"Everything started in Argentina with three dear friends – two of them have already passed away – casually talking and drinking wine, which is the most important way of drinking it. It was 1970/1974. I’ve always been interested in the history of this precious liquid and started to buy some recent books about it. In Buenos Aires, I found some bookstores on a phone book which were specialized in the subject. Among them was Libreria Antaño, where I met Alfredo Breifeld and found out about this universe of old books and that there were a lot of them about wine. Thank God I was able to travel to many places in the world and, therefore, I was able to meet great antiquarian booksellers in Madrid, Rome, Milan, Turin, Paris and the United States. This step connected me to an unknown world.

   More than 40 years have passed and now my library contains approximately 7200 titles, some of them in several volumes. There are almost 100 incunabula and some important manuscripts, like a 1450’s Crescencio, simultaneously written with the appearance of Gutenberg’s press. The books of the library refer partially or completely to wine from many points of view: agriculture, enology, religion, medicine and others. They are written in many languages, such as Latin, Italian, French, English, Spanish, and Portuguese; from the 15th century (incunabula) to the 20th century (with valuable books from these last years, sometimes due to an artistic wine-related cover).

   Every 6 months, all books are reviewed by a book conservator. We’re also careful on the arrival of new books, which are always quarantined to avoid insects and fungi.  When there’s any threat, besides the classic treatments, we make a special treatment with gamma rays irradiation by the Multipurpose Cobalt 60 Irradiator in São Paulo, Brazil. We found out that it eliminates any living creatures (insects/fungi) including their eggs, which are otherwise not eliminated. The humidity level is also monitored in the library.

   I’ve always taken the most care of the library. Everything is computer-based with photographs of the cover and the title page, including a description. This being said, everything can be transferred in a quick and efficient way."