The man behind your favourite Malbec
There’s a running joke among the team at Naked HQ, that Mauricio Lorca owns an entire wing of the UK’s wine racks.
If you’re an Angel with even a passing fondness for a rich Argentine red, there is an overwhelming chance you are already on good terms with Mauricio Lorca. In fact, you’ve probably invited his handiwork into your kitchen more times than some of your extended family.
Look at the numbers for a second. Over 1.5 million bottles bearing his signature have passed through Naked doors.
His Lirico Malbec and Angels Selection have sat at dizzying approval ratings for a decade and a half.
And here’s the real kicker: Mauricio single-handedly accounts for 30% of all the Malbec we sell. Almost a third of every drop of dark, damson-rich Argentine nectar poured by our Angel members begins life in his hands.
In short: he is bona fide Naked royalty. Which is precisely why, as we celebrate Naked’s biggest icons this month, deciding to shine a spotlight on Mauricio was a no brainer.
But behind the staggering numbers and the reputation is a winemaker who operates with an almost obsessive sense of precision – and a man who was very nearly lost to a stethoscope.
“Sorry, Mum, I’m going to make wine”
Decades ago, before the Parker points and the international acclaim, Mauricio was walking down a very different path. He was a technical school student with his head buried in anatomy textbooks, rigorously preparing for a career in medicine.
Then came the turning point. A guest speaker from the local School of Enology gave a presentation on the science and art of winemaking. Something in Mauricio’s brain clicked.
"I went home that night and told my mother, 'I'm switching to winemaking,'" Mauricio laughs. "It wasn't an easy conversation. Back then, winemaking didn't have the glamour or recognition it has today. But years later she told me she was glad I'd done it. When you do what you love, the everyday challenges feel lighter."
That medical-grade precision never really left him; he simply traded an operating theatre for the cellar.
And it’s that uncompromising exactness that defines his winemaking north star.
The day one rule: be honest, even when it’s hard
Mauricio’s abiding philosophy is to let the fruit speak, and know when to get out of the way.
"My job isn't to alter what the vineyard gives me, but to interpret it," he says. "That demands being honest with myself: never dressing up a wine to seem like something it isn't, never forcing the fruit to chase a trend, never hiding the limits of a vintage behind a barrel."
Nothing proves this more than the notorious 2016 vintage. The harvest went fine, but the fruit itself simply wasn’t up to Mauricio’s exceedingly high standards.
When he tasted the juice destined for his top-tier, age-worthy wines, Mauricio made a decision that would make most accountants break out in hives. He refused to release it.
Instead of forcing it into his premium labels, he blended the fruit into his entry-level ranges and sent a candid message to his customers: the quality wasn't high enough this year, so we aren't making it.
When a winemaker puts their own name on the label, there is no hiding. For Mauricio, if a batch doesn't hit his exacting standard of balance and freshness, it doesn't leave the building.
Look ma, no barrels
If you want to truly understand Mauricio’s brain, he says you have to look at the wine that first made him famous in Argentina – and the bottle he reaches for in his own kitchen after a long day in the vines: Ópalo.
When Mauricio started out, the Argentine norm was big, heavy, oak-slammed reds that you practically had to chew. Mauricio went the other way. He wanted concentration and age-worthiness, but with zero oak influence. People in the trade thought he was mad – or simply too broke to buy barrels.
In reality, it was a high-wire technical act. Relying on premium low-yielding fruit from high-altitude vineyards and aging the wine in raw concrete vessels, he proved that Malbec could be fresh, fruit-driven, and intensely complex without a single splinter of wood.
"It seems easy to drink, but it's technically demanding to make," he admits. "Everything oak would normally bring to a wine’s structure, we have to achieve with pure precision in the cellar. If you want to understand how I think, open an Ópalo."
That relentless pursuit of precision didn't go unnoticed. Long before he became an Angel favourite, Mauricio was already at the pinnacle of South American winemaking – consulting for Argentina’s most iconic estates, and racking up 96-point scores from Robert Parker.
But by the time he bumped into Naked at a London Wine Fair, he’d grown tired of the corporate wine world. Angel funding offered him the catalyst he was looking for: the scale to build his own dream, and a direct line to the drinkers who matter most.
The rest, as they say, is history.
Adrenaline, altitude and the next generation
When he isn’t recalibrating his palate in the laboratory of the harvest, Mauricio resets his brain on two wheels. He’s an avid mountain biker, regularly throwing himself down the rugged trails of the Andes.
"Being up in the mountains clears my head," he says. "It's a mix of focus, adrenaline and freedom that balances the strict precision of the cellar. Some of my best ideas have come to me up there in the silence."
Some of those ideas revolve around legacy. Two of Mauricio’s children are now joining the family business, taking the Lorca name into its second generation. His advice to them? Patience. Understand that wine is a lifestyle, not a spreadsheet, and that you cannot rush a vine into giving you its best work.
Which brings us to his latest, perhaps most daring idea of all...
Mauricio’s secret Spanish project
You didn't think a man with this much energy was going to sit still, did you?
A couple of years ago, Mauricio decided he needed a fresh canvas. He loved his Andean vineyards, but he craved a new challenge. So, he packed his boots, hopped across the Atlantic, and set up camp in Castilla y León, Spain.
Wandering through the high-altitude plains, he stumbled across some abandoned old vines growing rare Spanish grape varieties. His winemaker brain instantly went into overdrive. This has potential.
If you’re a long time fan, don’t worry. He hasn’t abandoned Argentina – Mendoza will always be home. But over the last few years, backed by the upfront investment of Naked Angels, he’s been quietly applying his South American mastery to Spanish soil.
Now, his ocean-hopping experiment is ready to see the light of day.
Meet Mauricio’s Spanish discoveries
Mauricio has crafted a red and a white under his new Historias Pasajeras Nomade label. They are made from indigenous Spanish grapes you’ve almost certainly never tasted, handled with the same minimal-intervention brilliance that made his Malbecs legendary.
The White: Historias Pasajeras Nomade Albarin 2024
First things first, Albarin is not Albariño. But they might be long-lost cousins. This is everything you want in a modern, high-class Spanish white – with a mouth-watering citrus freshness, ripe apricot, white peach and crunchy green apple flavours. It’s lean, mineral, and down-right guzzle-able when served alongside charred garlic prawns or a wedge of creamy goat’s cheese.
The Red: Historias Pasajeras Nomade Prieto Picudo 2023
If Albarin is a refreshing dip in the ocean, Prieto Picudo is a vintage sports car growling in the driveway. It’s a native Spanish red grape that hits like a heavyweight. It’s deep, dark, and wonderfully wild – loaded with stewed black blackberries, cracked black pepper, and an intoxicating hint of clove. Uncork it, give it thirty minutes to stretch its legs in a decanter, and pour it alongside the biggest gourmet burger or roast lamb you can legally construct.
Because this is a limited release, we’re giving you the chance to reserve your 6-pack today for just a £10 deposit, locking in your allocation before the wines officially land on UK shores.
The next chapter of a very Naked story
It’s easy to look at Mauricio’s new Spanish project and see it as a radical departure.
But in reality, it is simply the natural next step in a relationship that started over a decade ago at a bustling London Wine Fair.
That was where Mauricio first bumped into Naked. He saw the model, saw the potential to cut out the traditional trade nonsense, and immediately wanted in.
Looking back, he admits that Angel funding was the catalyst that changed everything for his winery. It brought the scale, the stability, and the freedom to make wine his way.
Although ask him what he values most about the last 15 years, and he won’t talk about volume or export logistics. He talks about people.
"Beyond the wines and the business, there's something just as important – the friends who've stayed with me from every tour and every tasting," Mauricio says. "It's something that simply happens, without thinking. Those friendships have grown more meaningful over time, and they're relationships that are still alive today despite the distance. Many Angels have visited the winery in Mendoza, and it's been a real pleasure to welcome them and show them our culture, our food and our way of making wine."
Where will his restless winemaker brain take him next? We wouldn't like to guess. But whether he’s working magic with high-altitude Andean Malbec or breathing new life into rare Spanish grapes, one thing is certain: as long as Mauricio Lorca is authoring the wine, we want to be at the front of the queue to drink it.
To think, we almost lost him to a stethoscope…
Quickfire with Mauricio
What’s your go-to drink when you aren't drinking wine?
Water! Or if we're talking a drink with a kick – a well-made dry Martini or a gin and tonic.
If you could share a bottle with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
My wife, and my closest family and friends. Drinking either a top Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc or a deeply aged, classic Rioja.
What’s the first word that comes to mind when you think of Angels?
Connection. An amazing, genuine connection.
What is the most important tool in your winery?
My own two hands – and being out in the vineyard. You can't make great wine from behind a desk. You have to be among the vines, managing the canopy yourself.
What’s one wine myth that drives you absolutely nuts?
That oak equals quality. At the beginning, when I started making wines without barrel aging, people assumed it was because I didn't have the money to buy oak. Quality comes from the vineyard and hard work, not from a tree.
Who is your favourite Naked winemaker – whose wines do you drink at home?
It's hard to pick just one. I really love Dom Hentall's Italian wines and Luis Vieira’s Touriga Nacional from Portugal.
If you weren’t a winemaker, what would you be doing instead?
I'd either be a doctor, or I'd be selling something.
