Late lunch in Aldo’s restaurantthe flagship ship of its business group. It is seen relaxed, as if it were not the important businessman he is. Account that meditated half an hour before meeting news. It is simple, affable, speaks low and leisurely. Jazz music sounds, as always.
As a boy, a Aldo Graziani He liked music and journalism. At twelve I worked in a record and first year I read all newspapers. From the fifteen he began working with his mother in the exploitation of three successive bars in Palermo, the last one had a basement that they transformed into a music and unipersonal club.
At 18 he decided to become independent and look for work in Puerto Madero. They took him in Cholila, where he started from the bottom, baking the dishes, and became second to the manager. “A beautiful school, a very demanding place with Martitegui as a chef.” Then he made the big leap and went to work as a manager at the Gran Danzón bar, where he finished falling in love with wine. At the same time he studied and received in the first litter of the Argentine Sommeliers School. Later he was room manager at Casa Cruz. Finally, he worked in the Saba, where he was Sommelier of the hotel and was in charge of one of the restaurants. In addition, he took out a wine guide and created a wine for Alan Faena.
In 2011, Aldo’s opened in San Telmo, which worked to the pandemic, and in 2018, in parallel, that of Palermo. In 2014 he opened the first bebop, under Aldo’s de San Telmo.
Today the Aldo’s group has Aldo’s Restaurante (Arévalo 2032), Bebop, Jazz Club (Uriarte 1658), PicsaMold pizza with 24 -hour fermented mass (Nicaragua 4896), Vini Bar, Wine Natural Wines Bar (Syrian Arab Republic 3037) and Áncora, Rioplatense cooking restaurant in Society with the Hotel Group Almarena (Comodoro Pedro Zanni 351, Retirement Puerto). In addition, there are the distributors of wines Jarilla and Aldo’s Vinos; and the Tutu Wines wine project together with the Winemaker Leandro Velázquez and the cartoonist Miguel Rep. Aldo´s is a group of different societies, where Graziani and his team manage operations.
Among his recognitions, Graziani is a jury of the decanter Wine World Awards and is part of S4C “Sommeliers for Consumers”, the world’s first wine guide. In addition, he is the author of “The Argentine Wine Guide” together with the Sommelier Valeria Mortara.
“I am a search engine. A business search engine, interpersonal relationships, balance. I am always in search and in that process I do,” he says.
News: Doesn’t the search make it anxious?
Aldo Graziani: No, I enjoy the processes. I am always trying to improve what we do. In 2026 we turn 15, it is not little for a brand and this market. Every year there are many openings and also many closures. When the openings are very “Jaipeadas”, well up, explode, explode and then many fall. In many cases it is for how difficult things are here, but it also has to do with losing that tension, the nerve you have to have to be in this.
News: The passion?
Graziani: Yes, and be connected to the place, with the people who work, to improve, with being attentive to the details.
News: Perseverance is also needed.
Graziani: Yes, constancy, and not cling to a formula. In these years we changed a lot of things and continue to change. Be open, flexible, permeable and not believe the owners of the truth. We pass the pandemic, crisis of all kinds, but this moment is the hardest I met.
News: Because?
Graziani: Two years ago you had a city with a certain amount of restaurants and tourism every month. That tourism is no more, it fell 80 percent and maybe it is short. And the same happened with the purchasing power of the middle class. I have friends who went out to eat three or four times per month and now one comes out and there are people who do not leave. To that summarize that the costs continue to rise and cannot be transferred. I lived Alfonsin’s hyperinflation having a bar, I changed prices two or three times per day, sometimes. But it was another country, another energy and there was like a tacit agreement among all to move forward.
News: Let’s talk about Aldo’s Restaurant
Graziani: We are winning the nickname of Classic because we do something simple, with a good product, very well done, that accompanies an aesthetic, auditory and wine experience. It is a Wine Focus restaurant, with American Italo and Argentina food and we have almost 500 wine labels in our letter. It is a place where all the referents of Argentine wine pass and pass. We have special dinners, events, tastings, wine tastings and talks.
News: And Bebop?
Graziani: It is the most important jazz club in the city. Before opening, I toured many clubs from different parts and went to New York, which is one of the jazz club cribs. We are one of the most beautiful in the world and those who sound best, with good capacity and an artistic proposal with local and international musicians and 850 shows per year. It is a 360, you can go to dinner and see a show. In addition, it sounds barbarian because it has an acoustic treatment, the sound is spectacular and looks good everywhere. In Latin America we are surely in position one. In New York they talk about Bebop because many musicians there come to play. Guitarist Jakob Bro told me that such a place only the Blue Note de Tokyo.
News: Recently they brought Georgia Heers, a young American jazz singer
Graziani: Yes, we brought it together with Mariano Loiacano, an Argentine trumpeter who plays in New York and the ghetto there accepts it. Giorgia came from his hand for the first time three years ago and now again. And I recently brought Samara Joy, a star, to the colosseum and was wonderful.
News: Is it assembling a project in Mendoza?
Graziani: Yes, at the Hotel Diplomatic, which is nestled in the best area of the city. We will have almost a thousand square meters, three floors, a bar, a restaurant and a subsoil with a tango show. We started the project three years ago, the work last year and calculated that we open in February.
News: He looks serene. How do you do to be in everything? Don’t you get stressed?
Graziani: Yes, but I have tools, such as meditation and breathing, which allow me to return to my balance and I have good teams, good people who accompany me. I work with people I love and consider friend.
News: In 2007 he had a crisis and wanted to leave everything. Because?
Graziani: I was very burned, mental, physically and psychically for working so many years at night, standing, demanded, the type of life it led. At that moment I did my first course of the art of living and it was like an explosion in my head. I made a 180 degree turn and I felt very full. There came another crisis, I wanted to start everything and dedicate myself to giving courses and helping people. Because that gave me fullness. In addition, he had friends who had left everything and dedicated full time to that and were happy people. I traveled to India to see Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the master of the art of living, and tell him what happened to me. I was able to approach a few seconds after a meditation for many people and tell him my situation. “No, no, no. You have to work. Don’t leave your job, I kept working,” he told me. There I felt more supported and decided to continue.
News: Medites every day?
Graziani: Yes, once or twice a day, between twenty minutes and half an hour. And sometimes I do the entire practice that has been fifty minutes and includes breathing and meditation exercises.
News: In addition, Yoga makes
Graziani: No, now play tennis between four and five times a week. I compete and play interclubes for Ferro, and I go twice a week to the gym.
News: And his passion for jazz how did he start?
Graziani: My dad always listened to jazz. He arrived from work and put his vinyl and headphones. I listened to Frank Sinatra, Coltrane, Miles Davis and I was sucking it from there.
News: Books are other important companions in their life. No?
Graziani: Yes, this year I set out to read forty books, I’m already more than twenty, so I’m fine. I always liked to go to bookstores and disgusts. I go two or three times a month to buy with Guille Hérnandez, its owner.
News: With his wife, Lucía Zeballos, met in Aldo’s?
Graziani: Yes, a common friend presented us covertly. I knew about the presentation, but Luli no. It was an arrow, a week we were living together. We have been thirteen years and Astor was born ten, our son. We are partners in Picsa and she, on the other hand, owns the two Birkin coffee, in society with her mother, and owns Roa Bar along with her sister.
News: It can be said that he is a successful man. But how do you measure success?
Graziani: The Shankar teacher says: “Success with stress is not success.” For me, success is to continue fulfilling dreams and bring the artists we want. It is that people tell me how well ate. It is a Tuesday at ten in the morning being playing tennis. It is sunbathing outdoors. It is the number of people I met, with friends I have. Success is to be able to share and have this desire to continue generating things.
