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Wine Education in Mendoza

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

 

Two of the teachers at the Wine Institute at Septima winery--one of the best perks of taking a wine course are the field trips!

So perhaps you’ve made a few visits to the bodegas and realized you’d like to learn a lot more about wine in one of the Great Wine Capitals of the World. Here are a few hints:

Classes: Most short-term classes cover a brief history of wine and Argentine wine regions (class 1), how different wines are made (class 2), a service class covering how differents wines should be served (class 3), pairings (class 4), the proper tasting techniques (class 5) and a final class on distilling (class 6). I think every institutions offers a blind tasting at each class.

Wine Institute: conveniently located at Sarmiento and Belgrano, Wine Institute offers a variety of options in terms of how long classes are, what material is covered in the class, etc. I deferred to this route without much investigation, but I’m really enjoying the laid-back nature of the classes, the extensive knowledge of the teachers and of course, the wine tasting at the end of every class. Sarmiento 786, (0261) 4230909 www.wineinstitute.com.ar

Enoteca: The local government wine foundation also offers one-time courses ($25 pesos) as well as somelier courses, although you really have to contact the Enoteca to stay on top of what their current events are…They also offer an online manual of their lessons. http://www.fondovitivinicola.com.ar/escuelas/index.html enoteca@fondovitivinicola.com.ar / Peltir 611. Ciudad de Mendoza / Tel. 0261- 4295274

EAS (Escuela Argentina de Sommelier): EAS is located at Hipólito Yrigoyen 242 and runs short courses as well as two year sommelier courses.  The Mendoza Sun recently posted a review on their courses. http://www.sommeliers.com.ar/mendoza.php

Educational Experiences

Winemaker’s Night: I’ve blogged on Vines of Mendoza’ Winemaker’s Night before but if you’re just passing through Mendoza and don’t have a lot of time to devote to an actual class, Winemaker’s Night is a nice way to learn about the winemaking process, etc. with the insight of someone who lives and breathes wine every day.

Blending Room: I don’t think it gets much cooler than making your own wine, and the Vines Blending Room lets you do that in one afternoon! Open 3-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday. I’m counting down the days until I make my first wine in the Blending Room on September 13 so check back for a review.

Aroma rooms: Two wineries in Lujan de Cuyo have aroma rooms to help you start training your nose:

1. Belasco de Baquedano 261 153 023 491, www.belascomalbec.com

2. Pulenta, 261 420 0800, www.pulentaestate.com

Carolyn is a newcomer to Mendoza and the wine industry and will be sharing her experiences as she learns more about both. A recent college graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, she also teaches English at a local university.

 

 

Posted in Behind the bottle, Experiences, Life in Mendoza, Mendoza Bodegas, Tasting Notes, Uncategorized, Vines Events | No Comments »


THE PERFECT MARRIAGE BETWEEN WOOD AND WINE

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011

Oak and wine have been partners for hundreds of years in winemaking. However, it has not been a relationship without controversy.  Does the wine have too much oak? Not enough? Is the oak well integrated? Wine lacking finesse?

In Argentina, the use of oak has followed worldwide trends, without any doubt. But, nowadays our best winemakers seem to be in consensus about this premise: obtain an ideal integration of oak and wine. One of the latest techniques that has received considerable attention in accomplishing this goal is to conduct the primary, or alcoholic, fermentation in new oak barrels.

For most of us, the mention of “barrel fermentation” immediately brings up images of Chardonnay, which traditionally has been fermented in oak. However, for an increasing number of high-end producers, some of those barrels are full of red grapes.

On the practical downside, fermenting in oak barrels requires much more work and money. Barrels need to have the heads popped off before filling, then re-attached for fermentation, then removed again for pressing, and finally put back on for aging. From two barrels you ferment grapes you will end up with enough wine to fill only one. Marcelo Pelleriti, Monteviejo Winery’s general manager and winemaker, explains “We currently ferment 300 barrels of reds, and have been obliged to develop new coopering skills”.

Achieving the proper fermentation temperature and having the infrastructure to roll the barrels represent other practical issues. That is why Baron Tonnellerie has designed OXOline. It is a rack system equipped with rollers to turn the barrels for cap management—rotary fermentors on a micro scale. Michel Rolland has called this the single most important development in fermentation technique in the last two decades. And I am happy to say that we – THE VINES -  are one of the first wineries to implement the OXOline system in Argentina.

Among the benefits of barrel fermentation explains Pablo Martorell, our head winemaker, is that the small volume (225 liters) keeps the temperature naturally low during fermentation: it rarely exceeds 22° to 25° C. The fermentation is relatively slow and gentle. The early contact between fruit and wood speeds oak integration, improves mouthfeel and gives the wine a more refined character. Plus, the polymerization of pigment with tannin helps long-term color stabilization, and barrel fermentation gets that process going more rapidly.

Contrary to the minimalist viewpoint that LESS is MORE, when talking about oak refinement MORE is LESS: the more oak you lay on the wine, the less you notice it—and the sooner, the better. An easy exercise would be to compare a wine fermented in stainless steel with oak staves with a barrel fermented red. You won’t find the strong simplistic coffee smell on the second but you do find a delicate sense of freshness, and a preservation of vibrant fruit. When tasting a barrel fermented wine you should discover the perfect marriage between fruit and oak!

 

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La Rural: Mendoza’s Most Historical Bodega

Friday, August 19th, 2011

 

August is a month full of history for Mendoza. First of all, August 17 is el dia de San Martin, or the day that Argentina commemorates the death of the most important leader in Argentina’s emancipation from Spain. You can’t find a town in Argentina that doesn’t have a San Martin street. In actuality, he’s not only a national hero in Argentine, but in Chile and Peru as well. General San Martin holds particular importance in Mendoza and the Cuyo region where he was governor, trained his famous “Army of the Andes,” and planned a devisive disinformation campaign to confuse the Spaniards by sending messages on what passageway his army would take through the Andes, allowing the message to fall into enemy hands and then going the opposite way as the message indicated. Not only does Mendoza have several streets named after him (including one of the most important), there’s also Parque de General San Martin (General San Martin Park) and Cerro de la Gloria (Glory Hill dedicated to his army).

Additionally, last weekend marked the beginning of elections and August 16 is University Day for UNCuyo, celebrating its 72nd anniversary. In light of these many historic events and celebrations, I’d like to spotlight one of Mendoza’s most historic wineries: La Rural.

This 100-year-old colonial style bodega is located in Coquimbito, one of Argentina’s oldest viticultural zones. In addition to producing great Argentine wines, La Rural also houses a museum of antique tools and other objects that were used to make wine in Argentina during the nineteenth century. As a result, the winery’s tour is like taking a trip back in time where you can appreciate the labor and sacrifice that went into wine production a century ago.

Today, the winery has a stainless steel tank capacity of ten million liters and uses modern equipment to ferment and preserve its fine red and white wines. Using grapes from its four Mendoza vineyards, La Rural is much more than an old-fashioned curiosity – this thriving bodega exports wines throughout the world and has helped promote increasing demand for Argentine wine among international consumers.

 Address: Montecaseros 2625 – Coquimbito
Phone: (261) 497-2013
Email: museo(at)bodegalarural.com.ar
Website: www.larural.com
Hours: Monday to Saturday from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm every 30 mins. / Sunday from 10am to 1pm every 1 hour
Reservations Required: Only for groups over 20

Brands: Rutini, San Felipe, Trumpeter, Pequeña Vasija
Recommended Wines: Rutini label varietals, especially the Rutini Malbec.

Carolyn is a newcomer to Mendoza and the wine industry and will be sharing her experiences as she learns more about both. A recent college graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, she also teaches English at a local university.

 

 

Posted in Behind the bottle, Experiences, Life in Mendoza, Mendoza Bodegas, Photos, Uncategorized, Vines Events | No Comments »


Pulenta Estate: Best Tour Guide

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

 ”Hacer un gran vino es un acto de generosidad, de pensar siempre en el otro que lo degustará. Nuestra misión es producir series limitadas de grandes vinos, elaborados con orgullosamente hechos en Argentina.” (To make a great wine is an act of generosity, to be thinking always in how the wine will taste to another. Our mission is to proudly produce a series of limited fine wines here in Argentina.)

It’s always such a treat whenever anyone comes to visit because it means it’s time to visit the wineries. This time around was no exception and visiting the wineries at this time of the year is especially nice because they’re not very busy and you get most individualized attention. Do wear a coat for the chilly cement cellars.

Anyhow, after visiting Pulenta Estate today, I had to write something up because of the very thorough explanations we received from our tour guide, Soledad. Sometimes when visiting wineries, the tour guides assume you already know as much as they do and only tell a few unique characteristics about their own winery. However, even after arriving a bit late (Argentinean time, right?), we got a rundown start to finish on how wine is made in general and the special characteristics of Mendoza’s wine region.  

Pulenta is a medium-sized bodega located in Alta Agrelo in Lujan de Cuyo. The winery is dedicated to only producing a limited amount of fine wines so they only select a portion of their grapes for their wines and sell the rest to other wineries (for example, they sell some of their grapes to Chandon for their sparkling wine). The Pulenta family has been involved in wineries for three generations and used to own Trapiche winery before they sold it within the last decade and then opened Pulenta in 2002. Antonio Pulenta is 93 years old and credits his longevity to lifelong wine drinking. If you’d like to try their wines beforehand, their lines are (from lowest to highest): La Flor, Pulenta Estate  and Pulenta Gran Corte.  The visit ranges from 30-60 pesos, depending on how many wines you’d like to taste.

http://www.pulentaestate.com

 

Posted in Behind the bottle, Experiences, Life in Mendoza, Mendoza Bodegas, Photos, Private Vineyard Estates, Tasting Notes, Uncategorized | No Comments »


Listen to the Conference Call: “Argentine Wines in the EuropeanMarket”

Friday, August 12th, 2011

 


“Argentine Wine Sales and Trends in the European Market“ conference call was hosted on August 10th, 2011 by Michael Evans and Pablo Giménez Riili from The Vines of Mendoza, along with Eduardo Pulenta of renowned Bodega Pulenta Estate, Mauricio Llaver of Revista Punto a Punto and Andrew Maidment, PR manager for Wines of Argentina in Europe.

From left to right: (bottom) Mauricio Llaver, Eduardo Pulenta | (top) Michael Evans, Pablo Gimenez Riili

Mauricio Llaver is a Mendoza-based journalist specialized in Economics and Wine Industry. He has a 20-years career and has been Fellow of the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE). He is bussines-magazine Punto a Punto’s publisher and has radio columns and programs mainly devoted to wine. He also runs his web site
www.mauriciollaver.com and has covered Vinexpo’s last two editions (2009/11).

Eduardo Pulenta is the export manager for Bodega Pulenta Estate. With a winemaking history dating back to 1914,  Eduardo and Hugo Pulenta decided to carry on the family tradition with a focus on high quality wines with passion and dedication and in 2001 founded Pulenta Estate.  They now export around the world and have one of the best reputation and highest quality wines found in Mendoza.

Andrew Maidment runs the European division of Wines of Argentina – the trade body that manages the promotion of Argentine wines in the exports markets. His primary role is to develop marketing strategies for ‘Brand Argentina’ tailored specifically to each country, with the aim of raising the awareness of Argentina’s wines amongst both wine trade professionals and the end consumer.

Activities include: developing large scale ‘on’ and ‘off-trade’ promotions, wine tasting events (trade and consumer), obtaining positive and sustained press presence, advertising, product placement and the organization and planning of trips to Argentina for key individuals or businesses.

Wines of Argentina currently has approximately 250 member wineries.

 







Posted in Experiences, Mendoza Bodegas, Podcasts, Vines Events | No Comments »


Winemaker’s Night: Chacra from Rio Negro, Patagonia!

Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

Learning the history about Bodega Chacra is like following the royal wedding. It’s historical, exclusive, but most of all, classy.

To start, the owner, Piero Incisa della Rocchetta, hails from one of the most esteemed winemaking families in Italy.  The family winery produces the stunning Sassacaia wines, a European wine that broke the mold of what world class wine is made of and the traditions that surround it. Click here to learn more about how Piero’s grandfather, Mario Incisa della Rocchetta, went from making excellent wine for just his family to owning the only single winery DOC in Italy.

Secondly, Chacra only makes four different wines, three Pinot Noirs and one Merlot: Barda, a blend of their Pinot Noirs; Chacra Treinta y Dos and Chacra Cincuenta y Cinco, both Pinot Noirs; and finally, Mainque, the sole Merlot. Each of these bottles carries a price tag between 160 pesos (Barda) to more than 400 pesos. These high-end wines are so in-demand that Chacra lovers must pre-order to ensure the wines aren’t sold out.

Finally, although we did not meet Piero last night, you can tell by hearing how he runs his bodega and his philosophy about the wine, that he’s a classy guy. Read this excerpt from Laura Catena’s interview with Piero in An Insider’s Guide to the Wines and Wine Country of Argentina:

“Today at our winery in Chacra, we have a traditional artisanal approach to winemaking. We do pretty much everything by hand–we prune, harvest and de-stem by hand; we vinify without machinery or steel; and most of the time we decant by gravity. Chacra is not a conventional business; it’s a passion, a personal folly…Our goal is to keep producing single-vineyard biodynamic wines that are of consequence, as we believe that our terroir is capable of yielding wines that are unique in character.”

As an added bonus, next-door neighbor Bodega Noemia, which Chacra considers its “cousin” winery (which produces Malbec) is owned by the renowned Dutch winemaker Hans Vinding-Diers and Italian Countess Noemi Marone Cinzano.

We tasted a 2009 Barda and then compared a 2009 Chacra Cincuenta y Cinco to a 2010 Chacra Cincuenta y Cinco. Read Vines of Mendoza blogger Emily Camblin’s recent blog review on these wines and her visit to Bodega Chacra.

Carolyn is a newcomer to Mendoza and the wine industry and will be sharing her experiences as she learns more about both, as well as giving updates about local events.  A recent college graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she also teaches English at a local university.

Posted in Photos, Tasting Notes, Uncategorized, Vines Events | No Comments »


Summer… where have you gone?

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

It is almost the official kickoff to summer in the northern hemisphere, the Summer Solstice! Warm days full of light and activity- perfect for finally kicking back and drinking some wine.
The Vines is here to help with 25% off all of our delectable Argentine varieties.

Whether it be on your back porch, friends couch, or garden table
all of these wines at 25% off are perfect for any setting!

**Promotion valid for shipments within the US only. To ship gifts to multiple addresses please contact us so that we can place your order for you manually. Not all wines are available for shipping to all states. Customers in Canada and Europe: As our online store does not allow us to process orders outside of the United States, please submit your order to us via email. Please note that additional duties will be charged upon delivery of the wine.

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The Vines 2011 Harvest

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

We finished our last harvest on Friday at The Vines Private Vineyard Estate with all of the staff on hand to bring in the last of the grapes. It has been a very busy season with owners, guests and of course the grapes and wine that we have made over the last few months. We started on March 1 and finished on April 29th. The cellar crew at the winery has had their hands extremely full but we are extremely pleased with the grape quality and the wines!

Here is the rundown for our harvest.

COSECHA 2011
The grapes were harvested from 280 acres or 113 hectares

240,000 Kg (265 tons) of grapes were processed at the winery
18,160 bins of grapes went through the hand selection process at the sorting table
160,000 Kg were of Malbec (2/3 of the total)
7%  were of white varietals
1% was of our own Torrontes
16 different varieties in total

10,500 bins of grapes were sold to 6 premium wineries including: Monteviejo, Achaval Ferrer, La Rural.

The harvest lasted 59 days in total, 39 days of harvest

9,500 Kg (20,943 lb) was the average amount harvested per day
19,000 Kg (41,887 lb) was the most we harvested in one day
Over 60 people worked in the harvest

But the work is not over as we have over 160 different microfermentations in the winery!

Posted in Harvest Diary, Private Vineyard Estates | 1 Comment »


How to Choose your Malbec by the Label

Monday, April 18th, 2011

Yesterday we celebrated World Malbec day and not only that but it is Malbec season here at The Vines, where we are in full swing with our Malbec harvest at our Private Vineyard Estates. With so much activity and focus on Malbec, it is often difficult to decide what to by, what it all means and what will actually be in the bottle!

For some help on how to traverse these mazes of wine labels, one of our Private Vineyard Estate owners, Barry Chaiken, proprietor of Chaiken Vineyards has a great blog that discusses what information really is on the back label.

Also you should sign up for his newsletters to get an insider’s perspective on Argentine wine and his experiences as a vineyard owner making wine in Argentina. www.chaikenvineyards.com

Here is one of his great blog posts:

Oh so many wines to choose from in most wine shops, it is difficult to know which of the wines available you will enjoy. Market research shows that attractive wine packaging, just like for other consumer goods, can help boost sales. For many years “critter” wine labels – those with the cute animals on the label – were successful in attracting buyers to inexpensive wines from Australia.

For those of us who are more interested in choosing a wine that will be attractive to our taste buds rather than our eyes, reviewing some basic information on the label can help intelligently guide our choices. Although some wine labels may appear to provide rather limited information about the wine, there is almost always enough information available to guide us.

When first approaching a wine, look at the alcohol content. Red wines with high alcohol content (14.5-16%+) tend to be big, powerful, flavorful wines that are perfect for drinking alone or with very flavorful foods (e.g., rich, juicy steak). Lower alcohol red wines are more elegant and subtle in their flavors, thereby drinking best only when paired with appropriate foods.

For white wines, a lower alcohol content (e.g., 9-12%) usually indicates a high level of residual sugar seen in sweet wines. Very high alcohol white wines (e.g., 14%+) may indicate a dry wine that is out of balance as white wines generally do not have the strength of flavors, acidity, and tannins to counter the alcohol.

The type of varietal considered with the region the wine comes from gives a sense of what flavors can be expected from the wine. If there is a wine you currently like, then choose a wine made from a similar varietal (e.g., pinot noir) and the same region (e.g., Russian River Valley, CA) made by another producer. Most likely you will like this new wine while also learning from the differences you detect comparing the wines.

Other information such as types of barrels used (e.g., French vs. American oak, new vs. 2nd use), time in barrel, and bottle aging, all give you more information about the wine. As you drink more wine and relate the information you read on the label with the flavors in the wine, you will develop an internal guidebook that can help you choose wine in a liquor store or restaurant.

Although reviews and scores are useful in choosing a fine, the best guide is your own drinking  experience. No one is a better critic of what you may like than you are.

Sincerely,

Barry P. Chaiken, Proprietor

Chaiken Vineyards

info@chaikenvineyards.com

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The Magic of Domaine St. Diego

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

I admit I am in love with visiting wineries. It is probably my number one preferred recreational activity next to tasting and yes, drinking wines.  But after almost four months of winery touring in Mendoza, one does start to get a bit bored with staring at stainless steel tanks listening to guides give slightly different versions of the same speech over and over again. But a recent visit to Domaine St. Diego served as a refreshing reminder of why I love wine and the people who make it. A truly unique winery experience in Mendoza.

Domaine St. Diego is an ultra boutique winery located in the Lunlunta Valley in Maipu, Mendoza. Headed by famed Argentine winemaker Angel Mendoza, this winery started as a family project about twenty years ago and continues to produce wines of very small production that are only available for purchase at the winery. Angel’s daughter, Maria Laura Mendoza guides the tour which focuses exclusively on the vineyards. Mendoza believes that wine should not be made in the winery, but grown in the vineyard.

The sheer amount of information that I absorbed and scribbled hurriedly in my notebook I do not have space to share with you here. Having grown up in the winery, surrounded by vines and wine, Maria Laura is like a walking encyclopedia on vineyard maintenance and “wine growing”.  We began with a short lesson on tasting Malbec grapes to determine ripeness. What’s the trick? First separate the pulp from the skin, then the seed from the pulp, then chew on the seed, then the skin. If the seed separates easily from the pulp, is crunchy when you chew it, and the skin takes more than five chews before it becomes tannic and green in your mouth, you’ve got yourself a ripe Malbec grape ready for picking. Cool, huh?

Along with Malbec, Cabernet, and Chardonnay in the vineyard, the Mendozas have a few vines of the uncommon grape, Apirant Bouschet, planted. Easy to spot for it’s brightly colored leaves with deep crimson veins, this varietal has blood red pulp and is used to concentrate color in the wines. With some of the only hillside vineyards I’ve seen in Mendoza, the estate lies in a protected valley with hills to one side and mountains to the other. This means that they rarely face hail or frost problems, and the hillside vineyards benefit from all-day sun exposure. It’s these sun-saturated grapes go into Mendoza’s Paradigma, an oaked blend that shows that a wine doesn’t have to spend time in the barrel to have concentration or great ageing potential.

Speckled throughout the vines are about 300 olive trees, producing four different varieties. In this photo Maria Laura shows us the difference between Manzanilla and Arauco olives. These seventy year old trees share the land well with the vines, having more shallow root systems that do not compete with the vines for water. Some of the grapes grow in the shade of these trees, and as a result are less ripe and higher acid. Mendoza uses these for the house sparkling wine, Brut Xero, which is impressively produced on site in a traditional variation of the Champenoise Method (AND can be found for sipping in the Vines tasting room!).

After the fantastic tour we returned to the family house to taste the wines and olive oil.  More magic. The olive oil has intensely grassy aromas, with plenty of fruit on the palate and big spice on the finish.  True to the nature of Arauco, it is full bodied and bold in flavor, lovely with the rosemary bread that accompanied. Named Elea, after Mendoza’s granddaughter, the sparkling Malbec rose was full of wild strawberry on the nose and pleasantly refreshing with good acid on the palate. Next, the unoaked 2008 Paradigma, a blend of Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet was fresh yet concentrated, with ripe plum and rose aromas, herb, red pepper and juicy red fruit in the mouth.  Refreshingly well balanced, this is a unique wine for Argentina.  Finally, the 2006 Pura Sangre Malbec/Cabernet blend spends two years in the tank, two years in mostly second use French oak, and one year in the bottle. With seductive vanilla, clove, and black cherry jam on the nose, the wine is round and rich on the palate with a wonderful pepper and toast finish. The best part, you can take home the blends for fifty pesos a bottle, the rose and olive oil for a cool thirty pesos.

A one-of-a-kind winery in Mendoza, Domaine St. Diego offers a memorable experience and wines with character. Don’t miss this one next time you’re out tasting in Mendoza!

Domaine St. Diego

F. Villanueva 3821

Lunlunta, Maipu, Mendoza

(0261) 4395557

About the author: Cara De Lavallade is a Level II Court of Masters Sommelier from Seattle, Washington. Temporarily relocated to Mendoza, she is smelling and tasting all she can to gain a better understanding of the local juice.  Look for her wine reviews, bodega visits, and other winey musings on The Vines of Mendoza blog this spring.

Posted in Behind the bottle, Experiences, Mendoza Bodegas, Tasting Notes | 1 Comment »


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