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A Wine Lover’s Diary, part 418: Argentina

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Wednesday, October 24: A final morning of wrap-up before Deborah dropped me at Toronto Airport for the United Airlines flight to Newark and the connecting flight to Buenos Aires. Decided to forego dinner and tried to sleep. The flight was only two-thirds full so I had the opportunity to take three seats and stretch out. Still not very comfortable.

Thursday, October 25: Arrived in Buenos Aires at 9:30 am local time. Took an hour to work through immigration (didn’t have to buy a visa since I have a British passport in addition to my Canadian passport; otherwise it would have cost $70. It’s $100 for Americans) and then customs. It was 10:30 when I finally got out and met the driver who took me to the Melia Hotel.


Port area in Buenos Aires

Checked in and walked around Buenos Aires. Down to the port area and then got a couple of hours sleep. A taxi took me to Aldo’s – a restaurant-wine store. The taxi driver didn’t speak a word of English and I have virtually no Spanish. Eventually we arrived at Aldo’s, a restaurant wine bar where a tasting with reps from three wineries had been set up in a private room. Aldo’s has an interesting formula: if you buy a bottle of wine you can have it with your dinner without any mark-up.

The first tasting was with Patricio Vazquez of El Porvenir de Cafayate in Salta. They make 300,000 bottles from 90 hectares of vines. Average 45-year-old vines between 5,500 and 8,200 feet elevation. They produce Torrontés, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon, also Tannat. 200 mm of rain a year here, as opposed to Mendoza, which gets 250 mm. Paul Hobbs is consulting (he seems to be consulting with half the wineries in Argentina). El Porvenir de Cafayate’s entry level range is called. Amauta.

Next Franco D’Angelo of Graffigna. One of the oldest and largest wineries in Argentina. Started by an Italian 130 years ago in San Juan in the north of Mendoza. Vineyards between 700 and 1400 feet. Shiraz is the varietal in San Juan.

Finally Bodega del Desierto, a pioneer in Patagonia. Gabriela Millan in charge of exports conducted the tasting. The project was started in 2001 with the planting of the vineyard. First vintage (2004) was released in 2006. Paul Hobbs has been working with them since 2003.

Dinner in the restaurant with Gabriela Millan. Prosciutto, arugula, tomato and mozzarella bruschetta, followed by grilled rib eye steak with potato wedges and sauce béarnaise (my first taste of Argentinian beef in situ – amazing) and crème brûlée. We began with Desierto 25 Sauvignon Blanc 2012 (fragrant, grassy, grapefruit nose; good mid palate fruit with some grapefruit pith bitterness on the finish – 88).

Friday, October 26: Up at 6 am. Picked up by my driver from yesterday to go to the airport to catch a flight to Neuquén (90 minutes), where I’m met by Maria José Huc from the Patagonian tourist office. (She tells me that the name of the province comes from the Spanish for “big foot.” Apparently, the name dates back to Ferdinand Magellan’s expedition in 1520. Magellan noted the large size of the footprints left by the indigenous tribes on the beach.)

After checking into the Del Comahue hotel in the centre of the city, Maria José drove me to Familia Schroeder, about 45 minutes northwest of Neuquén Capital. This region is extremely windy, with gusts that can reach 80 to 100 km an hour. To protect the cherry, plum, peach and pear orchards they have constructed a series of windbreaks by close planting rows of poplar trees. You see them everywhere. The main industry here is oil and gas.

When we reach Familia Schroeder in San Patricio del Chañar I see they are flying the Canadian flag to welcome me. Familia Schroeder began in 2001 with the planting of the 140 hectares of vineyards. Federico Boxaca, the export manager, tells me that we are 800 kilometres south of Mendoza here and there is a 20° difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures, which makes for good natural acidity in the wines. They get 3/4 of an hour more daylight in the growing season than Mendoza. The dry, southwesterly winds create small berries with thick skins and lower yields than other regions. Plus the winds keep the vineyards free of insects. The only problem for growers is frost.


Dinosaur remains at Familia Schroeder

Over lunch in the Saurus restaurant, with the president of the company, Roberto Schroeder, Federico tells me the history of Argentinian wines – how the British built the first railroad from Buenos Aires to Mendoza and Neuquén at the beginning of the 20th century, “connecting the consumption areas with the production areas.” With Argentinian wines people tend to equate altitude with quality, he says. (Neuquén is basically flat and linear.)

We start off with Rosa de los Vientos (a sparkling wine made from Pinot Noir and definitely pink in colour although not promoted as a rosé; light raspberry flavour, dry and easy drinking – 88). Familia Schroeder has seven Pinot Noirs in its portfolio, including a late harvest Pinot!

Lunch: an amuse-bouche of carrot, orange and ginger soup, followed by rabbit terrine – my accompanying wine Familia Schroeder Saurus Pinot Noir 2009 (deeply coloured; light cherry nose with an herbaceous note; fruity, dry with a licorice note and soft tannins – 88). Then a tasting to follow:

Next stop, a very modern winery called Del Fin del Mundo. The winery, the first in Neuquén province, farms 870 hectares planted in 1999 with drip irrigation. They have 200 stainless steel tanks, 104 concrete tanks, 2200 oak barrels French oak casks of 6000 liters each. Fin del Mundo is the largest operation in Patagonia, producing 10 million bottles, yet Patagonia accounts for only 2% of Argentina’s total production.


NQN winery in Neuquén

After the tasting Marie José drives me over to NQN (established 2003), a winery that is now owned by Bodega del Fin del Mundo. Julio Viola, the Director of Del Fin del Mundo, shows me around the new facility. Julio invited Argentinian artists to decorate some thirty wine barrels, many of which are placed strategically around the winery. Michel Rolland consults to NQN and Roberto de la Mota consults to Del Fin del Mundo. NQN, purchased last year, was established in 2004 and produces 2 million bottles. We tasted in a room that overlooks the vineyard.


Julio Viola with painted barrels

Then to dinner in NQN’s restaurant. First a glass of Del Fin del Mundo Brut Natur (100% Pinot Noir – deep pink colour), then we tucked into trout empanadas with Del Fin del Mundo Chardonnay Reserve 2011. For the rolled shoulder of lamb that followed we tasted Del Fin del Mundo Malbec 2009 and NQN Universo Malbec 2009. With the pear crumble, Cosecha de Mayo Late Harvest Semillon 2011. Then Julio drove me back to my hotel.

Saturday, October 27: Maria José picked me up at 10 am to drive to Humberto Canale in the Rio Negro region, about 45 minutes’ drive east of Neuquén. On the way we stopped into a small shop that sells apple and pear sweet products. At the winery Guillermo Barzi, the president of the company and the fourth generation of the family-owned business, gave me one-on-one seminar on the geography, history and topography of not only the Rio Negro but of all Patagonia and the other Argentinian wine regions. This is the oldest winery in Patagonia, dating back to 1909. The property is like a little village with Spanish haciendas. The family is also in the orchard business.


Guillermo Barzi in the desert


Humberto Canale’s original delivery truck

After a tour of the winery with its cement tanks and ancient vats (“for the tourists”) we went into the tasting room.


A delicious Pinot Noir

Guillermo drove me into the desert and from a mesa we looked down on the swath of green in the valley with its orchards and vineyards along the Rio Negro. He showed me the alpataco bushes that grow in these desert conditions all the way down to Terra del Fuego. On our return we had lunch in Guillermo’s house with his wife Inés.

On the way back to Neuquén, Maria José asked me if I would like to see the Limay River. She said I could walk back to the hotel from there. The river was beautiful; people were kayaking and having a great time in the sun. The walk, however, turned out to be some three miles.


Kayaking on the Rio Negro

Maria José and her husband picked me up at 8:30 pm to drive me to the bus station in the neighbouring town of Cipolletti, where I am to catch the overnight luxury bus to Mendoza – a trip of 10 hours. I have a seat that reclines back to a prone position, a video screen and a curtain I can pull. As soon as we depart at 9:30 pm the steward hands out bingo cards and a small plastic piece to pierce the numbers once they have been called. Since I don’t speak Spanish this is of no use to me so I give my card to a woman across the aisle. But it does her no good because another woman in the back yells bingo after an interminable time of calling out numbers and is rewarded with a bottle what looks like Norton Cabernet Sauvignon (who advertise on the video monitor). They serve us an airline-style meal with a glass or two of the Norton Cab. I settled down to sleep at 11:30 pm and must have dozed off although by 6 am it felt as if I had been awake the whole night.

Sunday, October 28: We arrived at the Mendoza bus station at 7:30 am and I looked around for the person who was meant to meet me. I had his phone number but no-one in the bus station seemed to speak English so at 8 am I took a taxi to the Diplomatic Hotel. I showered and shaved and slept for 90 minutes.


Maria Laura Ortiz, sommelier extraordinaire

At 12:30 I met the hotel’s sommelier, Laura Ortiz, who accompanied me to lunch at Maria Antonieta restaurant a few steps from the hotel. Laura, it turns out, is much more than a sommelier. She is a statistical economist, a cook and she runs three businesses – one of which is the production of infused olive oils, wine sauces and aromas. We ordered a grilled zucchini salad with hazel nuts and shaved parmesan, with which we drank Giuseppe Franceschini Bacán Sauvignon Blanc Reserva 2011 (unlike any Argentinian Sauvignon I have tasted – crisply dry, grassy green plum flavour; fresh and lively and round on the palate (88)). With the rib eye steak to follow (I’ve never eaten so much steak in my life) we had a bottle of Zuccardi Series A Malbec 2010 (dense purple colour; a nose of vanilla oak, blackberry and spices; fruity blackberry with a rose petal flavour; dry, full in the mouth, juicy with a meatiness on the finish (90)). There was no salt and I had to ask for some. For me there are four food groups – salt, fat, alcohol and chocolate – and for a balanced diet you should have them at every meal.


Trees in Mendoza

After lunch, back to the hotel to write up my notes and wait for a tasting at the nearby Executive Hotel. I was escorted over by Laura’s assistant sommelier José, who styles himself as “a flying sommelier.” The tasting took place on the 17th floor. Laura showed me a video presentation of the wines of Argentina and then we settled down to taste the following wines:

Monday, October 29: My first visit is to Dominio del Plata. Susana Balbo, the winemaker here, was the first Argentinian woman to be certified as an oenologist. Cecile Terrien conducted the tasting.

Drive to Terrazas de los Andes, a LVMH property, a few minutes away. The property was built in 1889. Tasted with Hervé Birnie-Scott, the Estate Director (originally from the Loire Valley), and the co-ordinator of winemaking, Gonzalo Carrasco.


Cheval Blanc meets Argentina

Two other wineries have each brought their wines here for me to taste and then we’ll all have lunch together.

Nieto Senetier is located in Vistalba. Founder by Italian and Spanish families, they produce 1.5 million cases and tell me they are “the leader in Bonarda in Argentina.” They say they are going back to fermentation in 8000-litre concrete tanks, a familiar theme I’m hearing here.

Séptima is owned by Cordorníu, started in 1999. Paula Borgo is the winemaker. A 300,000-case winery.

At lunch we taste Séptima Chardonnay Reserva 2003 to prove that Argentinian whites can age. (Straw colour with a spicy, pineapple nose, full-bodied fresh and lively with vibrant acidity. Very Russian River in style (90)). The first course is white fish tempura style, phyllo pastry and dried fruits and ginger and pineapple soup.

With filet steak, potato-wrapped veal and smoked vegetables we have Séptima Single Vineyard Malbec 2002 (dense ruby-purple colour; mature nose of blackberry, spicy oak; full-bodied, malty, savoury, black olive flavour. (91)). Dessert – choux pastry filled with lemon cream, passion fruit caviar with coconut and pineapple foam, served with Terrazas de los Andes Afincado Tardo Petit Marseng 2010 (rich pineapple and melon flavours, semi-sweet (89)).

My next stop is Lagarde in Luán de Cuyo. A winery founded in 1897, now producing 1.2 million litres, 80% red, 20% white. Sebastián Barboza, the area manager, tells me they were the first to plant Viognier in South America.

Next stop: Alta Vista, which was founded originally in 1899 but revived in 1998. They produce 2 million bottles from 220 hectares of vines. The Winery is located in the heart of Chacras de Coria, 15 kilometres south of the city of Mendoza. Matthieu Grassin, the winemaker, led me through the tasting.


One of my favourite wines

Dinner at Azafran, around the corner from the hotel. A tasting in the wine cellar where diners come in to choose the wine for their meal. Rodrigo Valdes, winemaker of Bodegas Valentin Bianchi, leads me through the following wines:


Rodrigo Valdes in Azafran’s cellar

Then we dine in the restaurant with the opened bottles to accompany vichyssoise followed by grilled trout on a bed of squid ink risotto with calamari and shrimp. Delicious.

Tuesday, October 30: The first winery visit today is at 9:30 am to Finca Agostino. Carla Garraffa in their marketing department and winemaker José Pedro Gómez are my hosts. The winery is owned by the Agostino family, real estate magnates who live in Montreal. They have a built a stunning house on the property and have 200 hectares here, planting a further 100 hectares and have 50 hectares in the Uco Valley.


The Agostino brothers’ house

Uma Colección is their entry level label; next level of quality is Inicio, then Agostino. The top level is Familia.

After the tasting the three of us sat in the garden and had a glass of Agostino Extra Brut (a delicious charmat process blend of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc). Then on to Trapiche in Coquimbito, where Carla Castorina toured me around the huge facility that looks like a cross between a cathedral and an industrial complex.


Trapiche’s winery


A llama in Trapiche’s olive grove


The roof of Trapiche’s tasting room

They have a sensational tasting room in the cellar, the roof of which is a glass pyramid that looks like a miniature Louvre. The natural light for tasting is perfect. Trapiche’s winemaker Daniel Pi led me through the following wines:


Daniel Pi, Trapiche’s wiemaker

The next tasting in Trapiche’s tasting room was three wines from Pascual Toso. In 1890 Pascual Toso, a Piemontese winemaker, established his first winery in San José, Guaymallén then at the turn of the century acquired vineyards in Maipú. Paul Hobbs was hired in 2011 to consult.

Next winery into the tasting room was Furlotti, a fair trade winery, presented by Marc Weiss. The granddaughter of Angel Furlotti, the founder of the winery, is now a partner in the newly resurrected fair trade enterprise, Soluna Wines.

After lunch we drove to Mendel Wines in Mayor Drummond, Lujan de Coyu. A boutique winery by Argentinian standards, it produces 12,000 cases. The Sielecki family, originally from Poland, bought the property in 2002 with Malbec vineyards that date back to 1928. The winery farms 45 hectares in three vineyards and was named in homage to the father, Mendel Sielecki. They store their bottles in the old concrete tanks.

The final tasting of the day was at Kaiken, a winery organized on feng shui principles by Aurelio Montes Jr. The winery was built 80 years ago and was purchased by Aurelio Montes Sr in 2001. The cement tanks have been reconstructed to lower capacities to ferment smaller volumes of wine. The winery has a 7-million-litre capacity and its main thrust is on Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.


Montes’s emblematic angel in Kaiken’s cellar


Kaiken’s top Malbec

Back in Mendoza I had dinner alone at Francesco Ristorante a few blocks from the hotel. After all the beef I’ve eaten a plate of pasta sounded good. I ordered pappardelle in a cream and mushroom sauce with a glass of Malbec.

Wednesday, October 31: A magnificent view of the Andes in sunshine as we drive south to the Tunuyan Valley for a visit to Clos Los Siete. “Siete” refers to the seven Bordeaux château owners who are partners in this collective enterprise led by Michel Rolland. And it is literally a clos of 850 hectares spectacularly set in the foothills of the Andes, rather like an upscale gated community for the very wealthy. The five wineries that grow grapes for the brand supply at least 40% of their tonnage for the production of the Clos de Los Siete label.


Entrance to Clos de los Siete

My visit is to DiamAndes, which is owned by the Belgian Bonnie family, who also own Château Malartic-Lagravière. DiamAndes is a nice pun; the company logo is a diamond. A huge aluminum diamond sculpture is the centrepiece of this ultra-modern 13,400-square-metre winery constructed from 16,000 cubic metres of concrete.


DiamAndes’ diamond sculpture

DiamAndes’ share of the total vineyard is 130 hectares. In a tasting room that looks out over the vineyard to the mountains I taste wines each from DiamAndes, Clos de Los Siete, Salentein, O. Fournier and Familia Zuccardi.

Next winery: Salentein, a cruciform winery with an amazing circular barrel cellar, owned by a Dutch car magnate. It’s located on a 2000-hectare estate in the Uco Valley, around 700 hectares of which are under vine. The three vineyards are between 1100 to 1700 metres. Michel Rolland also consults here.


Salentein’s great red blend

Next came O. Fournier, a 263-hectare estate planted to Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.

O. Fournier belongs to a Spanish family who operate wineries in Chile and Spain. It was the first winery in Uco Valley (2011). They sell small portions of the vineyard to hobbyist winemakers in 1.5–3 hectare plots. The winemaker Romiro Balliro showed me the wines.

Finally, before lunch I tasted the wines of Familia Zuccardi. The company was started in 1963 by Alberto Zuccardi, a civil engineer with a 5-hectare vineyard that he used to demonstrate his new irrigation system. Now that company has vineyards in six regions totalling 1000 hectares. They buy in 40% of their grape needs thanks to the success of their Fuzion brand. Sebastián Zuccardi, Alberto’s grandson, is now in charge of the family vineyards and he led me through the following wines:


Sebastian Zuccardi

After lunch we drove to Masi’s estate in Tupungato. In true Veneto fashion Sandro Boscaini has planted the only Corvina in Argentina in the 100-hectare vineyard and this, like his Amarones back home, is put through appassimento. So too is the Pinot Grigio for Passo Blanco.


Tony at Masi’s Casa Corvina in Tupungato

A long drive back to Mendoza. Dinner tasting at Siete Coscinas Restaurant with Kendall Johnson (whom I had met many years ago in San Francisco when she was in charge of tastings with the Appellation America website). Kendall now represents Altos Las Hormigas. The company was founded in 1995 by Antonio Morescalchi and Alberto Antonini. They grow only Malbec. Just under 100,000 cases.

Before dinner I tasted the wines of Doña Paula, whose first vintage was 1999 in Lujan de Coyu. The winery owns three vineyards in the Uco Valley and one in Lujan de Coyu. Edgardo (Edy) del Popolo, vineyard and winemaking director, led me through the wines:

Then the three of us had dinner in the restaurant’s cellar where we had been tasting. With a plate of sweetbreads we tasted Doña Paula Chardonnay Estate 2011 (straw colour; vanilla oak nose, minerally with tropical fruit and citrus notes; full-bodied, peachy flavour but light on the palate, crisp and spicy with a lively acidic spine (89)).

With my plate of rabbit I tasted Hormigas Colonia Las Liebras Bonarda 2011 (dense purple colour; earthy, floral, fruit plum nose; easy drinking, soft on the palate with a bitter chocolate finish. (88)).

Thursday, November 1: Packed for home. At 9 am a meeting in the Diplomatic Hotel with Soledad Juncosa, Wines of Argentina’s Hospitality Manager, and her assistant Raquel Correa. Then to Mendoza airport to fly to Buenos Aires. This airport must be the only one in the world with its own 3-hectare vineyard – naturally planted to Malbec. Apparently, Estancia Argentina produces a wine from these grapes called Destino that is not for sale but is poured at an annual harvest festival.


Don Julio restaurant, Buenos Aires

I am met at Buenos Aires airport by my faithful driver, who drives to to Don Julio restaurant (Guatemala 4699) for lunch. Every surface here is covered with empty wine bottles signed by patrons. I asked for a glass of red wine and the server brought an open bottle of De Angeles Malbec 2009. She poured me a sample and it was delicious. Started with a meat empanada and then my final steak in Argentina – a huge sirloin. It was a Pyrrhic victory for the steak – it and its ally (a mountain of French fries) was decimated but I couldn’t finish it. But managed to tuck into a slice of white chocolate cheesecake with passion fruit sauce, the best dessert I had on this trip. Finally to the airport for the flight to Newark.

Friday, November 2: Arrived Newark at 7 am and made it through the huge immigration line 45 minutes later. Arrived back in Toronto at 11 am to 3 degrees and the suggestion of snow in the air.

Things I’ve learnt about Argentina:


Selling second-hand cars Argentina-style

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