by MarÃa Soledad González
Although vineyard prices keep rising and escalating following the promotion of Argentinian
wines abroad, Argentina -and specially Mendoza- is still an investment hub for large and
medium-size investors around the world….
Bewitched by Argentina’s Own Napa Valley
by Emily Crawford
April 2nd 2008
Wine tasting at the Vines of Mendoza tasting room
The province of Mendoza bewitches her visitors in a number of ways. Some find peace in her tranquil beauty. Others are lured by the rafting, biking, and outdoor life. And many more still fall in love with Mendoza’s sun-drenched wine country, and then start daydreaming how they could stay.
That’s exactly what longtime friends Dave Garrett and Michael Evans did when they traveled to Mendoza together in 2005. The result, luckily for us, is the Vines of Mendoza. A wine-centric business, it gave them an excellent reason to stick around in a place that is becoming known in some circles as the “next Napa.†Not a bad gig.
Both former tech entrepreneurs, Evans and Garrett teamed up with Pablo Gimenez, of a local wine making family, to create the city’s first, upscale, tasting room that culls the finest bottles from the province’s some 650 bodegas in a beautifully refurbished Mendoza home. But the tasting room and the Vine’s boutique Acequia Wine Club, are only the run up to the jewel of the project—a destination wine resort and private vineyard estates on 1200+ acres in Mendoza’s Valle de Uco, an arid valley that boasts the region’s highest-altitude vineyards and stark views of the Andes.
“We wanted to build an asset that would be around forever,†Garrett said of the long range plans of the founders. This is something that “flies in the face of both of our experience†he said, explaining that as a tech entrepreneur he spent a lot of time on software only to see it become, eventually, obsolete.
Yet if the trends are to be believed, the region and the Vines will only continue to prosper. More people around the world are discovering the incredible taste and value of Argentina’s wines every day. The wine business in Mendoza is booming. Recently, wine critic Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate gave three of the Bodega Achaval-Ferrer’s wines 96 points or higher in his first in-depth coverage of Argentine wine.
With Mendoza’s excellent soil and room for growth, there is no where to go but up, Garrett said.
It seems so at least for the Vines of Mendoza. The wine club is shipping wine to fans of Argentina’s finest wines in the U.S. and in Europe. The Vines’ tasting room, located half a block from Mendoza’s Plaza Independencia, serves 150 visitors a day during high season and features over 90 wines from over 40 different wineries. To serve the many travelers looking to take a tour of the area’s many bodegas, the Vines also hosts an information center.
Like the making of a great wine, the creation of the Vines of Mendoza has been a steady process for the founders.
“We are doing this one step at a time,†Garrett said of the project. “And we are doing them exactly right.â€
Welcome!
Come join us Sunday June 8th for the not-to-miss Slow Food SF event of the year!
Sunday June 8, 2008, Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion
11am – 1 pm, Trade and Professionals
3 – 7 pm, General Public
Golden Glass 2008 marks it’s 5th anniversary by celebrating the most exciting, sustainable wines imported into the San Francisco Bay Area. Previously an exclusively Italian wine event, Golden Glass has expanded to include sustainable and terroir expressive wines from Spain, Greece, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and of course, Italy. As usual, the wines will be complemented by savory delights and sweet treats from the Bay Area’s top restaurants and artisanal producers.
Wine Taster
Golden Glass will, once again, prove to be a uniquely San Francisco experience! We want you to be a part of this decidedly “SLOW†afternoon and evening savoring all that we enjoy here in the Bay Area.
The Golden Glass wine event, a fundraiser for Slow Food USA, is organized by Slow Food San Francisco, under the direction of Lorenzo Scarpone, convivium leader and founder of the first Slow Food convivium in the United States. Proceeds will benefit the new Slow Food San Francisco School Garden Project and Slow Food USA’s ‘Art of Taste’ program.
Defining ‘Slow’
Good. Clean. Fair. These are the words Slow Food’s founder Carlo Petrini uses to describe his vision of our food system. In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. Slow Food celebrates developing taste rather than demeaning taste. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects?
As a supporter of Slow Food & the Golden Glass event, we advocate the importance of attending to the needs of the land, respecting traditional knowledge and taste. The wines at The 2008 Golden Glass event celebrate our diverse cultures and communities and showcase their art of careful farming and wine growing. Salute!
If you are in love with Argentine wines, at some point you will have to sample the ubiquitous Fernet and coke, the Argentine national drink of choice and, for foreigners, either an affair of love or hate. And, if you dare, consume more than one because, for some reason, they definitely grow on you.
.
The Coca-cola (or Coke) should be cold but the Fernet Branca can be at a normal temperature.
1 oz Fernet Branca® bitters
2 oz Coca-Cola®
Place 2 or 3 ice cubes in a cocktail glass. Pour Fernet Branca over the ice, then holding the glass in a diagonal way, slowly pour the coke.
So to really impress your friends with your knowledge of Argentine culture, or to celebrate Memorial day in style, serve any of our boutique Argentine wines from our Vines of Mendoza online wine shop and this delicious cocktail at your next BBQ and with panache call it an authentic “asado.” They will all be duly impressed, guaranteed.
Salud!
Recently Steven Stumpf visited The Vines of Mendoza Tasting toom and his impressions were overwhelming! His value-oriented wine blog “thebestofwines.com” describes his visit to The Vines where he tasted nine of our wines representing multiple regions in Argentina. Enjoy these reviews from the Vines tasting, descriptions of Argentina, and look for future posts on bodega tours, on this wine blog throughout this month.
We hope that you can visit us soon as well!
Last Friday was a very special day for all of us here at The Vines – cosecha day!
The whole team headed out the Gimenez Riili family’s vineyard in Maipu for a day of picking grapes, followed of course by a traditional asado that even included guitar toting gauchos. It was wonderful for everybody to take part in the winemaking process, and a lot of fun as well!
With steak, Gimenez Riili wine, and musica folklorica… what else could you ask for?
Belén y Julián
MarÃa
Juanjo y Pedro
