Author: AB

A selection of His & Hers wines from Mendoza

Written for The Vines of Mendoza

While it feels awfully sexist to try and generalize about the tastes of women, and men, we all know that there are certain attributes that make a wine more feminine, or more manly. You might struggle to gift a man a bottle of Rosé in public, or a shy and retiring lady a Methuselah of a rich red blend. Having a little fun with some of these preconceptions, here’s a selection of great wines from Mendoza although never be afraid to break the rules.

For Her

Here is a pick of five wines for the femme fatale of your life… (whether that is your girlfriend, wife, or your mom!)

Celestina Reginato, Rose de Malbec

If it’s got bubbles and it’s pink, it is pretty much a shoe-in right? Add a beautiful woman on the bottle and you’ve got the perfect lady sparkling wine. It certainly looks good in the bottle and glass, and fortunately these looks are not deceiving… this rose tastes great too! An elegant Malbec from the Uco Valley with the complexity of a traditional method champenoise.

Carmela Benegas, Rosé

With another dashing woman on the bottle, this wine was actually named after one of the Benegas children. As one might say that the daughter is the fruit of a mother’s womb, this wine is the fruit of a mother grape – achieved by ‘sangre’ method (the first, free-running juice from red grapes before they are taken to be made into a more robust red wine). Technical details and tenuous comparisons aside, this is a lovely, fresh rosé made from everyone’s new favorite Argentine variety – Cabernet Franc.

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November 16, 2014
San Pedro de Atacama

There is nowhere else in the world like San Pedro de Atacama.

It may be the driest desert on the planet, but the Atacama is also home to large white salt flats, steam spitting geyser fields, colorful Altiplano mountains and cactus valleys, extreme volcanoes, and clear, star-filled night skies.

Alongside the breathtaking landscapes, there is a plethora of wildlife: pink flamingos, serene guanacos and sun bathing lizards. But that isn’t the only life here. A vibrant community of locals and travelers create a welcoming and relaxing town that makes San Pedro de Atacama a world-class destination.

Written for 1756 Magazine, China: san pedro de atacama

The Sights

The Atacama seems to be an otherworldly destination. So otherworldly in fact that one of its most famous attractions is named after the moon: Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley).

It is not hard to see why this is called Moon Valley – the surface is virtually white. Covered in salt, this extraordinary landscape is part of the Cordillera de la Sal (Salt foothills). Formed over millions of years, water and wind shaped these unique formations: rock sculptures, caverns, caves, sand dunes and interesting patterns. This arid and barren land, with less than 1mm of rain a year, has a unique geography. Moon Valley is a beautiful spot for walking and at only 13kms from San Pedro, it is everyone’s favorite place for sunset.

Nearby is the Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley), which was originally called Valle de Martes (Mars Valley) however after being continuously mispronounced the name changed to Muerte. Both namesakes seem to have good reason, as this valley has dry, red rock and sand (like Mars appears) and barely any life form can live in such brutal conditions (hence Death). The valley has actually been used many times as a film set for movies based in Mars, and as a testing ground for new space expeditions!

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October 22, 2014
Discovering Barrio Italia

It is not surprising that with a name like ‘Barrio Italia’ (Italian Neighborhood) this corner of Chile is filled with designers and chefs!

Chile has many immigrant influences, and one of the most stylish – and delicious – of those were the Italians. Famed for its Italian roots, excellent cafes and design shops, Barrio Italia in Santiago is an epicurean delight as well as a feast for the eyes…

History

The origin of the name comes from some of the first settlers here. The Italian Girardi family came to Santiago and opened a hat factory in the area in 1905. As their industry grew, many other Italian families moved in, followed by Spanish families too. The neighborhood grew and the European expats began to set up shops in front of their houses, as they typically did back at home

The area became known as the ‘Italian neighborhood’ (or ‘barrio’ in Spanish) and a large street in the middle of the district was named Avenida, Italia alongside the large art-deco theatre, Teatro Italia.

Nowadays the neighborhood has few Italians left, although the legacy remains with unique design shops, many antique stores and cute cafés.

Written for 1756 Magazine, China

Read More: barrio italia

October 22, 2014
Chilean Winemakers to Watch (11-20)

Written for The Drinks Business, October 2014

Chile is well-known for the concentration of its wine production, allowing the country to make consistent wine at competitive prices.

But emerging is a new wave of boutique projects from the full length and breath of the country, resulting in original blends from little-known places. The source of such novelty is a broad range of personalities, all of whom are driven by a desire to celebrate Chile’s vinous diversity.

Louis-Antoine Luyt

“It’s a little odd talking about all this stuff [natural wine] from a Chilean point of view, since every single peasant here makes natural wine…” says Louis-Antoine Luyt about his winemaking in Maule. Using traditional countryside techniques like pressing grapes by hand through canes, crushing grapes by foot and plowing his dry farmed vineyards by horse, Luyt is doing nothing new. However by successfully placing his wines in the mainstream, Luyt has become one of the edgiest producers in Chile. “All my oenologist friends out here think I’m absolutely crazy, and I think this is why I have less and less oenologist friends!” The Frenchman has however made friends with the growing ‘natural’ or garage wine movement in Chile, of which he is unquestionably a leader. Not just championing his own wines, he is also bringing other small producers to the fore with his popular, annual Santiago wine tasting Chanchos Deslenguados.

Rafael Urrejola

Quick to rise to the top, Urrejola is one of the youngest winemakers in Chile to have reached such an esteemed position before he turned 40. Head winemaker of Undurraga, Urrejola has been with the company since 2007 and spearheaded its widely acclaimed Terroir Hunter series which sources site specific grapes from all over the country. “This range of wine was born to show the huge diversity of origins, area, identities and expressions of Chilean wines…” he says. “We’re looking for this to be considered as a range that is a reference of Chile’s diversity and uniqueness in wines of origin.” At the helm of one of the most prominent commercial wineries in Chile, Urrejola himself is one of the new references for Chilean wine.

Juan Ledesma

A little bit of madness in the wine world is always welcome, and Ledesma’s project has it by the barrel full. Ledesma makes Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon from old vines in Itata and after tasting each wine he and a local band improvise songs according to each wine’s character. The songs are then played on loop for a year by speakers plunged inside the barrel as the wine ages to transform them physically for more aromatic results. Recently bottled, his wines will be launched in early 2015 and are already causing a ripple in the sub-culture. “The reaction of the public was amazing, from perplexity to tears!” says Ledesma about a recent tasting in Sao Paulo (one of many which has documented blind tasters noticing the difference between music-aged wines and control wines). Ledesma isn’t stopping at musical wines, but also experimenting with native wood for barrels in search for ‘a deeper relationship between territory and ancestral culture’ and is making a hybrid beer-wine this year. Whether you find his projects err on the side of madness or of genius, Ledesma is certainly shining a light on the new peripheries of Chilean winemaking.

Felipe Müller

Producing some of the most exciting wines in the country with Tabali winery from Limarí Valley since 2006, Müller has been a forerunner in this cool and dry coastal region whose particular soil type has inspired new vineyard explorations in Chile. “The most important thing is that in the coastal part of Limarí you can find limestone… in Tabalí we are specialists in this type of soil, it gives such a different character, quality and ageing potential to the wines, that you can’t believe they are from Chile!” comments Müller. “It´s a new dimension for the Chilean wine category.” This marked minerality and chalky character has taken Chilean wine in a new direction, and Müller isn’t stopping there. As yet unreleased, there are two vintages waiting in the cellar coming from a new area in Limarí – vineyards in the Andes mountains planted in 2010 at 2000m altitude. We’ll see much more from Müller yet…

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October 21, 2014
10 winemakers to watch in Chile

For The Drinks Business, September 2014 edition
Read the full feature: Chilea Winemakers to Watch DB Sep 14

CHILE IS well-known for the concentration of its wine production, allowing the country to make consistent wine at competitive prices. But emerging is a new wave of boutique projects and new styles from the full length and breath of the country, resulting in original blends from little- known places.

The source of such novelty is a broad range of personalities, all of whom are driven by a desire to celebrate Chile’s vinous diversity. Over the following pages is a selection of 10 winemakers to watch, each chosen for their creative and critically-acclaimed approach.

MARCELO RETAMAL

Retamal is not new, but even after 20 years filling bottles he is still at the forefront of Chile’s wine innovations. Retamal became head winemaker of De Martino winery straight after university in 1996 and since then has made wines in over 350 vineyards in Chile, executed a 12 year terroir hunt across the span of the country, and made a huge U-turn in winemaking techniques that sparked a new trend in Chile.

“My problem started in 2007, because the owner and I didn’t like our wines”, he explains, commenting on how flying winemakers and international buyers had swayed Chile into a ripe and oaky style from the early noughties. “They were correct, with softness, high alcohol and lots of oak. But we wanted to create a wine with more drinkability, more fruit and not much oak or alcohol… so we started to work very strongly in this direction. More than new things, it is rediscovering the old ways.”

His return to “old ways” include using only native yeast, no added enzymes or tartaric acid, earlier harvests, aging in old Chilean earthenware jars, and zero new oak. It is not just his winemaking that sets him apart. His commitment to finding new viticulture areas and rediscovering others keeps him on the cusp…

Read more Chilea Winemakers to Watch DB Sep 14

ANDREA LEON

When a young winemaker is given their own personal line at a Michel Rolland winery, you know that they are doing something right. Andrea León has worked for Lapostolle (the family behind Grand Marnier) since 2004, winemaking with their high profile consultant Rolland in the biodynamic Apalta winery. However when her own personal style began to diverge from Rolland’s, Lapostolle gave León the freedom to develop her own range, which is now one of the most interesting collections in Chile. León produces an adventurous terroir series of seven Syrahs from around Chile, three Carmenères, and a few less common varieties including Muscat, Petit Verdot, Mourvedre, Carignan and Grenache.

Her exploration in Syrah is on trend with what is becoming one of Chile’s most promising varieties, and León shows the potential of this versatile variety from coastal and mountainous regions of Elqui, Casablanca, San Antonio, Cachapoal and Colchagua…

Read more Chilea Winemakers to Watch DB Sep 14

Photo by Matt Wilson

FRANÇOIS MASSOC

François Massoc came back to Chile to make a wine that showed Chile was more than just “good value”. After years studying in France and, curiously, winemaking in an Israeli monastery, Massoc returned home to make wine with his best friends: terroir expert Pedro Parra and Louis-Michel Liger-Belair of Vosne- Romanée fame. “We are not making money with Aristos. It is very expensive to produce, but we want to prove that in Chile you can make a world class wine,” he says. The fact that their top wine is a Chardonnay, the solitary white in Chile’s over £40 club, also proves that Chile is not just a one-trick Cabernet pony, although they do also make an acclaimed Cabernet and are also working on a Pinot Noir.

While the small Aristos project is redefining Chile’s premium category, other Massoc projects reinforce his game- changing status. At Calyptra, he makes one of the few high-end Sauvignon Blancs that doesn’t come from the coast, but instead from the Andes and aged in custom-made barrels (Massoc was a cooper before a winemaker). His other project with Parra, Clos des Fous – madmen’s vineyard – is another venture to show that Chile doesn’t need to play by the same old rules…

Read more Chilea Winemakers to Watch DB Sep 14

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September 11, 2014
The Empanada Empire

The empanada. An essential for any peckish backpacker, lazy party food contributor and Argentine restaurant menu. A simple, stuffed savory pastry that looks innocent enough but carries within its golden pouch one of the longest and richest culinary histories.

Where did the empanada come from? We immediately make the assumption by its name it comes from Spain. But there is a longer trail of empanada crumbs to follow…

This bundle of warm comfort can be traced back to Persia in the ninth century, where a poet first wrote in praise of the sanbusaj: a stuffed, savoury pastry that was becoming popular across the Persian, Arab and Turkish foodie circles, and most likely originated in what we’d consider ancient Iraq. Filled with meat, onions and sometimes raisins the sanbusak would come pastry wrapped in a triangle or a half moon. Sound familiar? The sanbusak is earliest traced ancestor of the empanada.

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August 28, 2014
Top 5 wines from Patagonia

Recently I’ve been down south exploring the gorgeous wilderness of Patagonia, which definitely needs to be on everyone’s bucket list. At the same time, I’ve been exploring the wine lists and cellars of various dining establishments and here are five fabulous wines to try.

Bodega Chacra, Pinot Noir

This boutique production winery makes a beautifully delicate Pinot Noir with nuanced flavors of cherry and earthy hints. The grapes come from older organic and biodynamic vineyards and the project is the brain child of Italian wine-royalty Piero Incisa della Rocchetta. Either try the Cincuenta y Cinco Pinot (from a 1955 vineyard), or the Trienta y Dos Pinot (yes, you guessed it – from a 1932 vineyard).

Bodega Patritti, Pinot Noir Primogenito

Patagonia is quite rightly the land of Pinot Noir and this Pinot is very nice for good for its appealing price point. Fruity, fresh and bold enough to stand up to yummy Patagonian lamb stone-oven pizza!

Humberto Canale, Old Vineyard Riesling

One of the pioneers of Patagonian winemaking, Humberto Canale make many wines, however this Riesling is a real surprise. Made from older vineyards (from 1937) in Rio Negro is one of the very few single variety Rieslings you’ll find in Argentina. Abound with peach and citrus fruits and a nice oily mouth making it a good wine for the many varieties of shellfish you’ll find here.

Bodega Fin del Mundo, Tannat FIN

You expect to see Tannat more in Uruguay than Argentina, but this single variety is surprisingly supple for such a characterful grape. Intense and concentrated with 18 months in oak, from the winery at the ‘end of the world’ (fin del mundo).

Saurus, Deseado Sparkling

With dinosaur fossils discovered in their cellar, Saurus has a story but also has the good wines to back it up. This is a wine for the ladies (or for the men who can pull off pink shirts) as it is a slightly sweet sparkling Torrontes. Perfect for a winter apple crumble by a warm fire!

July 1, 2014
The dark knight of Mendoza

For the last three weeks in Mendoza, I’ve only been drinking one variety. It’s abounding with rich, dark fruit, grows particularly well here and is on the lips of most winemakers. Can you guess what it is yet? No, it’s not Malbec. It is the new dark horse of the eighth wine capital… a sort of Batman wine lurking in the shadows of Malbec, but gradually taking front stage as Gotham – ahem – Mendoza city wakes up to its power. The new, handsome superhero of Mendoza’s wine scene is Cabernet Franc.

Normally tucked away in blends, Cabernet Franc has been the Mendocinean winemaker’s secret weapon for the last decade or so. Enhancing Malbec with a fresh herbaceous aroma, floral elegance and a distinctive spice, Cabernet Franc has become the clandestine amigo of premium Malbec in Mendoza. As you winery hop in Lujan and the Uco Valley in particular, once you get to the top Malbecs* or blends you’ll often find the winemaker’s eyes brighten as he delivers a barrel sample with a little wink confessing ‘we’ve added just a bit of Cabernet Franc’. As a blending partner it can deepen and complexify the expression without masking its Malbec qualities. Cabernet Franc is an international comrade for red blends, but now its time has arrived to shine as the leading man.

Just a decade ago there was only one single variety Cabernet Franc made in all of Argentina, and it was like gold dust to get your hands on. These last couple of years however, have seen a real surge in single variety Cabernet Francs. Nowadays, in top restaurants and wine bars around Mendoza (and increasingly Buenos Aires) you’ll find upwards of 15 Cab Francs competing on the wine list and providing an extraordinary food partner. Production of single variety Cabernet Franc has tripled from 1.2m litres in 2006 to 3.4m litres in 2012. That is quite a jump from one lonely Cabernet Franc in 2001.

The 250% increase in plantings over the last 10 years (and 750% increase since 1990) suggests a boom, so is Cabernet Franc the next Malbec?

In short, the answer is No.

Although plantings have blossomed and word is out, 700 hectares of a variety in Argentina is a pocketful of small change (compared to 70,000 of Malbec). But more to the point, it is not Malbec. There will never be another Malbec because the Malbec boom came when land was cheap in Argentina, the Malbec was good (and cheap), Argentina was relatively undiscovered, and no-one else was producing a Malbec quite like it. Cabernet Franc on the other hand is booming in a period when the price of land in Mendoza increases by around 25% annually (you can even pick up a vineyard in Bordeaux for cheaper), good Cabernet Franc is not cheap to produce, and there are plenty of other Cabernet Francs in the metaphorical wine sea with major productions in France, USA, Italy and Canada to mention a few. Nonetheless, after the wake of Malbec, the world is now looking out for new Argentine wines and there is something undeniably special about Cabernet Franc from Mendoza…

If you’ve ever visited Mendoza, you’ll feel like you’ve walked into wine paradise – the sun dances across the sky every day, the air is pure and fresh, the nights are cool and the plants must be singing at the stunning Andes mountain views. It is the sort of place that vines from around the world would dream of moving to in their retirement. Even tough Tannat softens up here to become a plump and generous variety. So Cabernet Franc – with its equal berry load, tendency to share water kindly around the plant, early ripening, and often-impeccable behaviour – thrives here. Hardy Cabernet Franc is considered an ‘insurance’ variety in other parts of the world, but Mendoza’s climate doesn’t need ‘insurance’ varieties. And it is actually the Cabernet Franc that is made to suffer on poorer soils at higher altitude with more extreme day and night temperatures, that is reaping the rich and concentrated Cabernet Franc with great character and freshness that is driving Mendoza loco. “Cabernet Franc, when managed correctly on certain soils, has lots of personality and is very different to any other variety,” says Manuel Gonzalez, winemaker for Andeluna and previously Pulenta Estate (both renowned for the variety). “The future of Cabernet Franc in Argentina is great in terms of these high quality wines that we can reach.”

Cabernet Franc here is so good in fact that this year has seen a single variety Cabernet Franc top the Parker point charts. Bodega Aleanna’s Gran Enemigo Gualtallary Cabernet Franc was the highest scoring Argentine wine this year with an impressive 97 points in Wine Advocate. That is big news in Malbec country.

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June 30, 2014
South America 2014 vintage report

Written for Wine-Searcher

© Amanda Barnes | Rainclouds were common over Mendoza during the 2014 vintage

The grapes of the 2014 vintage in the Southern Hemisphere are safely in wineries and, while the weather has not been kind to many regions, overall the quality looks good.

Argentina

For a land that is normally blessed with more than 330 days a year of sunshine, the country’s major wine-producing region Mendoza suffered an unusually wet harvest in 2014.

After a record-breaking heat wave early in the season, the year’s entire annual average rainfall fell in just three weeks during the Argentinean summer. As a result, many growers had to do more vineyard work than normal in order to limit the botrytis risk.

The harvest was also compressed into a few short weeks, causing more headaches for wine producers.

“It has been a different vintage,” says Pablo Martorell, head winemaker at The Vines of Mendoza. “In December we had record high temperatures [compared with] the past 30 years. Then we had two rainy months. Therefore we have experienced more challenges than normal. For the majority of the reds, ripeness occurred very close together, creating a need for additional logistical planning during harvest.”

Susana Balbo, president of Dominio del Plata in Mendoza warned that this was not a year for leaving the fruit out in the vineyard to gain extra ripeness. “In a year like this, long hang times don’t work – there is a dilution effect on the quality.”

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June 27, 2014
The silver lining to Chile’s 2014 harvest

Written for Wines of Chile

While the year certainly started on a hard note for Chile with an unexpected and ferocious frost across many of the wine regions, nine months later the wine that has made its way into the wineries is looking promising for a high quality vintage.

The difficult start to the vintage was because of a widespread couple days of frost in mid-September which reduced production by between 10 and 70% (depending on variety, vineyard and winery). It can be said that every cloud has a silver lining though, as – according to many winemakers – these low yielding vines produced more concentrated grapes that benefited from a steady ripening season.

“This year has been very good in terms of quality, as some of the varieties already had a reduction in yields because of the spring frosts,” Julio Bastias, winemaker at Matetic in San Antonio and Casablanca said. “Because of this we’ve had very good concentration and complexity in the wines.”

Most of Chile was favoured with good climatic conditions for a long and dry ripening season. “Although volumes are lower than historically, I think that because we are facing a smaller crop and enjoying outstanding climate, we will have an excellent quality in our 2014 wines,” said owner and winemaker Aurelio Montes from Montes winery with vineyards all across the country.

While the lack of rain has been good news for ripening, some producers – especially in the north – have their fingers crossed this winter for a good snowfall in the Andes so that water resources are replenished for next year. “Climate conditions here in Elqui were very nice as usual,” commented Giorgio Flessati, Head Winemaker at Viña Mayu. “The production is a bit lower than 2013 vintage but we didn’t suffer frost effects, only smaller bunches. The only big worry that we have is the water: we had just two days with a bit of rain in the last 18 months.”

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June 27, 2014