Brother and sister Constanza and Hernan Pimentel came to Winemakers Night this past Wednesday to present four of their boutique production Caelum wines. Something the audience was most curious about is why they chose the name Caelum. Constanza responded that Caelum is the name of a constellation that represents a chisel. The idea behind their choice was that their boutique winery was also an artisanal style winery, made with personal and authentic attention. It also has a double meaning of heaven – and exactly where they are hoping their wines will transport you.

Our first wine of the night was their Rose. Made by Italian winemaker Guiseppe Franceschini, the European tendency was clear from the first glance. This was not your usual Argentinean style bright pink rosado. A light copper/onion skin color, this Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon blend had only three hours of maceration in contact with the skins which produced a more French style rose with a delicate nose of dusty rose petals and strawberries, and a clean, crisp and dry mouth. A perfect aperitif to get this balmy summer night off to the right start!

As Constanza and Hernan discussed the different production techniques we moved on to their unoaked Chardonnay – a pale gold with silver tones, this was a fresh wine with lots of fruit in the nose and a flavorful and expressive mouth with a clean finish and good acidity.  Constanza said that unoaked Chardonnay had a bit of a fight ahead of it because consumers had become used to heavy, buttery oaked Chardonnays (which often put people off), and the battle was changing preconceptions that the varietal can also be fresh, light and fragrant. This unoaked Caelum certainly won over the audience over.

The next wine was their unoaked Malbec — a good chance to get to see the true characteristics of a naked Malbec. The wine had lots of plum, red fruit and slightly meaty characteristics and an easy mouth, but what struck the most was the complex mineral notes. Representative of their very rocky terroir in Lujan, this is typical of the region.

Then we moved onto their Malbec Reserva 2009, with attractive floral notes of lavender and violet and bursting with red fruit this was an attractive Malbec but elegant and balanced in the mouth. Aged 15 months in French oak, the barrels gave it some more spicy and mellow characteristics of clove and anis as well as vanilla pods.

The sibling duo showed us some great wines, of very different characters, and managed to dispel some myths of the wine world while helping us all to look towards the stars after enjoying four lovely glasses of wine!

Caelum wines can be bought in The Vines and the winery is open to tourism Monday to Saturdays 10am to 4pm   www.bodegacaelum.com.ar   Winemaker’s Night is held at The Vines of Mendoza’s Tasting Room every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m.

Amanda Barnes is a British journalist living in Mendoza and delighting in meeting new winemakers and new wines every week at The Vines.

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Recently, Heidi Mitchell of the Wall Street Journal came to spend some time with us in Mendoza. Check out what she wrote in the January 7th WSJ here or at http://on.wsj.com/ynhwLj:

Owning a Piece of the Vineyard

By HEIDI MITCHELL

GROW A ROW | Private Vineyard Estates at the Vines of Mendoza, in Western Argentina’s Uco Valley

One hundred twenty to a row.

That’s what the disarmingly attractive Argentine farmer tells me as he hands me a stack of American root-stock grafted with fruit-forward Torrontés grape vines. Two pairs of gloves and a shovel follow. Down the string my friend and I trace, digging six-inch-deep holes, aligning the grafting scar on the baby vine with a pinprick in the irrigation line, then setting the vine in the pebbly earth and burying its hairy roots. A pro could plant 100 an hour; in five minutes, we’ve given life to five.

“Don’t worry if you’re slow or the plants aren’t fully upright,” our tutor, Francisco Evangelista, says. “We usually replant them, anyway.”

Only a handful of the 97 owners at the Vines of Mendoza, a 1,000-some-acre co-op vineyard in western Argentina, will not need their handiwork replaced by professional agronomists like Mr. Evangelista. No matter: It’s the process that’s so inviting. As we dig, place and fill, our hands cramp in the chill, our boots cake over with mud. Far beyond the stripes of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, Tempranillo and 11 other varietals, the land abruptly erupts into the silver-capped pre-Andes. Above them is nothing but blue sky, which glows even without the benefit of polarized sunglasses.

Two years ago, a colleague bragged that he and two friends had bought three acres of vineyards in Argentina’s Uco Valley for $210,000, including the first two years of farming fees. Each harvest season since, he and his partner-pals have gone down to the fast-growing wine region to pick and crush their grapes, then blend them into premium wines under the guidance of Santiago Achával, one of Argentina’s most revered winemakers (his Malbecs can sell for more than $100 a bottle—several times the typical price). They ride horseback and enjoy heavy meat-and-wine asados with the gauchos, spending the night in the three on-site cabins for an all-inclusive $250. Starting this year, they’ll have some 12,000 bottles of wine annually to label and drink as they choose, at a cost of $3,000 per acre in farming fees.

“A glass is placed in my hand even before I can brush the ferrous dirt from my jeans.”

Needless to say, I became slightly obsessed with the venture. Eventually, I reached out to founder Michael Evans, a reformed dot-commer who ran business development for iNetNow, a Web-based concierge service, in 2004, then quit to go on the Democratic campaign trail. He came to Argentina to detox afterward; he never went back. And after many false starts, I finally made my way to Mendoza.

A 12-hour flight from New York, followed by a two-hour puddle-hop from Buenos Aires, and still we’re not deep in the heart of Mendoza. That requires off-roading 60 miles from the airport, traversing a muddy road that’s become a Class V rapid in the rain, then trotting on horseback through the Uco Valley basin. Everywhere you look, it’s vineyard after vineyard, each more modern and gravity-defying than the next. (Rioja has nothing on this place.) A leathery gaucho named Walter Martinez leads me and my friend on a trail ride through a landscape that could have been Photoshopped from my home state of Arizona. There are even saguaro cacti. He points out where homesites will be (owners with three or more acres are granted building permits), where the lake for the 22-casita poured-concrete resort and spa is being dug, where he takes guests on camping trips up into the Andes.

Setting up for an asado

It is late October, spring in Argentina, and as the season dawns all around us, a few older vines—originally planted in 2007—are beginning to twist their greenery around the wooden stakes. One galloping stretch that leaves my heart in my shoes brings us to the big reveal: the winery. Appearing more like an angular performing arts center than a home for aging wines, the building is cold in every sense of the term. I love it. “This is where the magic happens,” Mr. Evans tells me as he greets my dismounting party with a party of his own. A glass is placed in my hand even before I can brush the ferrous dirt from my jeans. And then we are inside the austere, echoing, sparkling palace of fermentation, and my breath is stolen from me.

Cooperative vineyards are not a new idea—farmers have been organizing them on a small scale in Alsace, France, since 1895. The Napa Valley Reserve in California and L’And Vineyards in Portugal’s Alentejo region are just two other recent incarnations. No matter how you slice it, though, in the Northern Hemisphere it’s cheaper to be a wine enthusiast than a hobby farmer. (The old joke goes, “How do you make a small fortune from a vineyard? Start with a large fortune.”) But in Mendoza, where the climate is harsh enough to torture vines into producing stellar grapes, land is plentiful and inexpensive. Construction costs only about $100 a square foot. Erecting an ancestral home in the Uco Valley isn’t a pipe dream. It’s within the realm of reality.

Hard at work during the annual ‘wine camp’

With annual costs included, a typical owner will generally spend around $12 per bottle on creating his or her own super premium wine at the Vines of Mendoza; at retail, it would sell for around $50 a bottle, according to winemaker Santiago Achával. You probably won’t get rich off a few acres in Argentina, but who can put a price tag on stomping, mixing and bottling your own vintage, then slapping on a label with your (made-up) family crest?

The modernist winery is the opposite of quaint. Huge metal tanks await next harvest. Rows of oak barrels fill darkened rooms. A whisper becomes a shout, what with all the bare surfaces to bounce off of. Another gorgeous member of the Vines team, winemaker Mariana Onofri, walks me through the life of a grape, from planting and pruning to hydraulic presses and the Oxoline system of barrel fermentation. A winery of this size—producing 180,000 bottles a year—would typically make 10 fermentations (types of wines), she tells me. Because there are effectively 97 winemakers/owners here, however, the Vines of Mendoza created 161 smaller fermentations in 2011 alone. A team of winemakers dips into the barrels every two weeks to assure quality and flavor.

And then we sit down to drink. Five glasses stand at each of the two-dozen seats at the communal table, which becomes a hive of servers and roasted pork and barbecued sausage and crisp Sauvignon Blancs that were bottled on Friday. Staff from the winery, some owners down from Buenos Aires and a couple of gauchos join in. We taste a Merlot from 2010 that has a nose of chocolate and will be bottled in January. A Malbec in its bitter youth is passed; it will be 17 months before it’s ready to hit shelves. A smooth, dry blend of Malbec, Merlot and Cabernet Franc is served before dessert; this won’t see a liquor store until 2013.

By the end of this typical Wednesday at the cooperative, we’re all a little tipsy and giving away more than a few secrets. Someone reveals that a bold-faced chef has recently purchased some acreage. There’s a running joke that the staff is publishing a fireman-style calendar, and glasses clink as we all agree to buy one. We’re eventually packed off to town with sacks of recently bottled Tempranillos. My friend and I hatch a plan to create a joint venture and buy one of the remaining plots, jesting that our grandchildren will someday drink those crooked Torrontes we planted earlier in the day. “You’ll be back,” says Mr. Evans, who reminds me that he came on a lark after John Kerry’s presidential campaign tanked, and never left. In my oaky, fruity, spicy haze, I know that I just might.

The Lowdown: Mendoza, Argentina

How to Join:Three-acre plots at the Vines of Mendoza start at $73,000 per acre, including the first two years of farming and planting costs; the annual farming fees are $3,000 per acre starting in the third year ( vinesofmendoza.com ).

Getting There: Fly from Buenos Aires or Santiago to Mendoza’s El Plumerillo airport (request a window seat for Andes views). Alternatively, Mendoza is a six-hour-plus drive over the mountains from Santiago—a beautiful trip, though one that requires hiring a driver licensed to take you over the border (contact a local tour company).

Staying There: If you’re not staying in the cabins at the Vines of Mendoza (the 22-room hotel will open in late 2012), the Cavas Wine Lodge is 40 miles down the road (from $605 per night, cavaswinelodge.com ) and has a spa that specializes in vinotherapy. The Park Hyatt Mendoza (doubles from $222 per night, mendoza.park.hyatt.com ) is downtown, in a converted 1920s colonial retreat.

Where to Eat: For amazing food presented in a lovely courtyard under the stars, book a table at Francis Mallmann’s 1884 (1884restaurante.com.ar ), right outside of Mendoza. For more local cuisine, Siete Cocinas serves dishes from seven culinary regions of Argentina ( sietecocinas.com.ar ). Don Mario has arguably the best—and undoubtedly the biggest—steaks in the area ( donmario.com.ar ). A wine-pairing lunch at a vineyard is a must-do. Two to pre-book: the French-chateâu-style Andeluna Cellars ( andeluna.com ) and La Bourgogne ( labourgogne-mendoza.com.ar ), which updates its French menu seasonally.

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For those in the northern hemisphere we hope your Christmas and New Year was filled with reindeer-patterned sweaters, a suitable binge on roast turkey and all the trimmings, and quality family time by the fireplace. Things down here in the Southern Cone are more than a little different – in Mendoza it is a pretty easy-going affair all about BBQs and lazing about the swimming pool. For me though, one of the most fun places to spend Christmas and New Year is in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Montevideo is probably one of the world’s most relaxed capital cities, which sadly most people skip off their travel plans because its relative safety. After all, organization and cleanliness are seen by some travelers as boring. But don’t believe the hype, because this city explodes in serious style over the holiday period.

Celebrations take a similar format on the 24^th and 31^st (the two more celebrated days here). At midday everyone (young, old and in the middle) gather in the main plaza by the Mercado del Puerto – usually before or after gorging on a mountain of meat in the indoor market – and bring with them a couple bottles of fizzy cider. On the 31^st the lawyers of the city start the mayhem by throwing showers of torn paper documents from the year out of their office windows, and as horns blast and drums beat everyone becomes embroiled in what must be the biggest cider fight in the world.

It all begins a bit more civilized as you walk through the streets with people shaking the plastic bottles and spraying fizz into the air, or cheekily pouring cider down your back as you pass by, but as more cider gets thrown (and drunk) it gets more energetic and raucous, and only the brave and stupid remain for what soon becomes a plastic bottle fight. Some attempt to enjoy the carnival atmosphere but avoid getting wet by watching the spectacle from afar – on the terraces of the restaurants above, but never underestimate the reach of cheap sweet cider, no-one leaves the party dry. This is the time of year that Montevideans all let their hair down and if you are in the area, you can’t miss it.

After a shower and big dinner with family and friends, the grand finale of Montevideo’s celebrations takes place: the fireworks. At the strike of midnight a billion fireworks are set off – with everyone in the city throwing bangers and lighting fireworks and flames on every corner of every block. Don’t think about the health and safety hazards on this night… just stand back, toast with a glass of sparkling wine and watch the sky being set on multi-coloured fire! It only happens twice a year, and for me, Montevideo is the only place to see it.

Amanda Barnes is a British journalist living in Mendoza but taking advantage of cider throwing and Tannat in nearby countries too.

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The 31st is always a great excuse to celebrate with some fab wines to usher in the New Year in style! Here are some top tipples to get festive and merry with. All are available in The Vines Wine Shop.

Carmelo Patti, Champana Extra Brut
There is no other way to kick off the celebrations than with a glass of fizz and this is a corking bottle to open for New Year. Lovingly made by local legend Carmelo Patti, a proper ‘garagista’ (making top wine in his small rustic winery), this is a vivacious and honeyed wine made of the typical Pinot Noir and Champagne blend by champenoise method. Yum! $19.

Mournier, Torrontes
You can’t beat a good Torrontes as a refreshing aperitif with its bursting fruit and floral characteristics, and Mournier in Cafayate makes one of the finest. With lots of orange blossom and white flowers on the nose, locally they call this wine ‘the liar’ because its deceptively sweet nose makes the dry and crisp finish a real surprise. $17.

Mendel, Unus Blend
This Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon blend is from one of the country’s star winemakers – Roberto de la Motta. A boutique winery with a truly Argentine style, this wine is an elegant blend with concentrated black cherry and plum on the nose and laced with rose and leather on the finish – a steal at $49.

Monte Cinco, Malbec
This is one of those manly Malbecs that isn’t shy on character. A sultry, dark Malbec with dark fruits, chocolate and tobacco – this will seduce even the pickiest wine drinkers. Definitely one to drink with a dinner of equal personality! $29.

Pulenta Estate, Cabernet Franc
For something a bit different around the dinner table, try out Pulenta Estate’s single varietal of Cabernet Franc. One of our very faves at The Vines, this potent wine has a spicy and persistent nose brimming with green pepper, dark fruits and a lingering smoke on the finish. You won’t want the year to end drinking this beauty. $49.

Amanda Barnes is a British journalist living in Mendoza and still trying to find good excuses every day to open a decent bottle or two from this stunning wine region.

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