Pablo Rivero

Don Julio, Buenos Aires

Restaurateur and wine aficionado spreading the gospel of Argentine grapes

When Pablo Rivero teamed up with his family and friends to open a restaurant in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires in 1999, he could never have predicted how events would unfold.

What started as a humble family parrilla (a typical Argentinian steakhouse) was voted the No.1 restaurant in Latin America in 2020, and is a regular on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, embodying the idea of a ‘new luxury’ in gastronomy that nails the basics – in Don Julio’s case, great steak, outstanding service and fantastic wines.

Famous across Latin America as the restaurateur who brought Don Julio to vibrant life, Rivero also trained as a sommelier; he was among the first generations to graduate from the Escuela Argentina de Vinos in 2006. Under his leadership, the restaurant’s cellar has been progressively expanding over time, from a still-impressive 700 labels in 2017 to more than 14,000 Argentine labels in 2024. Each year, Rivero and his team get together for a series of blind tastings to determine which new labels will be added to the prized collection – a selection process that can take up to three months.

As the restaurant grew and became more popular nationally and internationally, Rivero also started a tradition that would come to define it: whenever diners order a special bottle from Don Julio’s cellar, they are asked to write a message on the bottle before it joins hundreds of others lining the walls of the dining room. The sommelier calls them ‘moments lived that are trapped here’ – a perfect representation of how for Rivero, wine is emotion, terroir and landscape.

Widely considered the leading expert in wine across Argentina, and having become an influential figure those in the trade across Latin America – and the world – look up to, Rivero is rightly named the Beronia World’s Best Sommelier 2024.


The Beronia World’s Best Sommelier Award recognises an individual displaying innovation, deep knowledge, customer service and outstanding communication skills in the world of wine and other drinks. It is voted for by the Academy, formed of 1,080 independent restaurant industry experts and well-travelled gourmets from across the world.

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