Trápaga, Valeria

She was born in Carmen de Areco where she went to primary and secondary school. In Buenos Aires she studied Hotel Administration, Ceremony and Protocol, Low Environmental Impact Tourism and Event  Organization. She received a grant to study “Strategic Marketing on Bed & Breakfast” in the USA. 
Back in Argentina she worked in businesses linked to Rural Tourism and founded the company Lynch & Trápaga, which represented more than 80 ranches from Argentina and Uruguay. In 2000 she lived in Salamanca, where she expanded her market to represent country houses in Spain.
At the same time, she study for Sommelier in the Escuela Argentina de Sommeliers (EAS, Argentinean School for Sommeliers), finishing her studies in 2003 with a research about sensory analysis of yerba mate. This made her the first sommelier in the world to be specialised in yerba mate and, based on this, she created a lecture about yerba mate in the EAS, besides giving conferences and courses.