeing European strategy for labels including Robert Mondavi, Ravenswood and Simi. Her corporate rise paused in 2006 with the birth of her daughter, Mia, followed by her son Lucas in 2008. Marina stepped back from office life but remained active: helping to launch Decero in Mendoza, examining for the Institute of Masters of Wine, and chairing a Decanter World Wine Awards panel that championed more elegant, European-style Malbecs. ‘We were a fantastic team,’ she recalls, ‘but then the chair rotated away. I think it was political.’

Returning to Argentina and mentoring the next generation

In 2018, her husband’s job brought the family back to Argentina. For Marina, it was a chance to reconnect with her roots. She launched MW study groups in Buenos Aires, mentoring candidates including Amanda Barnes (now an MW herself), and organised charity wine auctions. After Covid she resumed consulting, working with Pepe Galante at Salentein, Chacra, Chakana and Narbona in Uruguay. Having spent so long abroad, she travelled widely through Argentina to reacquaint herself with its vineyards. She helped host the Masters of Wine study trip to Mendoza, and still meets Nicolás Catena annually for coffee.

Marina’s current focus is Argentina’s wine future in a world in which climate change is a huge factor. She is excited about the new frontiers of cooler climate terroirs with the potential for more acidity and greater elegance. Her most recent travels have taken her to Trevelin, a tiny GI in southern Patagonia’s Chubut province. With just 30 hectares under vine, its four wineries, Casa Yagüe, Viñas del Nant y Fall, Contra Corriente and Casa de Campo, are producing promising Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and sparkling wines. ‘It’s like the Lake District, but with vines,’ she says. The wheel has turned full circle. Having been instrumental in helping to put Argentina on the world map, Marina is now charting the new wine map of Argentina.