What follows in the coming reports and pictures is exactly what is includes in my previous blog http://wineworld.spaces.live.com/
The idea of bringing the reports to new space is mainly to keep the information in only one place. I have not done any changes to the original posts, because I believe that every experience has its particular moment.
Perhaps, today I would have other opinion on some issues, but what I reproduce here belongs to that time.
In this Part 5, I report my experience in Mendoza, Argentina, on March 2007.
ALL AND A LITTLE EXTRA
To arrive in Mendoza is like finding an oasis in the middle of a “semi-desert” – as it actually is. After eight hours crossing through the Andes Mountain, where the magnitude of the rocks impresses and makes one realizes about the smallness of human being. The landscape impress and after crossing the mountains with very little green on it – just few plants and cactus, I had the best view of my journey: Mendoza River which comes all the way down from the mountains to color the environment with a deep unforgettable blue – which came from the high natural level of minerals.
The vineyards are constant company during our way to the city, among them could be seen different systems of growing vines, depending on the quantity of production desired (massive or not).
The city of Mendoza is small where the main square still is the social meeting point on weekends.
It has an excellent tourist infrastructure that explores very well the natural diversity and radiance of the area. The production wine business is also a big attraction. Mendoza is the most important producer of wine in Argentina and where it is called the "World’s Wine Capital".
The business has a great amount of foreign investment and has being growing quickly; however the “Latin touch” is everywhere.
I arrived in the city one week after the “Fiesta de la Vendima” (Harvest Festival), an event of great importance for them, reflecting the economic and social involvement among all community.
It is an extremely pleasant place to be: delicious food, good wine and the siesta to digest size pleasure - between 13 -17 h the city shuts down for a nap. Mendoza is divided in 5 distinct areas of wine production: North of Mendoza, High of the River Mendoza, Valley of the Uco, East of Mendoza and South of Mendoza.
To make my first contact with the local production easy, I chose to buy a “tourist package”. It was not cheap, but worthy of any penny.
We left early morning in a small group towards to Lujan de Cuyo, to visit 2 wineries, a liquor producer and, finish it with a traditional lunch.
BODEGAS Y CAVAS WEINERT
The business has not only the Lujan de Coy vineyard but also in the district of Maipu and is known for being the first company to test the for wine production in Chubut, Patagonia.
It belongs to a Brazilian entrepreneur, Bernardine Carlos Weinert.
The most impressing thing I first saw was the way the local wine makers use to ferment their wine: in big concrete structures of concrete protected internally with epoxy paint, which are excellent to preserve the ideal temperature for fermentation.
With a peculiar smell of grapes fermenting we walked down to the cellar where the wine rested in HUGE oak barrels.
The next room was for tasting. Where we tried some of their wines made for big amount of consumer. We tried a sweet Sauvignon Blanc, called Cosecha de Otono (late harvest) and a blend, which the main grape was Cabernet Sauvignon, also used in a rose. The Sauvignon Blanc also marked its presence (very discrete) in a blend Semillon and Chenin Blanc.
We left the smell of grapes fermenting and headed to where they were still being crushed.
VIÑA EL CERNO
This is a small family business, also located in Maipu, a typical "boutique winery" that make sure to preserve tradition and, the production in small amounts, keeping one high control of the quality, with a good result: the Cabernet Sauvignon presented in the tasting has a good balance and had a good long finishing. The wine was poured straight from a small barrel, for a German guy who left his previous career in the grey cold Europe in order to fallow his passion: wine – I am not the only one!
Before leaving the premises I took advantage of the coincidence and talked a little with our guide, who gave some tips about the region - always helpful!
After a visit to a liquor producer, we finished our tour in great style, in the best Argentinean meal ever, at Cavas de Cano - old residence of Don Guillermo Pipe, governor of Mendoza, who in 1936 created the Fiesta de la Vendima in the region –
It was a delight with cheeses, “fiambres”, chorizo with Malbec gravy and the best ones: “empanadas” all washed down wine produced on the propriety - A feast in the heart of the wine region! What a treaty, ah?!
I carried on my search for properties that could visit just by myself, whishing to be a little closer to the whole wine making process.
As I could not find how to do it so, I joined another group of tourist in the following day.
This program was shorter than the previous one, not having the lunch included, however 2 wineries and a producer of olive oil were in the menu.
BODEGAS LOPEZ
The first bodega visited is one of the biggest in the region, with 1004 hectares of located vines in the regions of Piedra y Lunlunta in Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo and Tupangato from where the company extracts Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Sangiovesse, Pinot Tinto, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
Its founder, Jose Lopez Rivas, arrived in 1886 of Spain and 1898 if he established himself in Mendoza.
Nowadays, the winery has an important reserve of volumes of red wine aged in French oak barrels (more than 5000 liters) and also has great stainless steel compartments for the white ones.
To solve the high temperature problems for storage, they have a similar method used in other South American countries: bamboo and clay as material on the ceiling, which keeps an average temperature of 200C.
The place impress for its dimensions. Everything seems to have giant proportion and the romantic way for wine making is far way from there.
CAVAS DE DON ANTURO
In the next visit, in the Cavas de Don Anturo located in Maipu, the passion and devotion to wine making is easily found.
We were welcomed by owner’s wife, who guided us into this family business – literally, as the whole family seems to be involved – and showed a captivating devotion and enthusiasm for the whole “art” of wine making.
Meanwhile we overlooked the vineyard, dark clouds appeared in the sky of Maipu and we heard a strong shoot, which were rockets launched in direction to clouds, performed each time that exists a hail threat in the region, the biggest problem of the local vineyards – as explained our guide.
We explored the whole winery – where the work was been carried out in this very busy time of the year – from the grapes reception, concrete tanks, to the cold underground cellar.
The hands on approach of the family result in high quality products, especially, their Malbec, which is a balanced wine full of character and red fruits aroma.
With a good left taste in my mouth from the national pride variety, we made our way to the city, joined by a light rain - thanks to the technology!
The next day, Wednesday, was dedicated to some adventure: horse ridding to the very beginning of the Andes Mountains followed by some rafting in the Mendoza River – what a way to get in touch with nature!
At night, I followed a local advice and visited an institution called “The Wines of Mendoza”. The place is an enterprise where you can find tasting rooms - with excellent wines from small wineries - with whose they have a great partnership. Also, as part of its business, it offers a “wine investment” for enthusiasts, who can buy a small part of propriety to grow grapes and have all professional support and advice to produce wine.
I got excellent advices from who was guiding my through the tasting, and one of them I checked the following day, visiting a boutique winery – a short ride by bus from the city center.
EL LAGAR (CARMELO PATTI)
In my last day of visits in Mendoza, I woke up early and once again took my way to Lujan de Cujo.
Finally... I learnt how to take public transport to get to some wineries, and at 11 am, after a short sightseeing tour by the main street, I was there, right on door of the winery of Carmelo Patti, an Italian born in Sicily who made Argentina his country in his early ages when his family moved to South America.
I arrived to the winery without notice and was warm welcomed by the owner, who has hands on approach in his business, literally.
Carmelo believes that he has a personal commitment of delivering an excellent product, and has his own name on the brand as a kind of endorsement of its quality.
He is an enthusiastic and passionate wine maker who uses his large experience to supervise and collaborate on every single process in the winery – opened in 1998.
The result is a wine in a “traditional style” with time of maturation in wood and also in bottle, a little different of the local trend.
The wines are excellent, and the production is always in small proportion, in order to keep a level of quality which can be controlled by Carmelo, who aims to offer quality rather then quantity.
Carmelo does not own any vineyard, but control very closely the vines production of his suppliers, assuring their excellence.
The wines made from Malbec, Merlot and also Cabernet Sauvignon show the ‘terroir’ of Mendoza and have received many different prizes. Among them, my favorite was the Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, who has its best ready to be appreciated.
We had the change to compare the development of a Cabernet Sauvignon on it many stages, tasting samples from the “concrete container” to a 1999 aged bottle.
After the end of the "immersion" in the winery, I had a long chat with Mr. Patti, who is not only an excellent producer of wine, but also a captivating creature.
He taught me about wine making more than a book could try to do it so, in a very simple and genuine way, and, what a way to end my journey in Mendoza!
¡Salud Mendoza!
Marcia Amaral
The idea of bringing the reports to new space is mainly to keep the information in only one place. I have not done any changes to the original posts, because I believe that every experience has its particular moment.
Perhaps, today I would have other opinion on some issues, but what I reproduce here belongs to that time.
In this Part 5, I report my experience in Mendoza, Argentina, on March 2007.
ALL AND A LITTLE EXTRA
To arrive in Mendoza is like finding an oasis in the middle of a “semi-desert” – as it actually is. After eight hours crossing through the Andes Mountain, where the magnitude of the rocks impresses and makes one realizes about the smallness of human being. The landscape impress and after crossing the mountains with very little green on it – just few plants and cactus, I had the best view of my journey: Mendoza River which comes all the way down from the mountains to color the environment with a deep unforgettable blue – which came from the high natural level of minerals.
The vineyards are constant company during our way to the city, among them could be seen different systems of growing vines, depending on the quantity of production desired (massive or not).
The city of Mendoza is small where the main square still is the social meeting point on weekends.
It has an excellent tourist infrastructure that explores very well the natural diversity and radiance of the area. The production wine business is also a big attraction. Mendoza is the most important producer of wine in Argentina and where it is called the "World’s Wine Capital".
The business has a great amount of foreign investment and has being growing quickly; however the “Latin touch” is everywhere.
I arrived in the city one week after the “Fiesta de la Vendima” (Harvest Festival), an event of great importance for them, reflecting the economic and social involvement among all community.
It is an extremely pleasant place to be: delicious food, good wine and the siesta to digest size pleasure - between 13 -17 h the city shuts down for a nap. Mendoza is divided in 5 distinct areas of wine production: North of Mendoza, High of the River Mendoza, Valley of the Uco, East of Mendoza and South of Mendoza.
To make my first contact with the local production easy, I chose to buy a “tourist package”. It was not cheap, but worthy of any penny.
We left early morning in a small group towards to Lujan de Cuyo, to visit 2 wineries, a liquor producer and, finish it with a traditional lunch.
BODEGAS Y CAVAS WEINERT
The business has not only the Lujan de Coy vineyard but also in the district of Maipu and is known for being the first company to test the for wine production in Chubut, Patagonia.
It belongs to a Brazilian entrepreneur, Bernardine Carlos Weinert.
The most impressing thing I first saw was the way the local wine makers use to ferment their wine: in big concrete structures of concrete protected internally with epoxy paint, which are excellent to preserve the ideal temperature for fermentation.
With a peculiar smell of grapes fermenting we walked down to the cellar where the wine rested in HUGE oak barrels.
The next room was for tasting. Where we tried some of their wines made for big amount of consumer. We tried a sweet Sauvignon Blanc, called Cosecha de Otono (late harvest) and a blend, which the main grape was Cabernet Sauvignon, also used in a rose. The Sauvignon Blanc also marked its presence (very discrete) in a blend Semillon and Chenin Blanc.
We left the smell of grapes fermenting and headed to where they were still being crushed.
VIÑA EL CERNO
This is a small family business, also located in Maipu, a typical "boutique winery" that make sure to preserve tradition and, the production in small amounts, keeping one high control of the quality, with a good result: the Cabernet Sauvignon presented in the tasting has a good balance and had a good long finishing. The wine was poured straight from a small barrel, for a German guy who left his previous career in the grey cold Europe in order to fallow his passion: wine – I am not the only one!
Before leaving the premises I took advantage of the coincidence and talked a little with our guide, who gave some tips about the region - always helpful!
After a visit to a liquor producer, we finished our tour in great style, in the best Argentinean meal ever, at Cavas de Cano - old residence of Don Guillermo Pipe, governor of Mendoza, who in 1936 created the Fiesta de la Vendima in the region –
It was a delight with cheeses, “fiambres”, chorizo with Malbec gravy and the best ones: “empanadas” all washed down wine produced on the propriety - A feast in the heart of the wine region! What a treaty, ah?!
I carried on my search for properties that could visit just by myself, whishing to be a little closer to the whole wine making process.
As I could not find how to do it so, I joined another group of tourist in the following day.
This program was shorter than the previous one, not having the lunch included, however 2 wineries and a producer of olive oil were in the menu.
BODEGAS LOPEZ
The first bodega visited is one of the biggest in the region, with 1004 hectares of located vines in the regions of Piedra y Lunlunta in Maipu, Lujan de Cuyo and Tupangato from where the company extracts Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Sangiovesse, Pinot Tinto, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.
Its founder, Jose Lopez Rivas, arrived in 1886 of Spain and 1898 if he established himself in Mendoza.
Nowadays, the winery has an important reserve of volumes of red wine aged in French oak barrels (more than 5000 liters) and also has great stainless steel compartments for the white ones.
To solve the high temperature problems for storage, they have a similar method used in other South American countries: bamboo and clay as material on the ceiling, which keeps an average temperature of 200C.
The place impress for its dimensions. Everything seems to have giant proportion and the romantic way for wine making is far way from there.
CAVAS DE DON ANTURO
In the next visit, in the Cavas de Don Anturo located in Maipu, the passion and devotion to wine making is easily found.
We were welcomed by owner’s wife, who guided us into this family business – literally, as the whole family seems to be involved – and showed a captivating devotion and enthusiasm for the whole “art” of wine making.
Meanwhile we overlooked the vineyard, dark clouds appeared in the sky of Maipu and we heard a strong shoot, which were rockets launched in direction to clouds, performed each time that exists a hail threat in the region, the biggest problem of the local vineyards – as explained our guide.
We explored the whole winery – where the work was been carried out in this very busy time of the year – from the grapes reception, concrete tanks, to the cold underground cellar.
The hands on approach of the family result in high quality products, especially, their Malbec, which is a balanced wine full of character and red fruits aroma.
With a good left taste in my mouth from the national pride variety, we made our way to the city, joined by a light rain - thanks to the technology!
The next day, Wednesday, was dedicated to some adventure: horse ridding to the very beginning of the Andes Mountains followed by some rafting in the Mendoza River – what a way to get in touch with nature!
At night, I followed a local advice and visited an institution called “The Wines of Mendoza”. The place is an enterprise where you can find tasting rooms - with excellent wines from small wineries - with whose they have a great partnership. Also, as part of its business, it offers a “wine investment” for enthusiasts, who can buy a small part of propriety to grow grapes and have all professional support and advice to produce wine.
I got excellent advices from who was guiding my through the tasting, and one of them I checked the following day, visiting a boutique winery – a short ride by bus from the city center.
EL LAGAR (CARMELO PATTI)
In my last day of visits in Mendoza, I woke up early and once again took my way to Lujan de Cujo.
Finally... I learnt how to take public transport to get to some wineries, and at 11 am, after a short sightseeing tour by the main street, I was there, right on door of the winery of Carmelo Patti, an Italian born in Sicily who made Argentina his country in his early ages when his family moved to South America.
I arrived to the winery without notice and was warm welcomed by the owner, who has hands on approach in his business, literally.
Carmelo believes that he has a personal commitment of delivering an excellent product, and has his own name on the brand as a kind of endorsement of its quality.
He is an enthusiastic and passionate wine maker who uses his large experience to supervise and collaborate on every single process in the winery – opened in 1998.
The result is a wine in a “traditional style” with time of maturation in wood and also in bottle, a little different of the local trend.
The wines are excellent, and the production is always in small proportion, in order to keep a level of quality which can be controlled by Carmelo, who aims to offer quality rather then quantity.
Carmelo does not own any vineyard, but control very closely the vines production of his suppliers, assuring their excellence.
The wines made from Malbec, Merlot and also Cabernet Sauvignon show the ‘terroir’ of Mendoza and have received many different prizes. Among them, my favorite was the Cabernet Sauvignon 2002, who has its best ready to be appreciated.
We had the change to compare the development of a Cabernet Sauvignon on it many stages, tasting samples from the “concrete container” to a 1999 aged bottle.
After the end of the "immersion" in the winery, I had a long chat with Mr. Patti, who is not only an excellent producer of wine, but also a captivating creature.
He taught me about wine making more than a book could try to do it so, in a very simple and genuine way, and, what a way to end my journey in Mendoza!
¡Salud Mendoza!
Marcia Amaral