Inicios Winery - Humano family
A real @tripticity_ attraction for its wines 
Some time ago, having dinner at Ampi, the restaurant that serves the best empanadas in Cafayate, we mentioned to its owner our visit to the Utama,workshop and winery, to show how much we value artisanal wine. It was then that Javi -also an expert on Salta wines- gave us a bottle of sweet rosé, the Inicios de criolla tardía, and urged us to try it. It had no label so all the reference was made on the glass with a white marker. We kept the slim and elegant bottle to try it on a special occasion, so we decided to open it the night before our road trip por el sur, as a way of good omen of the trip to start; routine that later became law, so the prelude to a @tripticity_ tour is to dine the typical empanadas salteñas with a good local wine.
Some time later, during a visit to Dal Borgo Winery that we made together with Al Rojo Vino, in which we were introduced to some of the most important women in the wine industry in Cafayate, we met Raquel Humano. by chance. What a surprise! And we were even more surprised to discover her story and that of her family.
Raquel studied French at the Lenguas Vivas Institute in Salta, after obtaining a degree in tourism. She has always been linked to the world of wine since she worked as a guide at the Etchart and Nanni wineries when she was very young.
At the age of twenty-six she won an exchange scholarship from the French embassy to work as an assistant in Spanish at a school in Draguignan, near Nice and Saint-Tropez. After the experience, she spent time exploring Europe and then returned to Cafayate.
From there she began to assist her brother Jorge, an enology technician and advisor to small producers and an industry input salesman.
With her parents, Hilaria Condorí and Alfonzo Humano, and her other four siblings (Lucía, Victoria, Florencia and Guadalupe), they decided to open the winery. The whole family would help in the venture, either harvesting at harvest time, labeling or selling in the adjacent towns.
They bought tanks, pumps, presses and the destemmer. They looked for the best grapes from small farms in the area, giving particular relevance from the beginning to the Criollo variety, which was not as popular as it is today.
Thanks to that dinner at Ampi and that chance meeting at Dal Borgo Winery, we got in touch with the Humano family. And finally we were able to arrange a visit to the family winery a couple of months later, on a autumn Saturday.
That morning the sun was shining brightly, as it always does in Cafayate regardless of the season. We tasted with Raquel the sweet white and the two red varieties, the purple-labeled bonarda and the reddish-labeled malbec. Yes, the wines of the Humano family now have a label! It is simple and complete, they bear the name of Nawpa-Inicios, a word that defines the history of such a famous family from the valley. A remark: the labels do not show that distinction because the INV (National Institute of Viticulture) does not allow them in artisanal wines.
Their whites are the dry torrontés and the late torrontés; while among their reds, the late criolla stands out in addition to the other two varietals.
They also produce mistela, a liqueur made from a mixture of grape must and wine alcohol, very popular and of Italian origin.
The tasting room is located in the same entrance of the house where the wine is produced. Everything there is authentic, as much as our hostess, who in spite of having been elected as Cafayate's councilwoman, maintains the humility that seems to characterize her, always with a smile that lights up her face.
A beautiful clay sculpture stood out on the bar. Raquel told us that it was the work of her sister Victoria, who lives in San Carlos and is the family artist, ceramist and painter.
Together with her brother Jorge, they have another project to promote local products, which hopefully will soon become a reality... @tripticity_ is looking forward to it.