At the table with Dr Laura Catena, star of Argentina's wine scene

My earliest memory, I was about three, is my grandfather going to the winery. I would take care of the dogs. He had collies and the main job was to take care of the babies when they were born.

My other memory, around five years old, is the first time they gave me soda with a little squirt of wine. That would be illegal today, but it was very normal in Mendoza. What I remember most is sitting at the adult table for the first time.

Definitely my father. He’s very positive and just always makes you feel great. The way it all started was he asked me to go to this tasting in New York to represent our winery.

He also invited me on trips to Bordeaux and Burgundy, and that’s when I fell in love with wine as a product. I started really enjoying the culture of wine.

His dream was making Argentine wines that stand with the best in the world. I said to him, okay, I’m a doctor, I love being a doctor, but I’m going to help you. I spent 27 years practising medicine and working at the winery. My goal is that every collector’s cellar in the world has a section on Argentine wine.

I see wine as this incredible product of culture and nature, that we get to enjoy, that makes our lives more social, happier, more creative. [With] the concept of terroir, of some really special places, I think it connects us to nature and it says this agricultural product is so special that we need to preserve it.

I can't think of anything that has that representation of nature, culture and history – that you can bring into your home by just buying a bottle of wine.

I always tell people that wine is more complicated than medicine. You could not possibly know all the wines in the world or all the regions.

I used to be a pretty good cook. I’m now a somewhat bad cook, because I lose track of time! However, I do have a concept – used by our Michelin-starred restaurant [Angélica Cocina Maestra] – of “Wine First” that I’m really excited about.

It means the wine is the main course and the food is the pairing. For example, at our restaurant, we have multiple tasting menus of wines. The food is seasonal and changes every couple of months, but [diners] get the same food and a different wine menu that they choose.

Generally my preference with Malbec is something umami, such as porcini mushrooms, risotto, lamb or quail. For steak, of course a Malbec is fine, but I personally prefer Cabernet.

I was at a restaurant here in Paris yesterday and we had this chicken dish with a Peruvian-style spicy sauce and an old Malbec. It was heavy enough and so smooth that it was perfect. I think aged Malbec is one of few good pairings for anything spicy.

The first thing is to hire a driver [for visiting wineries]. One of the things is to taste the vegetables. Everybody talks about meat in Argentina, and the meat is extraordinary, but I think the vegetables in Mendoza are the best in the world.

You can go to Casa Vigil restaurant, run by our winemaker, Alejandro Vigil, with his wife [Dr. María Sance] – she has a PhD and is an expert on tomatoes. In Argentina, we have a lot of genetic diversity with Malbec but we also have a lot of diversity with tomatoes.

I think rafting is really great, and hiking. There’s also a lot of wineries that you can do on a bike.

The Natural History Museum and Central Park; I would basically hang out at those two places. The Modern restaurant [at Museum of Modern Art] is so good. They have a formal dining room but they also have this more informal section where you can just show up and get a table. The food is amazing, the wine list is amazing – I love that place.

Argentina is like the Galápagos Islands of wine. We were an economic and political island. I don’t like protectionist economics, but because of that nothing was coming in, so we weren’t subject to the clone revolution [and] we kept these genetically diverse vineyards.

About 89-90% of Mendoza vineyards are massal selections, ungrafted. We have the distinctive flavour of Argentine Malbec, which is massal and ungrafted. The ultimate goal for me is to preserve that genetic diversity, which is a rarity for the world.

Firstly, there’s still much more for the world to learn about Malbec. [Beyond that] we are seeing more interest in white wines. When my father started working with his father in the 1970s we produced more white and rosé than red – so it has a long tradition in our family.

I think Chardonnay for sure. We have the Adrianna Vineyard wines [White Bones and White Stones]. I think in the highest altitudes, Chardonnay is very interesting in Argentina.

I think Semillon and Chenin [Blanc] are two traditional varieties that are really interesting. There’s some really beautiful, especially old-vine, Semillon in Argentina. Criolla varieties are not well-known, [plus] a lot of people are making Cabernet Franc, and I think Cabernet Sauvignon is actually also underrated. I also make a very special Pinot Noir that is very small production.

There’s a big concentration of family businesses in wine. By definition, since families end up having daughters and sons, you're seeing [lots of] women winemakers and business women.

For me, the big issue is who's in the leadership roles. You see a lot of businesses where most of the bosses are men. I think in wine, very quickly you’ve seen that change, but if I could have a wish it would be for that to move faster. At Catena, we have a lot of female leadership positions.

I am a believer in putting the most capable person in the job regardless of who they are.

I have the ‘In Defense of Wine’ website [on the scientific literature regarding wine and health]. I am also obsessed with dogs. I have a rescue dog in Argentina and a dog in the US, which is a Goldendoodle named Nala by my daughter after [Disney’s] The Lion King.