I find him sitting next to a piano, in the private room of Nika Omakasean exclusive sector for clubbers, in this restaurant that conceives food as music, as the first universal language. As soon as our hand roll of prawns with coconut, mango and fresh leaf mix arrives – two salmon ones also come – he tells me: “Can I give you some advice? Eat it right away, so that the seaweed is crunchy, it gets moist quickly.” And he adds: “If you like something healthier, I’ll ask you for an assortment of very fresh sashimi, everything is delicious. It’s like my second home. I live in San Isidro so when I leave the radio, which is in Palermo, I come and spend a lot of time here.” Furthermore, it is a project by music promoter Roberto Costa. Many musicians come to eat. By the way, we see them while we are sitting talking. Bebe stops to say hello and asks: What is your “Baby” favorite? That’s how I send them home. Pinot noir is the majority answer.
As a born communicator, with a career in media spanning more than 30 years, Contepomi finds in wine another way to reach, transmit and enjoy life. “A glass of wine triggers a thousand stories. Those of the bottle and those of those who are drinking it. Wine involves a long creation process, with a lot of patience, trial and error, like a song, with exceptions that come out like vomit from one,” says Bebe. In a chat with NOTICIAS, the journalist tells us all about his new métier: he made a line of five.
News: What is he up to now? In addition to wines
Baby Contepomi: I’m discovering another new world, also fun. I am organizing a folklore festival: “La Porteña”, on December 3 at the Palermo Hippodrome, with my production company, El Bajo, it is the first one I have put together. The one who just called me is Chaqueño Palavecino’s manager. I was talking to “Los manseros santiagueños”. With Maggie Cullen. I am also attending an Andy Chango show, on December 11 in Niceto, very emboldened because he is a friend and is returning to music. With recordings by Anais Castro and Joystick.
News: Are you changing musical genres?
Baby: The rhythm of folklore is very different from that of rock, they play much more, inside they have clubs all the time. In rock it is slower, the times are different, here they are on point. What I say is a compliment to folklore. A rock band goes on tour, they don’t stop playing. Folklore is a rage in Argentina, I already knew this, but I am checking it thoroughly. I am renewing my love for music on the folklore side.
News: It has its rhythm, which is always seen a thousand times.
Baby: Since I separated from TN and Channel 13, I am calmer, but my body always shows an anxiety that I do not have internally. I seem more anxious than I am; It’s a body issue. At another time it was internal and external. My body did not adapt to that tranquility, it did not relax. I am more reflective, I think more. Another thing that makes you think I’m nervous is that I talk fast and a lot. Today I try to think before I speak. It’s funny to me when they tell me: “Baby, you’re at your best.” No. Now I go back to my house and take a nap.
News: One might think it’s from Aries, but it’s from Libra.
Baby: Exact. The search for balance. Before I used to get more anxious when I had to do interviews, coordinate the entire agenda, but today I experience it differently, even though my body doesn’t transmit it. I have noticed a big difference, since 2022, after having ended my employment relationship with Artear after 30 years. He was the music man, he was on four news programs, he was on 24 hours. It was a lot of demand. So La Viola became an icon and Artear has the best music archive in all of Latin America.
News: Do you feel young?
Baby: Completely. With more wisdom than when I was young. I can tell you that, although it is a trite phrase, today I am in the best moment of my life, by far. I treasure and accumulate the past. I see the future clearly and I am in the present.
News: He said that this is a project that fits him perfectly at this moment, in the middle of his life
Baby: It’s not that it splits my life in two, but it’s a good metaphor to say that it’s something that revitalizes me. Although it is not profitable, it fills me with happiness. I found the right people, like CrowdFarming.Wine and Francisco Evangelista. I don’t remember having worked with people I didn’t like, I wouldn’t bank on it.
News: Did Francisco approach you? How did you find out that you wanted to make your wine?
Baby: Yes, through mutual friends, one day he called me, and that’s where the odyssey began. It was going to be a malbec and in the end we also made a pinot noir and added the rosé because my wife loves it. We set sail and even made a high-end one that is the Bandada, a great 2022 reserve.
News: You are happy with the result, but don’t you see it as a business?
Baby: Not for now. I still take it seriously, it’s a partnership with Fran and I hope it’s healthy. I didn’t start this with commercial purposes in mind, but they turned out as good as can be. Especially pinot noir, people tried it and went crazy. It’s the star. At first I thought only my friends were going to take it. But today they are even being chosen by people who don’t know me.
News: Did they start with pinot?
Baby: We start with the three young wines: the malbec, the rosé and the sauvignon blanc, all from the 2025 harvest. In that process with Fran and Vicky Pons, who is the winemaker, I tell them that I need to make a pinot noir, that I am a fan.
News: Where does your relationship with wine come from, from Wine Rock?
Baby: It was related to this world because we produced wine rock with the Monteviejo winery and Marcelo Pelleriti. There I was already in contact with the union between wine and rock, yes. It was going to the winery, spending an afternoon tasting wine and having incredible shows, listening to Los Enanitos, for 2,000 or 30,000 people. The stage was in the middle of the vineyards. In addition, he had a good relationship with Alejandro Vigil. Wine was not strange to me, but I am not a specialist either. My wife likes it.
News: She is a wine lover…
Baby: Yes. We also go to the vineyards. I love combining gastronomy with wines in their place of origin, I am passionate about it. The pairing, learning, eating, the climate of Mendoza, I go at least twice a year.
News: Songs tell stories, do wines too?
Baby: The songs not only tell stories from their lyrics, there are some that are stories, others because of the story that you make up in your head. In wine, you have the technical explanation; where it comes from, what it smells like, what it tastes like, and the thousand stories of those who drink it. So, wine makes you tell stories. You add to it when you were in Mendoza, when you tried another one that reminded you. A glass of wine triggers a thousand stories in me.
News: What do your wines count on? From this point of view, what do you say about them?
Baby: Gangs shoot at me, I open a rosé, and Franco Antonio Solis shoots at me. I start making the roast. I open another one and I get Calamaro, Babasónico, Fito with the pinot. The meat is ready and I open the Malbec and I give you Los Piojos, La Renga, Los Redondos. I musicalize my moment according to the wine I’m drinking. Wine controls my mood. Or the mood defines what wine I open.
News: The chicken or the egg
Baby: Exactly, but in one way or another it is very linked. Both universes are also related to enjoyment and creation. They go hand in hand. Argentine rock has many songs dedicated to wine. Wine and music involve a long creation process. Not everyone likes any song or wine, the opinion of wines and music is very subjective. There is a lot of freedom of artistic and expressive opinion. Then there are the numbers: wines and songs that sell more, but that doesn’t mean they are better, it’s all in personal taste.
News: You are not to impose anything
Baby: I’m learning about wines, so no. In music, despite my experience and career, one of the bases as a communicator is that my tastes were not above my work: I am convinced that my tastes do not have to influence or define anything. There is no bad music, there is music you like and music you don’t.
News: Is it a trend for famous people to have their wines?
Baby: I arrived late to the trend because musicians already have it, from Las Pelotas – where German was just watching my wine – to Catupecu, everyone has it, some of them 10 years ago.
News: How do you feel now that you have your own Pinot Noir?
Baby: What I feel about the five wines – since I have a cellar at home and I like to have wine – is that since they came out I only asked for them to send me Bebe wines, I’m proud.
News: Do you like to be on the other side of communication today? Instead of being the journalist, being the interviewee?
Baby: I continue to be a communicator, I make streamings, things for Disney, for Colombia, without the furious rhythm of TV. I drove the Quilmes Rock and I still have my moments as a communicator, but more spaced out and select. I like to be on both sides, but all my life I prefer to ask than to be asked. Mega has 25 years of history, it is fourth in the measurements, the program is very strong, Argentine rock is at a very high moment.
News: Did you think of each bottle as a song?
Baby: One is a ballad, another is pop rock. And Heavy metal that would be the Bandada.
By Carolina Cerimedo.
by Carolina Cerimedo
